In this two years master's thesis a regional project, Futurum.kom, is studied through the experiences of eight librarians from two of the participating libraries. The interviewees have all attended local and regional seminars where questions about core values, target groups and the role of the public library were discussed, among others. The seminars resulted in a number of core values and target groups. During the project, a number of advertising campaigns are to be conducted. The first one of these had recently been implemented at the time of the present study. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the interviewees organizational self-perception in relation to the project. Potential outcomes regarding the professional role are also studied. The thesis takes its theoretical premiss in theories of organizational identity, as well as in the concept of marketing culture. A qualitative method of semi-structured interviews is used. Results show an increased self-reflection, expressed through questioning what the library is, and who it is for. Also, an increased communicative awareness seems to have been developed, partly through the project. Although results are vague, there seems to be an ongoing shift in the organizational self-perception, manifested by an identified need of changed work procedures. In this respect, results indicate that the way of thinking about the library tends to be somewhat less library-centered and reactive, and more customer-focused and proactive, which is generally positively perceived. It is argued that the project can be understood as “management of meaning”; i.e. the project, its target groups and core values, supports a shift towards a stronger marketing culture. Although the core values as such seem to have had various impact, they do play a part in the questioning-process described above. Regarding the larger library, the project in many ways can be said to support the market-oriented approach that has previously been implemented. It therefore seems plausible that the change in organizational self-perception is more profound to the smaller library.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-158844 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Karlsson, Claes |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för ABM |
| 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 |
| Relation | Uppsatser inom biblioteks- & informationsvetenskap, 1650-4267 ; 541 |
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