tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032759098860657532024-03-05T08:30:48.323+01:00Notes on Documentation and Librarianship - Archive 2010-2014Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-41961876376413437312014-11-24T19:08:00.000+01:002014-11-24T19:14:16.605+01:00The endNot only is this the last entry of this blog, but it's the last blog entry that I'll ever do.<br />
Thank you.Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-63226506659770141182014-11-11T11:06:00.000+01:002014-11-11T11:56:07.851+01:00Att bilda en bibliotekarie - new book in stores now.<style>
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Today, my new Swedish book <b><i>Att bilda en bibliotekarie </i></b>hits
the shelves of your favorite virtual book store.</div>
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<i>Att bilda en bibliotekarie</i>, published on <a href="http://corp.btj.se/?id=118" target="_blank">BTJ Förlag</a>, is a collection of popular essays on
cultural heritage digitization, information literacy, theory development in Library and
Information Science, and the history of librarianship education.</div>
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You can buy it <a href="http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789170187773/att-bilda-en-bibliotekarie-essaer/" target="_blank">here</a></div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-52463691143822867402014-09-26T19:38:00.000+02:002014-09-27T12:40:20.219+02:00Creating librarians - erudite professionals or employable LIS students? Social expectations on future librarians and LIS curricula. Talk given at Göteborg Book Fair, 25 september 2014. <style>
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<i>This weekend marks the annual <a href="http://www.bokmassan.se/en/" target="_blank">Göteborg Book Fair, Bok och Bibliotek 2014</a>. As part of the <a href="http://lnu.se/om-lnu/evenemang/bok--och-biblioteksmassan/linneuniversitetets-program-vid-bokmassan" target="_blank">Linnaeus University programme</a>, I gave a talk on
library education in a historical and social perspective. The book fair itself
was as crowded and horrendous as ever, but I was happy to see my own little session
turning out to be very nice and surprisingly intimate, with a small number of politely
engaged attendants. The talk was also promoting my upcoming Swedish book </i>Att
bilda en bibliotekarie<i>, which will be out within a week or so on <a href="http://corp.btj.se/?id=118" target="_blank">BTJ Förlag</a>.
The following is a short summary of the talk:</i></div>
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Librarianship builds on a long tradition of very stable
practices. It has looked fundamentally the same for at least five thousand
years. Very little has changed. This simple fact is something that many
librarians and library managers and funders today seem to feel a bit
uncomfortable with, since the norm in contemporary librarianship, as well as in
society at large, is to be as adaptive and innovative as possible. Of course we
see this in relation to new information and communication technologies. A
technological imperative has replaced a moral one, which could thrive in times
of less technological pressure on libraries. This change of imperative has also
changed the ways we see library education. The idea of specific education for
librarians is in itself not very old – it isn’t until the middle of the 19th
century that we find what could be described as ”modern” library education curricula,
first in central Europe, and somewhat later in the USA. In the very long time
that preceded these, librarianship was thought of as a highly intellectual
practice and there are many examples of erudite librarians working in close
proximity to various cultural, religious and political power centres. For
centuries the head librarian at the Biblioteca Apostolica in the Vatican State
worked very closely with the Holy See, and in the 17th century France we find
librarians within the inner circles of <i>La Républic des Savants. </i></div>
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The closeness to power was not entirely broken unil the late
19th century when we see the emergence of educational programmes for public
libraries, a completely new kind of library that on a local level needed
another kind of librarians that those of earlier times. Melvil Dewey set the template
for how these new curriculi shold be, focussing on a combination of literature
and library administration and techniques. </div>
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When the first proper Swedish library education took off in
1926, it was fully inspired by Dewey’s American example (as were most of the
ideas behind the public libraries). It attracted primarily well educated women,
who completed various humanistic courses with a library education that in four
month gave as many lectures as we today do in one and a half years in our LIS
programmes.</div>
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In a sense these librarians might be considered as erudites,
altough in another, more pragmatic sense than that of the 17th century
librarians. For most parts of the 20th century librarians were seen as
”learned” professionals, something which gave them a specific status in their
local communities or in their universities. It isn’t until we see the
paradigmatic shift of information technology that this ideal for library professionals
and the educational programmes that provided them starts to erode. Suddenly
other qualities than humanistic learning and erudite morals takes over – the
perceived needs of the ”user” replaces the authority of the highly qualified
librarian. From an educational point of view, the final turning point is the
implementation of the Bologna process which not only makes european Higher
Education Institutions more homogenous, but also focus more on employability
than morals and learning. Millennia of professional practice development was
thrown overboard in the name of technology and economic growth ideology. It
goes without saying that librarianship is a profession which is very badly
suited to fit this ideology since the very core of professional integrity
appeals to other ideals, now politically obsolete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new librarians graduating from our LIS programmes, however, are of course
children of this age. Does this mean then that we should shut down our
libraries or change our LIS curricula even more? Well, this is a actually hard
to say, for as time rushes on, we are getting more and more aware of the fact
that the economic growth ideology, which is the foundation of the Bologna process,
is not very durable and that we need to find another path for social
construction. In the same way that the old national states finally seems to
crumble (it was bound to happen), the technological and economic imperative of
higher education – and librarianship – will crumble as well and make way for something
new. This ”new” might very well be a view on humanity as clever enough to build
on experience and a trust in knowledge as a base for building sound
institutions for the benefit of a more equal society, both economically and
culturally. When that time comes, libraries will still be there and we who
educate professional librarians will have a very strong tradition to fall back
on. We will know what to do. The erudite librarian is also a humanistic librarian
and when today’s society suffers its inevitable nervous breakdown, it might
very well be that we will turn to classic humanities to get us back on track.
