The following thesis aims to account for and describe the variations of perceptions that public librarians have regarding user-friendliness of the classification systems that are used in Swedish public libraries. How user-friendliness and the classification systems are perceived are examined to understand how the librarians might connect these two together. The thesis is based on the qualitive research methodology of phenomenography which is a method used in order to create an understanding of the variations of perceptions of a phenomenon. The phenomenographic method is applied by using qualitative interviews. For this study eight public librarians in the Stockholm region have been interviewed. The interviews were conducted in a phenomenographic manner and were set out to be a dialogue between the interviewer and the interviewee. All the libraries in the study are currently working in the SAB classification system. The study shows that there are a variation of different perceptions of user-friendliness and the classification systems. One perception that is found is that SAB is not user-friendly because of the lack of logic within the system and it is a common impression that users find the system confusing. A perception also states that SAB is “a dead system”, referring to the fact that SAB no longer is updated. The perception means that in time, SAB will not be a useable system. Another perception contradicts the first one and says that SAB is a system that users usually understand to a certain degree. The users have the capability to operate within the system to find literature they seek but as they submerge deeper into the systems hierarchy most users usually get confused. Another perception is that the connection between user-friendliness and classification systems is not of importance. This perception proclaims that user-friendliness can be achieved by working with signage and shelf placement instead. The study also shows that there is a gap between how the librarians perceive the classification systems and how they imagine their users perceiving them. This is shown in the lack of dialogue between users and librarians. A common perception among the librarians is that they have what they call a “home blindness” concerning the classification systems. This statement is made referring to the fact that librarians work within these systems day by day and easily forgets to reflect on the difficulties that a first-time user might face as they try to understand the systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-387897 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Gäfvert, Oscar |
| 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 ; 765 |
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