Nordic Journal of Library and Information Studies

Mind the gap!

Hilde Moore — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This article gives a critical review and investigation of traditional generic ways of teaching source evaluation and source criticism. Furthermore, it aims to investigate a new approach to address this area of information literacy instruction for teaching librarians. While traditional approaches focus on evaluating the source at hand, this study offers a perspective to supplement this with a more reflective perspective.

The emphasises in this article is the need to focus on source consciousness though the newly developed model MIND (motivation – intention – need – debate). The goal is to supplement the traditional approaches of source evaluation where only the source is being assessed and no self-assessment is addressed. MIND also binds the searching process and source evaluation closer together and attempts to address the complexity of working with different sources. This approach does not attempt to replace former source evaluation processes, but rather to supplement them.

Norm Critical Projects in Swedish School Librarian Practices

Ulrika Centerwall, Lill Langelotz — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In this article, we explore the practices of school librarians with a specific focus on norm critical pedagogy, a distinctively Scandinavian concept with a basis in critical pedagogies. In Sweden, norm critique is a practice, a pedagogy and a discourse. Our article offers examples of school librarian practices that deal with issues of sexuality and gender conceptualized in their work with LGBTQ+ literature from a norm critical perspective. We analysed semi-structured interviews with eight librarians in four secondary and upper secondary schools through the lens of the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008). Our findings demonstrate how the norm critical practices of school librarians are enabled and constrained by arrangements within the school site, as well as by management, colleagues and professional learning practices. The projects carried out by school librarians that employ norm critical perspectives are both strengthened and challenged by collaboration with principals and other education professionals at the school site. When teachers challenge the views of librarians, they the latter have to re-think and re-negotiate normative positions. Hence, norm critical thinking is not only taught but also practiced in the everyday work in school libraries. This article argues that these norm critical perspectives and the librarians’ practices represent important contributions to the democratic assignment of Swedish schools.

Easier material management - at what cost?

Lovisa Liljegren — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Intelligent Material Management System, IMMS, was developed in a collaboration between Lyngsoe Systems, a commercial company, and public libraries in Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark, with the aim to reduce the time staff spend on managing library materials. The aim of this article is to shed light on what IMMS means for the library practices and hence for the librarian profession. Two research questions will guide the analysis: How do librarians and IMMS interplay at the public library in Copenhagen, Denmark? How does the implementation of IMMS impact the library practices at the branch libraries in Copenhagen, Denmark? With the theoretical lens of practice theory, the article shows how new norms and rules as well as new tools and objects are implemented with IMMS. Librarians need to be able to work with the new objects and tools, the new norms and to create an inspiring library room for library users. Their relation to collection management is changed, and their ability to evaluate materials is not needed in the same way when it comes to selection of titles for the collection. This sometimes creates a tension between the librarian and the system, especially when the librarians’ role in the practice is to perform the decision-making by the algorithm, and not to use their skills to evaluate resources.

Book review: Paradoxes of Media and Information Literacy: A Crisis of Information

Alison Hicks — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Book review: Dealing with Change Through Information Sculpting

Tuomas Harviainen — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Att ta plats och göra skillnad: skolbibliotekariepraktiker i framgångsrika verksamheter

Fredrik Hanell — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Book review of Ulrika Centerwalls (2022) Att ta plats och göra skillnad: skolbibliotekariepraktiker i framgångsrika verksamheter, Högskolan i Borås, Borås.

Anmeldelse: Barnbiblioteket tar form: En idéanalytisk studie av perioden 1945–2018

Nanna Kann-Rasmussen — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Editorial

Lisa Andersson — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100