The way to get there will, after this era of social media and pedagogical
experimentation, be through traditional libraries and library services – provided
by true, erudite professionals. That is, if they still exist. If it is not too
late.</div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-71684175079297841222014-07-10T16:00:00.002+02:002014-07-10T21:09:04.780+02:00Dewey recital at alternative Swedish music festival<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOxxBw2uAShwDSWuBJG14n1FuD9v4S3mDi78Qlpyqnnf0PR_IB1mqTCsohZw3Y4CHAvqVDNb9HyPIR2Sr5viN6ysOk4QaIlE7TkplIbmVJhRWxqdbHi3gS235FNOcgtOK88N6wPkYlCc/s1600/datharp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOxxBw2uAShwDSWuBJG14n1FuD9v4S3mDi78Qlpyqnnf0PR_IB1mqTCsohZw3Y4CHAvqVDNb9HyPIR2Sr5viN6ysOk4QaIlE7TkplIbmVJhRWxqdbHi3gS235FNOcgtOK88N6wPkYlCc/s1600/datharp.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Truls, a friend of mine who lives a couple of houses away
here in Uråsa is, among many other things, a music creator. He creates sounds,
noise, music. A while back I was asked to take part in his current electronica
duo project DAt Harp for a one-off occasion. They needed a recital of some sort
and the piece should be performed at the Swedish alternative music festival
<a href="http://www.livochlust.se/?q=2014" target="_blank">Säljerydsfestivalen </a>in the beginning of july. As this annual festival is fuelled by visions of anarchistic freedom, I chose to read from the works of the
perhaps least anarchistic person that I know of: Melvil Dewey. I recited
Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC), sections 612.17-612.19, Hart (Dewey
spelling) and 521.1-521.4, Theoretic Astronomy. Through these categories body,
love and celestial harmony were strangely united, all integrated into DAt Harp’s
music. </div>
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I used my personal copy of the legendary 8th edition of the
system, published in 1913. This particular copy was first owned by Swedish
public library pioneer Greta Linder. It contains several marginal notes made
by her on the pros and cons of the system – almost a century before it was
implemented in Swedish libraries. </div>
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The performance was, as is customary in these days of social
media horror, recorded.</div>
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So, here it is – enjoy:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks to Truls and Mattias for having me on the set - I enjoyed it immensly.</span></div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-84375902819849477682014-05-09T18:43:00.000+02:002014-05-09T21:36:50.790+02:00Sexual diversity and the heteronormative library - lecture given at Växjö Pride 7 may 2014<style>
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<i>This week, rainbow flags colour the city centre of Växjö.
<a href="http://www.vaxjopride.se/" target="_blank">Växjö Pride </a>presents an array of lectures, films, debates, concerts and
lastly, a parade through town. I was happy to be invited to give a talk as part
of the <a href="http://lnu.se/om-lnu/strategi-och-verksamhetsutveckling/lika-villkor/lnu-pa-pride" target="_blank">Linnaeus University Pride programme</a>. I chose to speak about ”sexual
diversity and the heteronormative library”. A point of departure
was taken in the social norm reproduction of public libraries, and how this affects
groups and individuals who are not heterosexual. The following is a summary of
the lecture.</i></div>
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Public libraries are political institutions, but not just
that; they are also moral and normative institutions, set to support the social
order of which they are part. It is only during the last couple of decades that
the traditional moral and normative aspects of libraries and librarianship has
been questionned by a more user orientated approach, pushing back traditional
preferences seen in acquisition and reference service in libraries throughout
the westen world. At the same time, the idea of public libraries ”serving all”
in society has changed. That an institution as the public library reproduces
certain values is in itself nothing strange – this is somenthing all public institutions
do. What is interesting to see is how those people, ideas, values and movements
that do not fit into the reproduced norms and values are treated. </div>
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Traditionally, public libraries have defined themselves as
extraordinary inclusive, stating ”all citizens” as their users. Norms and
values of the majority has thus been taken for granted and alternative views
and habits have been, basically, made invisible. That which is the norm is
everything, and deviations do simply not exist (officially). If an alternative wants
or needs to become visible in this enironment, it has to present itself as just
that - an alternative.</div>
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Today the situation is slightly different. Libraries refer
to ”all citizens” as their users to a much lesser degree than just a few
decades ago. Instead, citizens are divided into defined usergroups, that may or
may not be subject of certain attention and/or activites. Teenagers, book
lovers, small children, parents, immigrants, various minority groups, elderly,
homeless people and non-heterosexuals are just some of the groups frequently
discussed within contemporary librarianship. Not all of these groups
necessarily break with majority norms or values – but non-heterosexuals do. We
may call this trend of prioritizing specific groups ”inclusion through
distinction” or ”inclusion through separation”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of making<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></i>a normative deviation or alternative
invisible, it is instead the norm itself that hides behind these distinctions.
The heterosexual majority is not considered a ”group”, but instead an invisible
norm. Both of these approaches have their pitfalls, and the question is of
course which is most beneficial to the minorities and alternatives. </div>
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When Library and Information Science scholars study sexual
diversity and LGBTQ issues it is mostly within three different areas: knowledge
organization (documents and their classification/indexing); the reference
situation (focusing on librarian/user interaction and acquisition) and;
information needs of non-heterosexual groups and individuals (user studies). In
all, however, not much research is done, even on an international level, and
and it is not until the late 1990’s that LGBTQ issues become visible in
LIS research at all (but for some singular earlier exceptions). </div>
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Although public libraries have proven to be very important
for non-heterosexual individuals for their coming out process, for their own
identity shaping and as places where information and gay/lesbian (non-heterosexual)
fiction can be found and ordered without pressure, there are a number of things
that are still being pointed out by research as problematic. Classification and
indexing systems are generally exclusively heterosexual bias in tebles and term
choices, even if progress now is being made; when encountering librarians, the
best service is provided to those who are most like the librarians themselves
(in looks as well as in morals); information behaviour varies significantly
within the LGBT community - one thing we do know however, is that transgender
people have significantly more difficult<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ies
</i>to find their use of libraries comfortable in the way that cis-people* have.
