Högskolans hjärta? En undersökning av integreringen av Learning Resource Centre/LärandeResursCentrum-verksamheten vid tre svenska lärosäten
LRCLearning Resource CentreLearning CentreLärandeResursCentrumIntegreringHögskolaUniversitetHögskolebibliotekUniversitetsbibliotekDocumentationInformationLibrary scienceArchivisticsArkiv- och bibliotekskunskapDokumentationSocial Sciences
The development of higher education in Sweden poses new demands on higher education libraries. One way of meeting these demands has been to develop Learning Resource Centres (LRC), a concept that is relatively new in Sweden.The aim of this Master's thesis is to identify how the LRC-concept has been designed and integrated in three Swedish higher education institutions: Stockholms universitet, Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm and Göteborgs universitet. The thesis also aims at investigating what the Learning Resource Centres mean to the seats of learning, and in turn, the views of concerned parties in relation to the integration.The method used for the study is qualitative and based on interviews conducted with Learning Resource Centre staff, academic staff and principles or deans. In addition to this, strategic documents from the examined seats of learning are studied.Even though most Swedish Learning Resource Centres have used British Sheffield Hallam University's Adsetts Centre as their model, our study shows that the Swedish Learning Resource Centres of today have developed in various ways, due to local conditions; therefore, there is no definitive model for Swedish LRCs.In our opinion, one of the most important characteristics of a LRC should be its integration in the academic life of its university. There does not seem to be a "recipe" of how to conduct this integration. However, in this thesis we identify some aspects, in which integration should be focused and brought about.The LRC should be centrally placed in its mother organisation, the strategic documents should refer to its activities as well as its role in the process of learning, and staff of the Learning Resource Centre should be fully incorporated in the academic life of the higher education institution, especially when it comes to co-operating with academic staff.The study concludes that the examined Learning Resource Centres are aware of the importance of achieving integration, though the means in which they work to reach this and how far they have progressed in doing so differs.