Swedish public libraries have a clear mission to offer services which aim to increase the digital literacy among its users. This mission raises questions about how librarians describe the social practices of digital literacy training. This study is specifically focused on digital literacy training for seniors at Swedish public libraries. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight librarians and library associates and assistants were conducted and analyzed using direct content analysis, with a theoretical perspective of practice theory and digital care work. In a digitized society, unaccustomed senior users risk being shut out of social institutions and rely on the guidance of the public library. An important aspect of this is the ability to approach the problem from the user’s point of view and understand what they wish to learn. By helping the senior users to make an informed choice about digital technologies place in their lives, librarians help create an understanding for the digitized society. Librarians furthermore must handle the users emotions around digital technologies, since being unable to use them generates a negative self-image. Librarians can counteract negative stereotypes about seniors by encouraging seniors to become more engaged with digital technologies. Libraries and librarians can thereby be viewed as digital ambassadors. By acting as digital ambassadors for the digitized society, librarians can help seniors to increase their digital literacy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-32044 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Wik, Sofia |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för bibliotek, information, pedagogik och IT |
| 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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