The aim of the thesis is to examine how archivists work as consultants and how they perceive their professional role. The research emanates from the notion of resources and how these relate to aspects like environment and roles. The resources that the consultant can use in their work are dependent on which environment they are located in. The resources and the environment in turn effect the archivist’s role and the exertion of their profession. The study focuses on three Swedish archivists that are employed at the city archive of Stockholm and work as consultants to businesses of the city. The empirical study is based first on observations and then interviews. Grounded theory is used as a method, initially in the purpose of finding a theory that originates from the viewpoint of the informants. The results from this analysis highlight the way the consultants use resources in their everyday work. Theories concerning roles and environment are used to show how the insufficiency or availability of resources effect the roles and work of the consultants, as described here above. The result of the analysis show that the consultant’s role changes depending on which environment they are located in and whether or not they have access to certain resources. For example, time can both be an asset and a limitation. When the consultants work in an environment for a short period of time, their role are seen as an expert and they also advance in the hierarchy of the customer’s company. Simultaneously, the shortage of time can also pressure the consultant to make a less sufficient job. This in turn effects the role that the consultants have within their own establishment, in this case the city archive. Because of the shortage of time the consultants are, occasionally, instead seen as “sloppy” or not even considered to be real archivists. The study also shows that the role as a consultant might enable the archivist to better market their knowledge and become a more significant part of companies’ and businesses’ everyday work, and furthermore that additional research is needed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-323934 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Gustafsson, Sara |
| 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 arkivvetenskap, 1651-6087 ; 158 |
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