The purpose of this paper is to examine if employees at Swedish higher education libraries recommend shadow libraries, also known as Black Open Access, to its patrons as an alternative way to find information. We also want to see if there are any common patterns in the attitudes towards shadow libraries in general as well as the usage of them. Data was collected via a web based survey that yielded 239 responses. We found that only a small minority of employees had ever recommended the usage of shadow libraries to patrons and that few situations usually allow opportunities to recommend them. The results also show three themes of attitudes: 1) Employees with no degree in library and/or information sciences and that were already familiar with shadow libraries were most likely to agree with the opinion that information should not be treated as a commodity. 2) Employees with shorter working experience, were already familiar with shadow libraries and previously had referred patrons to them were more likely to agree with the opinion that shadow libraries favor an open and democratic society. 3) Younger employees with a gender identity other than man or woman and that previously had referred patrons to shadow libraries were more likely to agree with the opinion that shadow libraries are an acceptable alternative information source
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-220027 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Holmlid Kolenda, Norea, Nordung Omnell, Elina |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Sociologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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