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Biblioteket, bibliotekarien och framtiden / The Library, Librarian and the Future

During my time as a student at the School of Library and Information Science in Borås there was an ongoing discussion regarding whether or not the library and librarian were facing an identity crisis and what future consequences this may lead to. The discussion was and still is of interest to me since it most likely will have an impact on the identity I soon will make part of my self as a professional librarian. This master’s thesis is an attempt that to through discourse analysis seek clarity in what the future identity of the library and the librarian may consist of. I do so by examining articles from the two library journals Ikoner and Biblioteksbladet. Both what is explicitly and implicitly articulated is examined. What is said and by whom is it said? An examination of 33 articles reveals a complex picture that is later distilled into five discourses where a social discourse appears as the most prominent one: the library shall have social role and act as a democratic power in society. The parts that constitute the social discourse are also to varying degree noticeable in a populistic, conservative, human and technical discourse. Between some discourses conflicts, antagonisms, are visible. For instance can be mentioned the populistic discourse which starkly contrasts the conservative – they articulate totally different views on the future identity. When it comes to answer the question ”by whom is it said” the articles examined in this study are all written by a relatively small number of writers. Therefore I come to the conclusion that it’s possible to describe some of them as dominating creators of discourse. Furthermore, the interviewees whose opinions are put in print are mostly librarians which may mean that the expressed future identity can be a form of wishful thinking on their part, from their point of view. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-19110
Date January 2008
CreatorsOdenbring, Björn
PublisherHögskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap / Bibliotekshögskolan, University of Borås/Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS)
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageSwedish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
RelationMagisteruppsats i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap vid institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, 1654-0247 ; 2008:98

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