Editorial

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/njlis.v5i2.157398

Keywords:

academic libraries, university libraries

Abstract

This special issue highlights research taking place on and about academic libraries. The role of libraries in research and higher education is evolving, adapting to the rapidly changing needs of the communities they serve. Library services are being innovated to reach out with relevant knowledge and resources at the right time. All three research papers in this issue are case studies focusing on the academic library’s contribution to the integration of students in academic life, preparation of students for scholarly discourse and digital literacy training. They all show how libraries are taking responsibility for first generation students by creating communities for their development of the tacit knowledge of the academic world or embedding literacy training in university courses.

In addition to research papers, this issue of NJLIS includes contributions in the format practice papers. In our experience, the innovation and development happening in the practice field does not always fit the format of a research paper. Nonetheless we find that in the context of academic libraries, describing the progress of practice through cases and narratives is both interesting and relevant to the community of library and information specialists. Including practice papers has allowed for the presentation, on their own terms, of development projects in research libraries that do not have the form or format of research.

References

Almlie, G. S. (2020). Akademisk fagskriving på ingeniørstudiet. Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education, 12(2), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.15845/noril.v12i2.3038

Andersdotter, K. (2023). Artificial intelligence skills and knowledge in libraries: Experiences and critical impressions from a learning circle. Journal of Information Literacy, 17(2), 108–130. https://doi.org/10.11645/17.2.14

Anderson, A. (2024). Etnografisk multimediearkiv og GDPR. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift, 35(1), 68–70. https://doi.org/10.18261/nat.35.1.10

Anderson, A., Fagerlid, C., Larsen, H., & Straume, I. S. (Eds.). (2017). Det åpne bibliotek: Forskningsbibliotek i endring. Cappelen Damm Forskning. https://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.20

Bech-Hanssen, L., Boström, E., & Jadefrid, M. (2024). Relationellt biblioteksarbete med forskare, lärare och studenter: En ansats för verksamhetsutveckling vid Göteborgs universitet. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/83734

Bøyum, I., Byström, K., & Pharo, N. (2021). Is the reference desk used for reference interviews. Reference Services Review, 49(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-11-2020-0066

Bredahl, L., Jacobsen, K. A., & Husen, K. J. (2016). Vil ph.d.-studerende gå på café… i biblioteket? Og hvad skulle de få ud af det? [Poster]. Danske Fag-, Forsknings- og Uddannelsesbiblioteker: Årsmøde 2016, Odense, Danmark. https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/files/121079410/DFFU_poster_endelig_version.pdf

Carlsson, H. (2016). Library assessment and quality assurance: Creating a staff-driven and user-focused development process. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 11(2), 28–33. https://doi.org/10.18438/B81W5X

Carlsson, H., & Torngren, T. (2020). Understanding library users via surveys and other methods: Best practices for evidence-based library development. Journal of Library Administration, 60(8), 925–944. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2020.1820276

Chatzipanagiotou, N., Mirijamdotter, A., & Mörtberg, C. (2025). Work-integrated learning in managers’ cooperative work practices. Learning Organization, 32(1), 109–125. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/tlo-12-2022-0157

Dahlqvist, C. (2024). The emotional learning journey: Cognitive appraisals and information-seeking achievement emotions of Swedish primary teacher students. Åbo Akademi - Åbo Akademi University. https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/189887

Dellstig, D. (2020). Den efterfrågade vetenskapen: Universitetsbibliotek, akademiska tidskrifter och vetenskapliga förlag 1968–2018. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-424722

Düren, P., Goldstein, S., Landøy , A., Repanovici, A., & Saarti, J. (2019). Effects of the new public management (NPM) and austerity in European public and academic Libraries. Journal of Library Administration, 59(3), 342–357. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2019.1583019

Dutoit, M. (2022). We exchange data all the time: A case study on data conceptualisation and data sharing by researchers in the context of open data policies, OsloMet - Oslo metropolitan university. https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3031007

Ejdebäck, M., & Wickenberg, M. (2021). En litteraturkurs för att träna generella färdigheter och förmågor. DAL21 - Det akademiska lärarskapet, 28–29. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-21725