Instead they turn to the Internet in a more exclusive manner than other LGBTQ
groups. </div>
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How then are libraries approaching issues concerning non-heterosexual
individuals and the LGBTQ community? As research and social development have
made librarians increasingly aware of the specific needs of gays, lesbians and
transgender people, we have slowly begun to see more and more attempts to
attract these groups into ordinary library activities. In some cases, the creation
of a ”rainbow shelf” is considered enough. This is of course not unproblematic
in that such a shelf (or corner, or place) on the one hand creates visibility
for these groups, but on the other separates them on a quite visible and
physical level within the library room. Is that really what the LGBTQ community
needs? What most people want, regardless of sexual, politcal or moral orientation,
is to be included in their local community without predjudice and without
distinction – to be like ”everybody else”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lately, a couple of libraries in the Stockholm area has
taken the question one step further and applied for a LGBT certificate. Such certificate
is provided by <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.rfsl.se/" target="_blank">RFSL -The Swedish Federation forLesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights</a>, and includes education and
critical analysis of the activities of the organization in the light of LGBT
needs and values. Even though there is always a risk that such certification
can be used to gain cheap political points, it is, if taken seriously, an
alternative that goes way beyond just putting up a ”rainbow shelf”. It remains
to be seen how this work will turn out in Swedish libraries. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it is indeed a way to include non-heterosexual
individuals in the general norm of society on the same terms as anybody else –
if so, that would be a significant step towards a new norm reproduction, not
only for libraries, but for society as a whole.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*cis-pepole = those who identify with their birthgiven sex –
the term is used to distinguish transpeople from those who are not.</span></div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-42073049997509356902014-03-18T19:29:00.002+01:002014-03-21T14:13:01.044+01:00On the documentality of future libraries<style>
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It is quite popular to predict the future of libraries, not
least among librarians. Often we notice a kind of strange contradiction in
these predictions, of simultaneously being obsolete and at the centre of a
brave new digital world. In some cases this turns into a kind of institutional
schizophrenia, which is at best amusing and at worst destructive. Most likely
libraries will not be obsolete in the decades to come. Most likely some
libraries will change quite a lot in the decades to come. This is of course a
truism, but to understand the logic of future libraries, we must look at the
basic legitimacy of libraries as social and intellectual institutions. This can
be defined in many ways. One way of describing libraries – and librarianship –
is in terms of documentality. Documentality is in itself not an unproblematic
concept, but it is basically about what documents do and how they make us act.
We may speak of documentary practices or of ontological documentality, where
documents are what <i>de facto</i> constitute institutions. In this respect libraries
are interesting, because they can be said to be built upon a double
documentality; 1. Documents that legally and administratively constitute a
library, and 2. Documents that constitute the library in terms of its
holdings. Without these two kinds of documentalities combined, there would be
no libraries, and there would be no legitimacy to uphold them as social
institutions. The same goes for librarianship. As a profession it is defined by
a set of documents; degrees from LIS educational programmes, codes of ethical
conduct, institutional or personal accreditations, memberships in professional
associations – all which are legitimized through the very existence of a
specific documentality. Traditionally librarianship has also been defined by a
specific (often custodian) relation to the holdings of a specific library, or a
specific type of library.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, is it possible to speak of librarianship as a single
profession? Yes, I do believe it is. Conditions vary though, between different
library settings and types of documentary institutions, and so does the self-image fostered within them. It is interesting to see that the anxiety over
professional identity and the future of libraries are very much tied to public
libraries. In for instance academic libraries we don’t see these kinds of
discussions. I believe that one of the reasons or this is to be found in the
documentality of libraries and librarianship.
</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Public libraries are
a relatively new phenomena related closely to western democratic ideals,
stemming from the 18th century Enlightenment movement. The legitimacy of public
libraries are tied to a specific form of documentary practice that we find in
20th centrury democracies. The documentality of this form of democracy, that is
the basic structure of its institutions, includes public libraries as providers
of documents reflecting views and cultural expressions of these societies.</div>
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Academic libraries, on the other hand, relies on a much
longer history and are related to a specific documentary practice, namely that
of scientific communication. Scientific communication has gone through several
changes during the last three hundred years, all related to technological
innovation, infrastructure, methodological changes in research, and social
demands on sharing of results. The ontological documentality of academic
libraries are thus much stronger than that of public libraries. The structure
of scientific communication is in thorough and rapid change, but still there
are several components that safeguard a kind of documentality that secure the
role of librarians and libraries. Academic libraries are not threatened by the
future. Instead it may even predict it – even if predictions tend to stretch
from a total collaps of the system to a maintained status quo, due to the
conservative systems of scientific quality control and structures connected to
social and academic status and benefits.</div>
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If we look at it from a documentality point of view this
leads us into an interesting situation. Public libraries may suffer from
decreasing public support, and thus being forced into developing into something
that differ from the ”original” intent of librarianship. On the other hand, we
don’t see the ”end of books”, we don’t see user behaviour that differ much from
what we might describe as traditional. So the ontological definitions of
libraries based on stocks and holdings and activities tied to these seem, at
least for the coming decades, to be secured. The threat instead comes from the
socially constitutional documentality where local governments and society as a
whole will fail to recognise the significance of libraries in future political
development.</div>
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Academic libraries, on the other hand, face a situation
where they, through an increased significance to university management and
evaluation practices (for examples through bibliometrical resposibilities) find
their ontological documentality intact, but an increasingly lack of holdings.
Already today many university libraries spend less than five percents of their
media budgets on physical materials. The rest is directed towards licences and
subscription fees for journals and publishing services that are placed outside
the libraries. Contemporary academic libraries have never offered so much and
had control over so few documents as today. The documentality of academic
libraries are in a process of being de-institutionalised.</div>
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These things are of course not new. What we might anticipate,
however, is a reinstatement of documentality as a basis of legitimacy for
libraries in the future, when documents come into a more general sphere of
interest in society. The retrieval of documents is not the same thing as the
retrieval of information, and I believe we already see a shift toward a more
document conscious environment, in libraries as well as in society. Information
is not free flowing, it is not like air. It is always bound in documents. In a
society overflowing with documents, the need for, and recognition of,
insitutions that may use this to further scientific knowledge, cultural
expressions, ethical diversity and democracy will increase, and libraries will have that ability.
