{"title":"Teenagers in the library: participatory mediation practices","authors":"Janicke S. Kaasa, Åse Kristine Tveit","doi":"10.47989/colis2217","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2217","url":null,"abstract":"In their efforts to reach out to teenagers, libraries facilitate different literary activities where youth come together, socialize and interact. In what ways do these practices contribute to the building of literary and social communities among the participating teenagers and to a broadened understanding of the concepts of libraries? This paper examines three different cases of participatory mediation activities in Norwegian libraries: a podcast, a voluntary reading group and a shared reading activity. The method used is qualitative interviews, and the findings are discussed in relation to theories on the social and participatory dimensions of cultural institutions and to a model from library and information theory. In the cases presented, the libraries facilitated the activities as part of their strategies. The study sheds light on how the mediation practices in question contribute to fostering literary and social communities among the participating teenagers. The present study demonstrates possible ways of expanding the understanding of what a library means to young people in a contemporary context.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73883922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Critical studies of reading: consolidating an emerging field of research","authors":"A. Lundh, Åse Hedemark, Linnéa Lindsköld","doi":"10.47989/colis2232","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2232","url":null,"abstract":"This paper introduces an emerging area of research, critical studies of reading, that has been identified and developed by the authors. Seven features of critical studies of reading research are introduced and the paper argues for how this type of research can shed new light on historical and current reading practices and reading activities. Examples of studies with such features within library and information science, as well as neighbouring disciplines are presented. Future directions for critical studies of reading research are outlined, highlighting the possibilities, as well as the challenges for this emerging area of research.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85250173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From readers’ advisory to literary advocacy – a conceptual exploration","authors":"Kjell Ivar Skjerdingstad, Knut Oterholm","doi":"10.47989/colis2233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2233","url":null,"abstract":"This article departs from an observation that current practices of readers advisory (litteraturformidling) in public libraries tend to prioritize readers’ demands, taste, or contextual matters on the expense of literature itself. We ask what it means to put literature first and how research can underpin such practices. In a conceptual and exploratory study departing from Gerard Genette’s work on the paratext we draw inter alia on theory of literature, pragmatic philosophy, and the legislation on public libraries. By way of conceptual inquiries, we analyse what it would mean for the libarian to advocate works, collections, and other cultural artefacts in the library. We have developed an understanding of literary advocacy foregrounding five methodological devices: 1) listening carefully to literature; 2) talking on behalf of literature by articulating the reading experience; 3) addressing the reader as one that wishes to discover and find new ways of seeing; 4) cultivating the art of selection; and 5) attending to the democratic mandate of libraries and taking a position. Professional librarianship in terms of literary advocacy would mean to negotiate democratic values relative to the singularity of the work and relative to all the selections the advocate has to make. Our result then points towards a “tool” for professional research on the literary practices of public libraries too.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"32 11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78645831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jesper Gabs Jensen, Emily D Petersen, Tove Faber Frandsen
{"title":"Seeking and avoiding information: a qualitative study of the information behaviour of cancer patients","authors":"Jesper Gabs Jensen, Emily D Petersen, Tove Faber Frandsen","doi":"10.47989/colis2209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2209","url":null,"abstract":"Cancer patients seek information about their health and illness in many ways. Some seek information intensively while others avoid doing so. Through the cancer continuum, individuals may choose to meet their needs using several different approaches. In this paper, we explore how cancer patients actively seek information and, in some cases, cautiously and consciously avoid information that may be relevant, but does not meet their needs. Semi-structured interviews with nine former and current cancer patients were used for data collection. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analysed using a theoretical model of cancer information behaviour. Among the interviewees, different patterns of information seeking were identified, from itensely seeking information to avoiding it. Additionally, some cancer patients can actively seek information while consciously avoiding information that is relevant but doesn't meet their needs which can be effective approaches to protecting individuals from information, they are not able to cope with. This empirical study explores how behaviour of information seeking and avoidance can overlap and be used simultaneously.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79052025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interrogating paradata","authors":"Olle Sköld, Lisa Börjesson, Isto Huvila","doi":"10.47989/colis2206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2206","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of paradata has received increasing attention in recent information scholarship. The literature however shows considerable disagreement about what paradata is and how it can be purposive. The aim of this paper is to facilitate the use of the resources and analytical impetuses offered by the concept of paradata by providing an explanation to what paradata is in operational terms.The examination of paradata is based on a scoping review of 53 scholarly texts that varyingly engage with the concept.The reviewed texts were analysed using a concept-analysis framework focusing principally on discerning the main descriptive features of paradata and prevalent instances of use and usefulness.The paper shows what the key elements, relationships, use-cases and uncertainties of paradata are.The paper offers a paradata proto-definition: paradata is information about processes that operate a network of means, mental and physical actions and intellectual regimen in the creation or shaping of a(n information) product. The paper also outlines interconnections between paradata, metadata and provenance data, and suggests why it might make analytical sense to continue exploring the concept of paradata in information research and what the objectives of such explorations might be.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89626072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Academic information searching and learning by use of Keenious and Google Scholar: a pilot study","authors":"Jesper Solheim Johansen, Pia Borlund","doi":"10.47989/colis2231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2231","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports a pilot study on academic information searching and learning by use of Keenious and Google Scholar. The pilot study aims to evaluate the test design, and to learn about participants’ perceptions about Keenious and Google Scholar as searching and learning systems. The pilot consists of a convenience sample of 8 students. They searched Keenious and Google Scholar in opposite order to neutralise for order effect and identified research articles of relevance to their term paper. Hereafter they curated a reading list based on their search results. After searching and curation they completed questionnaires about their experiences. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the search performance results including the scale ratings. The participants perceive Keenious slightly more positively compared to Google Scholar as a system that inspires for learning and the retrieval of serendipitous results. Further, Keenious and Google Scholar are perceived to complement each other by retrieving different relevant results. The pilot study demonstrates a sufficient test design. Further, the importance of counterbalancing the search systems was confirmed. The participants will be introduced to Keenious prior to testing to neutralise the bias of the participants being more familiar with Google Scholar.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87531398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spiritual needs and modern librarianship: a survey of practising librarians in a Western context","authors":"Pranay Nangia, I. Ruthven","doi":"10.47989/colis2212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2212","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction. This study aimed to highlight the perceptions of spiritual needs in modern librarianship through a survey administered amongst practising librarians primarily in the USA and UK. In addition, this study contributes to the conceptualisation of the spiritual in library settings and discussions on service provision within Western libraries. Methods. We used a mixed-methods approach which collected quantitative and qualitative data through one survey. Analysis. We analysed the responses through descriptive statistics and thematic coding. Results. Librarians connected spiritual needs with humanness, emotions, wellbeing, religion and culture. Spiritual needs associated with love/belonging/respect and positivity/gratitude/hope/peace were perceived more often than those associated with resolution/death and the divine. The need to perform religious/ spiritual rituals and participate in religious/spiritual services was regarded as the least important to consider in modern librarianship. Conclusions. Our findings 1) Support prior research that conceptualises modern libraries as spaces for contemplation and spirituality; 2) Provide an account of how librarians understand the concept of spiritual needs; 3) Indicate librarians’ perceptions of the prevalence of spiritual needs amongst library patrons; 4) Highlight the perceived importance of considering spiritual needs in modern libraries.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"22 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72582821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Karen Nowé Hedvall, Malin Ögland, Jennifer T. Lindberg
{"title":"Digital first: challenges for public and regional libraries in Sweden","authors":"Karen Nowé Hedvall, Malin Ögland, Jennifer T. Lindberg","doi":"10.47989/colis2221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2221","url":null,"abstract":"Between 2018- 2020, Swedish public library staff were involved in the national project Digital First to strengthen their capability to support citizens in developing digital competencies. In this paper we focus on the challenges that staff and management in public and regional libraries experienced while striving to support people’s development of digital competencies. In 2019 we met with staff and managers of five public libraries in different parts of Sweden for interviews and focus groups. In 2020, 19 online interviews and 18 email questionnaires were carried out with 20 regional coordinators of the Digital First project. The two datasets were combined for a comprehensive analysis, supplemented with data from quarterly reports collected by the national coordinator of Digital First. We conducted a qualitative content analysis guided by the theoretical concepts of institutional logic and legitimacy. On the municipal and the regional level, library staff offered education and support to users in the development of digital skills. The respondents referred to the Swedish Library Act and to their experience of citizens’ information needs to justify the library’s involvement in these activities. However, prospective users seldom experienced a need for competency development, nor did they regard libraries as sources for help with digital skill-building. Other bodies within the municipal organization (e.g. IT departments) were also often ignorant of the library’s remit and area of expertise in digital skills. Tensions were identified among the expectations laid out at a national level in policy documents, the needs that library professionals strived to meet in their local work environments, and the expectations of the public. These tensions have complicated the ongoing efforts to justify the relevance of public and regional library work in Sweden.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86556227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bridging the gap - students’ information practices in the transition to working life","authors":"Sara Ahlryd","doi":"10.47989/colis2228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2228","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction. Due to the increased academisation of earlier vocational educations, higher education faces a dilemma when professional skills are theorised. Therefore, many students experience a gap between academic education and working life. In this study, students’ information activities during professional training is explored as well as how they can support students’ transition to working life. The aim of this study is to provide more knowledge about how students’ information activities contribute to their transition into social communities at the workplace. The empirical material was produced through 22 group interviews and 9 individual interviews with students on higher education programs aimed towards a particular occupation including professional training. The analysis was conducted as an interaction between the empirical material, previous research and a practice theoretical approach. Four major themes were identified in the empirical material. During their course of study, students seek, share and use information in different ways. In relation to professional training, their information activities change and develop as they socialise into workplace communities. Students’ transition to working life is an ongoing process during academic educations, shown by students’ changing information practices connected to professional training. During professional training students consolidate their understanding of workplace practices.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84255835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collaboration between academics and librarians in information literacy instruction at Aalto University following a decentralising restructure","authors":"Tayo Nagasawa","doi":"10.47989/colis2215","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2215","url":null,"abstract":"This study explored collaboration between academics and librarians in information literacy settings from the perspectives of information sharing and social networks based on a case study of Aalto University in Finland. A qualitative case study approach was adopted. Aalto University was selected as a salient case because its library organisation was decentrally restructured and embedded in institutional service sections in 2018. The data, mainly from interviews, were collected and analysed via thematic analysis. This study finds that academics and librarians collaborate indirectly. Mediated by study coordinators, key information and/or timetables are shared within online networks. Although the restructure of the library formed new ties outside the library, information on information literacy instruction is rarely shared. The library personnel reduction requires librarians to restrict their effort devoted to instructional services including information sharing. This study finds that organisational social networks with almost no cohesive ties between academics and librarians maintain collaboration for information literacy instruction based on occasional information sharing. Although the restructure of the library expanded its organisational horizons, the limited time and therefore effort available of librarians constrains substantial active information sharing for information literacy instruction.","PeriodicalId":47431,"journal":{"name":"Information Research-An International Electronic Journal","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88017480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}