Ejdebäck, M., & Wickenberg, M. (2022). Progression inom informationskompetens och utveckling av studenters akademiska skrivande. NU2022, Nätverk och Utveckling, Att synliggöra lärande, SUHF, 15-17 juni 2022, Stockholm. https://his.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1690068&dswid=-9129

Eklund, P. (2022). Academic librarianship in flux: The dynamics of negotiating professional jurisdiction. Bibliotekshögskolan, Högskolan i Borås. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-26641

Francke, H., Gamalielsson, J., & Lundell, B. (2017). Institutional repositories as infrastructures for long-term preservation. Information Research, 22(2), paper 757. https://informationr.net/ir/22-2/paper757.html

Fredriksson, M. (2020). Long-term value of an in-depth survey regarding study environments. Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries, 16(2), 29–32. https://doi.org/10.32384/jeahil16391

Friedrichsen, A., & Meyer, B. (2021). Studerendes informationskompetence – om samarbejder mellem universitetsbibliotekarer og universitetsundervisere. Sprogforum. Tidsskrift for sprog- og kulturpædagogik, 27(72), Article 72. https://doi.org/10.7146/spr.v27i72.132082

Gilbert, J., & Michnik, K. (Eds.). (2024). Stöd för forskning och utbildning: Lärosätesbiblioteken i Sverige. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/82531

Gullbekk, E. (2021). Performing interdisciplinary knowledge: Information work in emerging interdisciplinary research, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. https://skriftserien.oslomet.no/index.php/skriftserien/article/view/742

Haglund, L. (2020). Evidence basing the study environment needs at a small specialist university by using design thinking methods. Journal of EAHIL: European Association for Health Information and Libraries, 16(1), 4–11. http://ojs.eahil.eu/ojs/index.php/JEAHIL/article/view/327/336

Hanell, F. (2019). Lärarstudenters digitala studievardag: Informationslitteracitet vid en förskollärarutbildning, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper, Lunds universitet. https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/56833109/Fredrik_Hanell_komplett.pdf

Hansson, J., & Johannesson, K. (2013). Librarians’ views of academic library support for scholarly publishing: An every-day perspective. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(3), 232–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2013.02.002

Haynes, D., Golub, K., Gnoli, C., Salaba, A., Shiri, A., & Slavic, A. (2024). Improving search quality by enhancing access to metadata. In Proceedings of the 7th ISKO UK Biennial Conference 2023, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, July 24-25, 2023. https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3661/07-SHORT-DHaynes-ISKOUK2023.pdf

Høyrup, H., Nielsen, H. J., & Hjørland, B. (Eds.). (2012). Viden i spil: Forskningsbibliotekers funktioner i forandring. Samfundslitteratur.

Iivonen, M., Helminen, P., Ndinoshiho, J. M., & Sisättö, O. (Eds.). (2012). Empowering people: Collaboration between Finnish and Namibian University libraries. Tampere University Press.

Jadefrid, M., & De Fine Licht, J. (2024). Ett projekt för ökad samverkan mellan universitetsbiblioteket och institutioner vid Göteborgs universitet. Högre utbildning, 14(2), 56–63. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.23865/hu.v14.6080

Jensen, M. K., Ellegaard, O., & Wallin, J. A. (2020). Online informationssøgning i en overgangstid: Med særligt fokus på det historiske forløb i et større dansk forskningsbibliotek. Nordic Journal of Library and Information Studies, 1(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.7146/njlis.v1i1.120080

Johannesson, K., & Hansson, J. (2012). Akademiska bibliotekariers förhållningssätt till forskares publiceringsstrategier: Med särskilt avseende på frågan om open access. In H. Høyrup, H. J. Nielsen, & B. Hjørland (Eds.), Viden i spil: Forskningsbibliotekers funktioner i forandring (pp. 280–302). Samfundslitteratur.