They will have it through a documentality that is both ontological and tied to
practice. What form these documentary practices may take, however, is difficult
to predict. Two decades ago, who would have thought we would be where we are
today, with a web full of dynamic documents and thriving libraries - side by side? </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-7110108050776018512014-03-10T13:35:00.000+01:002014-03-10T14:42:33.786+01:00iConference in Berlin or "Starving with Dinosaurs"<style>
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I am back in office after a week in Berlin, attending the
iConference, the now annual meeting of the <a href="http://ischools.org/" target="_blank">iCaucus</a>, an international
”association” of Information Schools and Library and Information Science
Departments. The iCaucus started off about fifteen years ago as an informal
netwok between a number of US LIS schools in an attempt to find ways in which
to address contemporary information problems and development. During the last
few years the concept has spread internationally as well, and there are today
55 iSchools in the US, Europe and Asia. In Scandinavia, there are three member
departments; at University of Borås, University of Oslo and Akershus, and
University of Copenhagen. </div>
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My own department at Linnaeus University is not a member,
but this does not stop us from having a lot in common with these schools in
terms of interests and collaborations. The reason I attended the conference
this year was much out of curiosity, as it was the first time it was held in Europe.
I remember that the iSchool concept, when it first appeared, was hailed as
something completely new and now I wanted to see for myself what it had to
offer as an alternative to, for instance, the CoLIS or ASIS&T conferences.
Not much, it turned out. A slight emphasis on ”the digital”, yes. A slight
leaning towards the computational, yes. As a whole, though it proved to be a
rather ordinary LIS conference, with pretty much the same people circulating
the coffee tables as on CoLIS or ASIS&T, and by all means, that is not a
bad thing. </div>
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None the less, the quality of papers and presentations
varied significantly. At the welcome session, Michael Seadle of the hosting
Humbolt University, mentioned that more and more papers are being rejected in
the peer review process of the iConference. Normally that is a good thing, but
as the days went along, I started to think about those papers that didn´t make
it. Were they rejected purely on the basis of poor quality? If so, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there is quite a lot of really bad research
out there right now. That might be, but here I do not think that is the case. I
don´t think I have ever been to a conference that has suffered so much from the
obvious need of, primarily American, demands of publication by numbers. There
where several papers that held a quality no higher than that which I expect
from my students at our LIS bachelor program at LNU. Typically, and sadly, most
of these proved to be American doctoral thesis projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presumably, these papers presented little
snippets of more substantial studies, because a number of them were, to be honest,
pure rubbish – limited exploratory, statistical or experimental designs with
little or no ambition beyond the obvious outcome of the measures used. It
really makes you wonder about the general state of US LIS research today.
Needless to say, the doctoral students themselves are not the ones to blame.
Instead one must consider the judgement of supervisors and departments. As it is
likely that several of the papers, notes and posters that where rejected were
both strong and relevant, the organizers really need to think over the review
process for upcoming iConferences. A conference is never better than the reserach
presented and in this respect iConference has quite a long way to go if they
want to be in the same league as for instance CoLIS and ASIS&T, and I see
no other ambition in the programme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBJs8bieUth-e8aJ_D3sFJYdPREg2meHkkwl-DIz4MFBClWcf34xXIAINSRYs_LWxKRAtjiltR_21t6b8leMk1wc1emf_KJpH8ihtR5qBa96qhr21CtuPpo5-lXHf0HQi5Y7RKDG-TqA/s1600/bild%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBJs8bieUth-e8aJ_D3sFJYdPREg2meHkkwl-DIz4MFBClWcf34xXIAINSRYs_LWxKRAtjiltR_21t6b8leMk1wc1emf_KJpH8ihtR5qBa96qhr21CtuPpo5-lXHf0HQi5Y7RKDG-TqA/s1600/bild%25281%2529.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of course there were highlights. The two keynote talks,
given in the wonderful Audiomax at Hegelplatz, where Albert Einstein once gave his
famous public lectures on the theory of general relativity, were very
interesting. Tony Hey of Microsoft Research Connections gave an interesting
account of the development of Big Science and Open Data as the new challenge
for companies and institutions of the magnitude of Microsoft and its likes.
Melissa Terras of University College London held an intriguing talk on the
possibilities of, and challenges for, digital humanities. Among the session
talks I heard, Ronald Day of University of Indiana, Bloomington, stood out as
the unique voice in LIS that he has been over the last fifteen years. He
presented his forthcoming book <i>Indexing it all: the subject in the age of
documentation, information and data</i>. I look forward to reading it. For my own
part, I chaired a nice session on ”Culture studies and digital challenges”,
discussing political bias in Wikipedia, the character of Edward Snowden, and
Florida school libraries. </div>
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Well, so much for the session parts of the conference. The
social events are as important and of course the iConference in Berlin was held
in the most revered of academic environments, the Humbolt University, right by
Unter den Linden in the city centre. The Conference ”dinner” was held in the
beautiful Naturkundemuseum, in the world famous Dinosaur Hall, housing the
largest dinosaur skeleton in the world. So far so good. Socially it was an
excellent evening with many friends and colleagues on the conference curcuit
present. It wasn’t much of a dinner though – the little pieces of nourishment offered
by servants rushing through the crowds hardly qualified as snacks. Soon enough
the joke was obvious, paraphrasing the old Kevin Costner flick <i>Dancing
with wolves</i>: we were ”starving with dinosaurs”. Some suggested it to be a post-modernist
conception of ”dinner”, giving precedence to the discourse of ”eating”, in the
sense of discussing ”food” over that of actually eating it. Indeed, I think this
was the first conference I have attended which did not offer one single meal
sitting down. Well, well. One thing struck me as progressive enough. Vegetarian
food was not treated as ”special”. Instead, half of the little lunchboxes handed
out after the morning sessions were vegetarian options and the rest of them contained
remnants of dead animals - nice gesture duly noted.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCwuUjFABIgNOKeI_y6o_KO-51efZIDUw_AlC2762xT7C00pI6QtVZ9zjKTx6f8f2MS9D12KwkPuKo-V0rB8j5BOy5wDjtGnd8B-8zdjqzx-lWkX4Qvwkt4-dzhEdyJYXJyXAx2F0lCM/s1600/bild.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCwuUjFABIgNOKeI_y6o_KO-51efZIDUw_AlC2762xT7C00pI6QtVZ9zjKTx6f8f2MS9D12KwkPuKo-V0rB8j5BOy5wDjtGnd8B-8zdjqzx-lWkX4Qvwkt4-dzhEdyJYXJyXAx2F0lCM/s1600/bild.JPG" height="200" width="149" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8VHGNvwwYf2lAySyu5CaHJ8Qt4A0Ux2nLkfDu73fWbLWIvZ7SjfrQo3MnXIOH9f0DmDdPMUMOOGQz3XELsEwOMFl_AtxVdghEU-DN7rA4Rzz0beXdATFa8_CyM0VUb5kS9y7BdjMGuk/s1600/bild(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8VHGNvwwYf2lAySyu5CaHJ8Qt4A0Ux2nLkfDu73fWbLWIvZ7SjfrQo3MnXIOH9f0DmDdPMUMOOGQz3XELsEwOMFl_AtxVdghEU-DN7rA4Rzz0beXdATFa8_CyM0VUb5kS9y7BdjMGuk/s1600/bild(3).JPG" height="150" width="200" /> </a><br />
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Was the iConference worth attending? Yes indeed. I see no
reason not to consider it when planning my annual conference attendances.
