Digitizing and digital libraries create great opportunities toprovide access to cultural heritage globally, but the quicklychanging information technology environment also raises manyquestions. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to analyse whatvisions and ideas behind one specific digital library, Europeana,that can be found in documentation related to the project. Whatideas can be identified concerning aspects such as userparticipation, access to information, knowledge andinformation literacy? What is the project’s role in relation toeducation, preservation of cultural heritage and democracy?The method used to answer these research questions is adescriptive idea analysis. The empirical material, consisting ofprimary sources written in relation to the project, has beencategorized within dimensions and analysed according toDouglas Raber’s three public library strategies: social activism,the conservative response and the populist initiative. Thefindings of this study are that social activism is the dominatingstrategy, including aims as to support social inclusion, promotecultural diversity and help democratize access to information.Another present strategy is the populist initiative, concerningthe will to keep up with changing user needs and online trends.The conservative response can be identified, but barely. Thereare good possibilities for the future development of this project,even if some contradictions can be found concerning thevisions in relation to financial, juridical and politicalrestrictions. Important problem areas such as the unevenparticipation of different member countries, copyrightrestrictions and diverse user needs, must be addressed also inthe future. / Program: Bibliotekarie
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-20568 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Nässén, Sara |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap / Bibliotekshögskolan, University of Borås/Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) |
| 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 | Kandidatuppsats, ; 2011:12 |
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