Johansson, V., & Nonthacumjane, P. (2022). Representational work and “reverse order” essentialism: Digitisation of local information in Thailand and Bhabha’s Third Space. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 55(2), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1177/096100062211431

Jorum, I., & Eklund Heinonen, M. (2014). Literacies for academic and professional purposes: Two collaboration projects with the University Library. IFLA. http://library.ifla.org/894/1/169-jorum-en.pdf

Juntunen, A., Muhonen, A., Nygrén, U., & Saarti, J. (2013). Reinventing the academic library and its mission: Service design in three merged Finnish libraries. In A. Woodsworth & W. D. Penniman (Eds.), Mergers and alliances: The wider view (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 36, pp. 225–246). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-2830(2013)0000036011

Kaatrakoski, H., & Lahikainen, J. (2016). “What we do every day is impossible”: Managing change by developing a knotworking culture in an academic library. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 42(5), 515–521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2016.06.001

Kämäräinen, J., & Saarti, J. (2013). Rhetoric in the Finnish higher education information literacy teaching: Analysis of the activity systems found in the Finnish academic libraries IL-recommendations. In S. Kurbanoğlu, E. Grassian, D. Mizrachi, R. Catts, & S. Špiranec (Eds.), Worldwide Commonalities and Challenges in Information Literacy Research and Practice (Vol. 397, pp. 520–527). Springer.

Karlsson, N. (2014). The crossroads of academic electronic availability: How well does Google Scholar measure up against a university-based metadata system in 2014? Current Science, 107(10), 1661–1665.

Kautonen, H., & Gasparini, A. A. (2024). B-Wheel: Building AI competences in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 50(4), 102886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2024.102886

Kurti, E., & Miranda, K. (2024). Digital innovation challenges: The case of an academic library. In ECIS 2024 Proceedings (no. 2289). AIS Library. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2024/track12_digtrans/track12_digtrans/18

Kvale, L. H. (2022). Perspectives, roles, and knowledge transfer amongst stakeholders of research data sharing. OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University. https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3027970

Kvale, L. H., & Stangeland, E. (2017). Skills for research data management: Developing RDM courses at the University of Oslo. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 728–730. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2017.14505401134

Lassi, M., Johnsson, M., & Golub, K. (2016). Research data services: An exploration of requirements at two Swedish universities. IFLA Journal, 42(4), 266–277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0340035216671963

Lehto, A., Toivonen, L., & Iivonen, M. (2012). University library premises: The evaluation of customer satisfaction and usage. In Libraries Driving Access to Knowledge (pp. 289–313). Walter de Gruyter GmbH.

Maravela, A. (2024). Papyrussamlingen ved Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo: Glimt av liv og død i gresk og romersk Egypt. Aigis, 18(1). https://tidsskrift.dk/aigis/article/view/145937

Martinez, M. A. (2024). Material awareness: Exploring the entanglement of library digitization and digital textual scholarship. Bibliotekshögskolan, Högskolan i Borås. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-31790

Muhonen, A., Nygrén, U., & Saarti, J. (2011). Bringing order out of chaos: Benchmarking tools used in merging university libraries in Finland. In A. Woodsworth (Ed.), Librarianship in times of crisis (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 34, pp. 183–205). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-2830(2011)0000034012

Muhonen, A., Saarti, J., & Vattulainen, P. (2010). Managing the life cycles of the document and library collections in Finnish academic libraries. Library Management, 31(8/9), 669–677. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121011093432

Niemi-Grundström, M. (2021). Customer value as a key concept for enhancing the customer insight in academic libraries. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 10(4), 407–415. https://qqml-journal.net/index.php/qqml/article/view/545

Nolin, J. (2012). At genskabe forbindelsen mellem forskere og bibliotekarer igennem personaliserede meta-tjenester. In H. Høyrup, H. J. Nielsen, & B. Hjørland (Eds.), Viden i spil: Forskningsbibliotekers funktioner i forandring (pp. 243–265). Samfundslitteratur.

Nolin, J. (2013). The special librarian and personalized meta-services: Strategies for reconnecting librarians and researchers. Library Review, 62(8/9), 508–524. https://doi.org/10.1108/LR-02-2013-0015

Olsson, L., Francke, H., Lindelöw, C. H., & Willén, N. (2020). The first Swedish Read & Publish agreement: An evaluation of the Springer Compact pilot. LIBER Quarterly: The Journal of the Association of European Research Libraries, 30(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.18352/lq.10309

Olsson, L., Hertil Lindelöw, C., Österlund, L., & Jakobsson, F. (2020a). Cancelling with the world’s largest scholarly publisher: Lessons from the Swedish experience of having no access to Elsevier. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 33(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.507