Perhaps I’ll even sign up for next year’s event – in sunny southern California.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pictures:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. The Audiomax auditorium during Melissa Terras' talk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. The conference "dinner" at Naturkundemuseum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">3. Dinosaurs. Two real and two in the making: Fredrik Åström and Joacim Hansson.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">4. Hegel. No less. </span></div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-21348027105777550542014-02-27T10:11:00.002+01:002014-02-27T10:27:07.209+01:00Interview in El País Cultural now published<style>
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During my visit to Uruguay in october last year, I was
interviewed by El País, the biggest daily in the country. This inteview has now
been printed in El País Cultural, a monthly supplement to the paper. The discussion concerns the general role of public libraries in society, a discussion which was interesting to be a part in, as conditions in Uruguay differ so much from the ones in Sweden - and still so many problems proved to be alike. A curiosity in this interviewed is that I was also asked about the three collections of poetry I published in the 1990's. For some reason they were subject of much interest in Uruguay - most likely because noone had actually read them. The interview is of course in Spanish, but for those of you who master this language, here is the</div>
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<a href="http://www.elpais.com.uy/cultural/bibliotecas-publicas-hoy.html" target="_blank">Joacim Hansson interview, El País Cultural</a> </div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-44641613228328395692014-02-07T14:31:00.000+01:002014-02-08T08:58:32.942+01:00Talk given at National Conference on New Roles of Research Libraries.<style>
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I don’t do as many talks in the library sector as I used to
a couple of years ago. Yesterday, however, an event occurred that I was
happy to be a part of. I had been invited to talk about the research on
academic libraries that I have been doing for the last three years , at a
<a href="http://www.biblioteksforeningen.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Program-webb.pdf" target="_blank">one-day conference</a> in Stockholm on the new roles of academic libraries. It was
arranged by the Swedish Library Association, The Swedish National Library and
Södertörn University Library. I am glad that I accepted the invitation. The day was filled with interesting talks and
discussions, and it is clear that academic libraries of today present a
variety of interesting problems both for the libraries themselves, and for
academic research. Much focus was put on open access, European and Swedish
research policy, but also on practical experiences in academic libraries across
the country.<br />
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My talk was on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
work of academic librarians with researchers’ publication strategies. I did
broaden the scope though, placing this issue within the context of New Public
Management development in the Swedish university sector, and the practices of
bibliometric analysis as a part of that development.</div>
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The talk (in Swedish) was filmed and you can see it through this vimeo-link - enjoy:</div>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/86095719" style="color: #2786c2; font: bold 18px arial,sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/86095719</a><br />
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-72314511439762947812013-12-16T12:09:00.001+01:002013-12-16T12:09:12.666+01:00The materiality of knowledge organization: epistemology, metaphors and society. New article.As the year comes to a close a new article of mine has been published. It was submitted in april for a theme issue of journal <i>Knowledge Organization</i>, published by the <a href="http://www.isko.org/" target="_blank">International Society for Knowledge Organization</a>. It is the prime forum for classification research within LIS. My contribution can thus be seen as a kind of return to the research themes that occupied me in the late 1990's, culminating in my doctoral dissertation <i>Bibliotek, klassifikation, samhälle</i> from 1999.<br />
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It was nice to be asked to participate in this issue, and it is humbling to be published along with such good colleagues. The always interesting editing process proved more than rigorous this time. <i>Knowledge Organization</i> is a journal with very strict formal requirements, and a lot of work had to be put down into making the article fit those requirements. In the process, I felt that some of the arguments were a bit lost. Now seeing the article in its final form, however, I find it at least fitting the formal structure of the other articles, giving the issue a nice conform look. Classification research is in itself a thoroughly conformist branch of LIS, and <i>Knowledge Organization </i>is a good manifestation of this. Still, I can easily defend the final product, and it is with a strange kind of pleasure that I now send it off to a life of its own. <br />
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Interestingly enough, this detour into classification research might prove to be timely sign of what is soon to come in terms of new research for me. This, however, I will return to here during next year, when the time is right.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Hansson, Joacim (2013) The Materiality of Knowledge Organization: Epistemology, Metaphors and Society. Knowledge Organization. 40(6), 384-391. 29 references. </span></div>
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ABSTRACT:<br />
