This is an investigation into the ways in which a group of librarians experience and make use of the intranet in their vocational role. The theoretical frame of reference consists of a model of how professionals seek information, which is based on a role-theory. As a method, I have applied a qualitative case-study. Using semi-structured qualitative interviews I have interviewed five librarians and the webmaster responsible for the intranet in their library. I have investigated how elements such as the age and vocational role of the librarians affect their use of the intranet. The result of the investigation shows that age and vocational role have only a minor effect on the work of these librarians. The degree to which they do use the intranet seems to depend more on their interest than on actual need. The librarians use the intranet both as an information channel and as a tool for work-related tasks. The intranet has altered the support of the librarians by making it possible for everybody to be informed by the information published there. Nobody can say that he has no chance to be informed. The librarians experience that the intranet has increased their responsibility for looking for and finding information on the intranet which corresponds to their needs. The advantage of the intranet is that the librarians can find the information whenever they want it, and no outsider can find it equally easily. The disadvantage is that the librarians experience difficulties in finding the relevant information on the intranet, because the search-engine and navigation-guide do not help sufficiently. Because of the demands from the Head of the Library and from their colleagues some role conflicts have arisen. The librarians experience a need to make use of the intranet to a higher extent than they do at present. They feel that they cannot fulfill the expectations of the Head of the Library and of their colleagues because they do not have enough knowledge to be able to make use of the intranet and thus they do not have easy access to the information published there. However, in spite of their difficulties in searching and finding information, they are satisfied with the contents of the intranet and they do not see any immediate demands for changes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-19400 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Stenlund, Olof |
| 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 | Magisteruppsats i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap vid institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, 1654-0247 ; 2009:31 |
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