This bachelor’s thesis aims to examine the librarians' Competitive Intelligence (CI) practices and their views on the matter. Today, easy access to information makes greater demands on librarians’ and users’ knowledge regarding source criticism. Current trends in information services that develop through technological aids require strategies regarding CI to meet users’ information needs. Swedish libraries implement similar practices in their job description, where most of the information gathering is done by regional librarians. Though public libraries could benefit from a more structural conformation of CI definitions and execution, it seems to be of low priority. The research questions are: “How does CI take place among professionals in public library activities?” and “How do professionals in public libraries estimate the need for further development concerning CI within the organization?” Surveys were constructed with both opened-ended and closed questions and sent out to 40 randomized public libraries in Sweden. The empirical data was analyzed using a multimethod research containing both qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The thesis uses a theoretical analysis tool consisting of Ola Pilerots’ translation of Marcia Bates’s model “Modes of Information Seeking”. It was used to assist in coding the data and then analyzing them to get a better understanding of CI as an information practice. The findings indicate that CI occurs on a self-responsibility level with little consideration for scheduling, and librarians seem to wish for more structure and time regarding this activity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-28465 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Fischer, Emelie, Sörbom, Jeanette |
| 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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