Om framtiden vet vi intet ? en undersökning av hur Bibliotek 2.0 påverkar folkbibliotek och bibliotekarier
The point of departure for this thesis was an article written by Christer Hermansson (2008). He thinks that librarians, following the development of Library 2.0 and the change of public libraries, have strayed away from what he believes should be the focus of the library: Literature. The aim of this thesis is to study how librarians in six Swedish libraries perceive their occupational roles. How does the increased user control, which is seen as part of Library 2.0, affect the tasks of libraries and librarians? The material used in this study was acquired using a qualitative interview technique in which six librarians working in public libraries with experience of IT, mediation and purchase of literature partook. The interviews were analyzed by comparing the empirical material to theories of librarian models (Klasson 1991) respectively Community of practices (Sundin 2003). The results showed that there are different conceptions among the participating librarians regarding whether their occupation roles and the public library activity has changed/been affected by Library 2.0. Some librarians thought that the occupation role has changed, but not because of 2.0. Others meant that the core of the occupation role has not been changed; they use old working methods in new ways. It´s still too early to tell how the development of Library 2.0 will affect libraries and the tasks of librarians, the technology has not developed far enough yet in most Swedish public libraries.