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This article discusses the relation between epistemology, social organization and knowledge organization. Three examples are used to show how this relation has proven to be historically stable: 1) the organization of knowledge in 18th century encyclopedias; 2) the problem of bias in the international introduction of DDC in early 20th century libraries in Scandinavia; and 3) the practice of social tagging and folksonomies in contemporary late capitalist society. By using the concept of ‘materiality’ and the theoretical contribution on the documentality of social objects by Maurizio Ferraris, an understanding of the character of the connection between epistemology and social order in knowledge organization systems is achieved. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The full content of the issue is found <a href="http://www.isko.org/ko406toc.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> </span></div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-80307647808035168632013-11-15T22:47:00.000+01:002013-11-15T22:47:13.087+01:00Day of the imprisoned writer
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Today is the <i>Day of the Imprisoned Writer</i>. Manifestations
are held all over the world, even in Växjö, where I live and work. <i>Day of the Imprisoned Writer</i> was started by <a href="http://www.pen-international.org/day-of-the-imprisoned-writer-2013/" target="_blank">International PEN</a> in 1981, and has been kept
recognized ever since. It puts focus on writers – authors, journalists -
standing up against repression and attacks on the free word. The manifestation
in Växjö took place at the ”speaker’s corner” in Storgatan. Present were local politicians, representatives from <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>the local daily newspaper, the city public library, Amnesty and various literary
associations. I was invited to speak as a representative of my university, and
it felt important to participate. It was
a small but sincere manifestation in the cold and misty november lunch hour.<br />
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An imprisoned writer is <i>never</i> just an imprisoned writer – an
imprisoned writer is <i>always</i> a concern for society as a whole. There are many
ways to support writers who are imprisoned or under threat. It can be done
through NGO:s such as PEN or Amnesty, and it can be done through singular
manifestations and protests. It can also be done by keeping the imprisoned
writers’ words available and relevant. For this, institutionsal structures in
society are required, first and foremost perhaps, through libraries. By
securing a strong library system, society is supporting imprisoned authors and
by trusting librarians to do their job, the words of authors and journalists
under threat are kept alive through persistence. This is important in these times of limited attention span in media and short term political projects. Freedom of speech must never be used by politcians to
make self righteous projects in order to gain cheap political credit. Instead work on these issues must be taken seriously and recognized as a cornerstone of librarianship and as
such, of society. Only with the unglamorous dullnesss of persistence can forces that wish to limit free
speech be kept out of power. </div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-64778129899997822442013-10-27T14:18:00.000+01:002013-10-27T14:18:36.549+01:00Recollections of a visit to Uruguay. Part 3: sea lions
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After an intense week full of meetings, interviews, seminars, coctail
parties, dinners, speeches and study visits, I had to get away from humans. I
just needed to enjoy the company of other species too, and in Uruguay my interest
had turned to a very special place.</div>
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On the last day before returning to Sweden, I left
Montevideo and took off east along the coast to Punta del Este. There in the
harbour, I went on a boat and sailed out on the South Atlantic ocean. Well,
perhaps not sailed, the vessel itself was a commercial ”ferry” – a quite small
motorboat. Anyway, after about 45 minutes I reached the goal of the day: <i>Isla
de Lobos</i>. It is a small island about 8 km southeast of Punta del Este. On it
lives one of the largest populations of sea lions in the world. Already some
ten minutes before arriving at the island there was like a ”wall of smell” in
the middle of the ocean. It intensified as the boat approached the cliffs of
the small island. About 180 000 sea lions live there, and it is today a
national park. Therefore it is not possible to go ashore, so instead the boat
turned off its engines, and we floated close to the coastline. The air immediately
filled with the sounds of the sea lions, mixed with their smell and the salty
scent of the sea. It was some very sensual 30 minutes in the presence of these
strange and beautiful creatures. </div>
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As curious and social as humans, no less talkative, but with
a different language… and smell. It was such a relief (and fun) to spend time
in their presence – in their own unique habitat. Going back, the captain told
me to have a lookout for sperm whales. They had been seen close to the
coastline earlier in the day. None was spotted though, but knowing that these
giants lurked somewhere underneath made me curiously calm.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KxIGG9Nd8tdJdrU_SLJ3PkbOInTJ6v5f0CNkVwirK3n93xBZOdYn1_Ze86soc9vu53L5N7mnOyDWdmq5VOAWr5wfVoy0SDkGK5cGGc0aUDAhrVTu0Def4CRJ8AiV1iTm-FIsowZt7Q4/s1600/IMG_3480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KxIGG9Nd8tdJdrU_SLJ3PkbOInTJ6v5f0CNkVwirK3n93xBZOdYn1_Ze86soc9vu53L5N7mnOyDWdmq5VOAWr5wfVoy0SDkGK5cGGc0aUDAhrVTu0Def4CRJ8AiV1iTm-FIsowZt7Q4/s200/IMG_3480.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8Nhz_cdIPtqEtechYvxmy81tRQPI1SvDZJEWqKN-JqiZsK3VZe0GR7A5lSxe7N71Z6M-ATdml40zl677O_E95GvN0cIWKXGo8EW-UJ7gZT2nE3Xy22k3uAyn4vP4JeLD7Q5Tt9c6rdw/s1600/IMG_3492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8Nhz_cdIPtqEtechYvxmy81tRQPI1SvDZJEWqKN-JqiZsK3VZe0GR7A5lSxe7N71Z6M-ATdml40zl677O_E95GvN0cIWKXGo8EW-UJ7gZT2nE3Xy22k3uAyn4vP4JeLD7Q5Tt9c6rdw/s200/IMG_3492.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: SV; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: SV; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Beautiful libraries, interesting people and sea lions
– all in a week’s work. Life is good.</span>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-25759169970790174662013-10-25T13:24:00.001+02:002013-10-25T13:24:09.538+02:00Recollections of a visit to Uruguay. Part 2: Study visits<br />
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Apart from holding a seminar at the <i>Feria Internacional del