Olsson, L., Hertil Lindelöw, C., Österlund, L., & Jakobsson, F. (2020b). Swedish researchers’ responses to the cancellation of the big deal with Elsevier. Insights: The UKSG Journal, 33(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.521

Olsson, M., & Bindler, A. (2016). We have to talk about collaboration: How a university library and writing centre work together to better help students with information literacy. Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.15845/noril.v8i1.247

Palonen, V., Blinnikka, S., Ohvo, U., & Parikka, S. (2014). Joint academic libraries in Finland: Different models of integration. In Mergers and alliances: The operational view and cases (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 37, pp. 223–242). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-2830(2013)0000037014

Persson, S., & Svenningsson, M. (2017). Librarians as advocates of social media for researchers: A social media project initiated by Linköping University Library, Sweden. In H. Fallon & G. Walton (Eds.), Librarian as communicator: Case studies and international perspectives (pp. 198–208). Routledge.

Pilerot, O., Bolaños Zarate, F., & Donoso Vegas, R. (2024). Following standards: A document ethnography in Chilean University Libraries. Journal of Documentation, 81(7), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-08-2024-0202

Pilerot, O., & Lindberg, J. (2018). Inside the library: Academic librarians’ knowing in practice. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(3), 254–263. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000618769970

Rintamäki, K. M., Flemming, C., Lehto, A. M., & Toukonen, J. (2018). Creating value for all: Joint academic library in the service of five universities. Library Management, 39(8/9), 605–614. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-10-2017-0108

Saarti, J. (2018). 10. Collection policies for the post-digital era of academic publishing – future scenarios for the academic libraries. In Repositories for Print (pp. 109–118). De Gruyter Saur. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110535372-010/html

Saarti, J., Juntunen, A., Laitinen, M., & Taskinen, A. (2020). Academic library directors’ use of statistical data: Benchmarking tools for the libraries. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 9(2), 247–255. https://qqml-journal.net/index.php/qqml/article/view/621

Saarti, J., Laitinen, M. A., & Vattulainen, P. (2017). Effects of the digitization to the printed collection policies: The digital knowledge economy and the Finnish academic libraries. Library Management, 38(2/3), 167–174. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-01-2017-0004

Schmidt, N. (2020). The privilege to select: Global research system, European academic library collections, and decolonisation. Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University.

Sjökvist, P. (2016). Transcription in rare books cataloging. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 54(5-6), 377–383. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01639374.2016.1192079

Straume, I. (2017). Skrivesenter i forskningsbibliotek: Om teorigrunnlag, identitet og legitimering. In A. Anderson, C. Fagerlid, H. Larsen, & I. S. Straume (Eds.), Det åpne bibliotek: Forskningsbibliotek i endring (pp. 99–119). Cappelen Damm Forskning. https://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.20

Sundgaard, H. F., & Sandvik, K. (2024). Digital, trygg og aktiv: Om skjermdeling i bibliotekveiledning. Uniped (Lillehammer), 47(3), 212–223. https://doi.org/10.18261/uniped.47.3.4

Sverre, B. L., Frisnes, H., Gjone Sandsleth, M., & Skjæret Stenhammer, A. (2022). ”Jeg blir sett, bekreftet positivt, og det gir mot”: Psykososialt læringsmiljø i Akademisk språkkafé. Uniped, 45(1), 27–38. https://doi.org/10.18261/uniped.45.1.4

Uwamwezi, B. (2020). Merger and management: University of Rwanda libraries in a transitional context. The Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:23205/FULLTEXT02.pdf

Vårheim, A. (2007). Social capital and public libraries: The need for research. Library & Information Science Research, 29(3), 416–428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2007.04.009

Åström, F., & Hansson, J. (2013). How implementation of bibliometric practice affects the role of academic libraries. In Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 45(4), 316–322. http://lis.sagepub.com/content/45/4/316.abstract

Downloads

Published

2025-05-28

How to Cite

Kjellberg, S., Francke, H., & Kvale, L. H. (2025). Editorial. Nordic Journal of Library and Information Studies, 5(2), i-xii. https://doi.org/10.7146/njlis.v5i2.157398