Libro</i>, the week I spent in Montevideo in early October primarily consisted of a
number of study visits to various kinds of libraries and bookstores. I got the
opportunity to visit the Parliamentary Library, the National Library and a
series of public libraries in different parts of Montevideo. As always when I
do these kinds of intense rounds of visits to different libraries in a new
town, impressions pile up. Here I will only briefly touch upon some of the singular
ones that are still with me. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>The Parliament</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcvTobAQsoFSAuZ0iHFc59mk-3dYYVhtDctnEy4FBKBJVNKpuEFbDo0ElDF7IfaeHkrujKXarlHIKNiojF8VxsVfxae7MMmc3MPPZ-RWkm2dNdI09oj0rSq-Rkm0e6m21BooUabetq4Q/s1600/IMG_3380.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcvTobAQsoFSAuZ0iHFc59mk-3dYYVhtDctnEy4FBKBJVNKpuEFbDo0ElDF7IfaeHkrujKXarlHIKNiojF8VxsVfxae7MMmc3MPPZ-RWkm2dNdI09oj0rSq-Rkm0e6m21BooUabetq4Q/s200/IMG_3380.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQmKbSsemcMY4MwGjDCCEoLvchrOMp5o-up-UcxSU5xG4grD12GEcTf5oEuBdgK-73kBNmg1B7A8uHVBwWgk8yB8RNm-RK3yv_pmKoy_xHywg-lgJbVk27qf7rOJ3gySJYbtQbdc3Bg8/s1600/IMG_3381.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQmKbSsemcMY4MwGjDCCEoLvchrOMp5o-up-UcxSU5xG4grD12GEcTf5oEuBdgK-73kBNmg1B7A8uHVBwWgk8yB8RNm-RK3yv_pmKoy_xHywg-lgJbVk27qf7rOJ3gySJYbtQbdc3Bg8/s200/IMG_3381.JPG" width="200" /> </a></div>
</div>
<br />
There are no guards. I am guided through the whole
parliament with its fifty shades of marble and its library and there is a
feeling of trust that is rare in political environments these days. The library
is painstakingly beautiful. It is open to the public and there are signs saying
”silence”.
<br />
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<i>The National Library</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj364PgKOMa5gVMIksz5llrxMjm92eJjLxgtVwDtvdZDKv2jQ36KaW7q-OjT64CM0r1gz-yLymQ9ssvdUT-NykkMn8vHxX-M9nc838eLXS5GcJ4bhrwj_wchqzStRRBGpiZKs2TkexgXQo/s1600/IMG_3396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj364PgKOMa5gVMIksz5llrxMjm92eJjLxgtVwDtvdZDKv2jQ36KaW7q-OjT64CM0r1gz-yLymQ9ssvdUT-NykkMn8vHxX-M9nc838eLXS5GcJ4bhrwj_wchqzStRRBGpiZKs2TkexgXQo/s200/IMG_3396.JPG" width="200" /></a>I am given a private tour of the National Library and shown
through labyrinths and passages. Work is silence and intense. A table is set up
in preparation for my visit, displaying rare photographs, letters, incunabliae
and medieval manuscripts; folios and miniatures. I am shown a 13th century
codex of hymns. Nobody knows how it got there. I am allowed to step into a
freezer donated by the Bill Gates Library Foundation, used to preserve a unique
and fragile collection of early 20th century photographs. </div>
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<i>Public libraries:</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I visit several. In one, tango comes whispering through loudspeakers
hidden on the shelves in the main room. Once a week the floor is cleared and
the library hosts tango evenings. The head librarian loves tango. Only here, I
find myself thinking, and perhaps somewhere in Finland. </div>
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I am taken to see La Biblioteca Maria Stagnero de Munar, a
small castle in central Montevideo currently being transformed into a library
and a cultural centre exclusively for children. It is an ambitious project and
Prof. Gonzalo Halty at the División Promoción Cultural of the Intendencia de
Montevideo, who is my host this afternoon, is proud. It is easy to understand
why. This is the first centre/library of its kind i South America. I get a
feeling that public libraries mean something to him. Suddenly he asks me, ”How
should we continue?”. ”Don’t ask me”, I say. ”Ask the librarians. They’ll know
what to do”.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61m8ddDUjFqvsGr1O1alxtWPHAdOCRfGDQdBPkN2YkH8vzYkvXy-dqooTfeKyH7c8PZyrbS9lms6hTzBH-n-Gfod2ztWrXO1xnnKWHQiV1Et5zFRU4S2xTkKB-DSG8qdWcdoRKdVNze8/s1600/IMG_3426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61m8ddDUjFqvsGr1O1alxtWPHAdOCRfGDQdBPkN2YkH8vzYkvXy-dqooTfeKyH7c8PZyrbS9lms6hTzBH-n-Gfod2ztWrXO1xnnKWHQiV1Et5zFRU4S2xTkKB-DSG8qdWcdoRKdVNze8/s200/IMG_3426.JPG" width="200" /></a>At the <a href="http://bibliotecafranciscoschinca.blogspot.se/search/label/Biblioteca%20Francisco%20Schinca" target="_blank">Biblioteca Dr. Francisco Schinca </a>(in Montevideo
public libraries are named), I see a different reality, that of high ambition
and no money. In an area far from the wealthy city centre and grand projects, I
meet librarian Lourdes Díaz, who runs this little library with determination
and admirable strenght. This is not a library the Intendencia wanted me to see,
so I thank Carina Patrón of the <a href="http://abu.net.uy/" target="_blank">Uruguay Library Association</a> for taking me
there. The area is filled with social problems, but this library prevails with
only limited support from the fund distributing authorities. Mrs Díaz and I
speak for over two hours; about the value of libraries, about the value of
resistence and about the joy of creating a space for reading and culture for the
people far from the official agenda, be it political, social or cultural.</div>
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<i>Bookstores</i></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcHJX9PnoTDa8hc__0nqI-ibSy_fpgdZaMQXq-KTdeM73Cr5y8MoKgcbmEbXuuAOyAH70G3vZPhMnNmlzPRRNuVQa8EWXtxytq5EXC2Wk7XFcSUFgCCDiJEoysHl-glcsBe2cE_71uNrQ/s1600/IMG_3387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcHJX9PnoTDa8hc__0nqI-ibSy_fpgdZaMQXq-KTdeM73Cr5y8MoKgcbmEbXuuAOyAH70G3vZPhMnNmlzPRRNuVQa8EWXtxytq5EXC2Wk7XFcSUFgCCDiJEoysHl-glcsBe2cE_71uNrQ/s200/IMG_3387.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
The very last thing I do in Montevideo is to visit the
<a href="http://www.libreriapuroverso.com/servlets/inicio" target="_blank">Puro Verso</a> bookstore in the Ciudad Vieja. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had eaten lunch there earlier in the week –
yes, they offer lunch among the books. I just had to go back. In Sweden you
don’t find them any more, bookstores that sell, well, books - and perhaps some
music. Wandering through the shelves of Puro Verso I just cannot help wondering
what went wrong in my own country. How did we end up with bookstores selling
more branded stationery trash than books? Such a waste. It is comforting to
know that stores like this exist in other countries, where books and reading
obviously is taken more seriously than in Sweden.<br />
</div>
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That, and so many other things I saw and heard in Montevideo
during my week in the warm South American spring filled me with gratitude and, dare
I say it… hope.</div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-39178221278845301992013-10-22T19:39:00.000+02:002013-10-24T10:29:44.719+02:00Recollections of a visit to Uruguay. Part 1: book fair seminar<style>
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In april, I was contacted by Mr. Jim Larsson at the
<a href="http://www.sueciauruguay.org/Suki/suki.html" target="_blank">Swedish-Uruguayan Cultural Institute</a> about coming to Montevideo to talk about
public libraries. I had never heard of this institute, and had to check twice
that it really existed before getting back to him saying that I would
definitively consider coming - but what was expected of me? The initial plan
was that I should give a speech at a book fair in Montevideo on the role of
public libraries in the Nordic countries, as Nordic literature would be one of
the themes of the fair. After a couple of months of discussions and practical
arrangements, the pieces finally came together, and I found myself on a plane
bound for South America. During the course of our discussions, the event grew
and as I landed in sunny Montevideo, I had a full week of work ahead of me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The main event was a seminar on October 10 at the <i>36th Feria
International del Libro</i> in Montevideo. The event gathered some 300 of the
city’s librarians in a discussion on the future and the present state of
Uruguayan libraries.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75zOi6NLI0MYvcSVY3sy92XUVonhMjvfsZtQYX11JSFfzD9iRBT4iCpH_bp5fkkGbyaMgA4M8huzqcC7_v2l3yVL1Y8LgHIfYO90R5h18aWQGqCQ410coS9i4X4OCEaDPCZPYmUlYr8M/s1600/_NMU2140+kopia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> <br />
It was a highly inspirational event, and the discussion
was very fruitful. It is interesting to note, that wherever you go, the
fundamental problems and concerns about public libraries are pretty much the
same. Material and political conditions may differ, but the need to find vital
forms for cutural activities, platforms for critical political and cultural
discussions is the same everywhere. A belief in the ability of public libraries
in this respect was felt very clearly by the present librarians of Uruguay, a
country which has a proud history of social welfare, but which suffered severly
during the economic fall some ten years ago. The impression the visit gave me
of the Uruguayan library sector is that it is both ambitious and determined to
provide library services worthy of a welfare state to all citizens of the
country. <br />
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There have been several political initiatives during the
present government which carry the potential to be of significance for
libraries. For instance, a decision to provide every child in a public school
with his/her own laptop or iPad has meant that a large part of the population
now, through the kids, have access to the international flow of knowledge and
information on the Internet. This is a reform that at least at a first glance
seems like a stroke of political genious in a country like Uruguay. Not only
can it be helpful as school books are scarce and of poor quality, but it can
open for new dimension in librarianship, as one of the most severe problems in
the libraries I visited clearly was the lack of relevant media. Lack of media
is, of course, a substantial problem in a library. </div>
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At the book fair seminar, many questions concerned the present
state of Swedish and Nordic libraries, as they still are seen as models of ”the
good library”. The view on Swedish society is still coloured by the social
democratic welfare state of the 1960’s and 70’s, renowned throughout the world
for its humanistic approach to politics. That we now have left that behind and
entered a social era defined by other parametres than humanism and generosity
seemed to come as a surprise to many. The reason for the almost glorifying view
on Sweden is obvious – many intellectuals took refuge in Sweden in the 1970’s when political
conditions in most of South America were unbearable. I had the pleasure of
meeting several of them on this journey. Uruguay is the first country I have
visited where the librarians and authors I met did not say ”we went to school
together”, but in stead ”we went to jail together”. The stories they told were
both dramatic and deeply moving. In such an environment politics and ideology
is still visible and important, and the advocates of the current left wing
presidency are concerned about the role of public libraries. They know that
libraries can matter a lot, if treated well. The discussion went on for over an
hour revealing structural problems, but also determination and willingness to
solve them, not least through international dialogue. Some problems stood out;
funding, for sure, but also the perhaps even more important question of how to
think about libraries in local communities. I did not feel that I could give a
lot of advice, but of course we do know some things from research. Instead it
was my impression that the discussion in itself was of importance, and the fact
that so many people were gathered at this same occasion provided a common
ground for renewed discussons among librarians and politicians. Living under
financially restrained conditions, as most Uruguayan public libraries do, it
can be difficult to keep above the waterline of everyday decision making and
practice. I hope that the seminar worked as an opportunity for those who
attended to take a break from that and allow themselves to think ahead. It was
obvious that not only questions, but also suggestions and solutions were there
in that room on October 10. For me it was an important experience, and I wish
that some Swedish librarians would have been there to listen, if only to hear the
voices of dedication and determination of their Uruguayan colleagues.</div>
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The speech I gave is <a href="http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:658747/FULLTEXT05.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> (in Spanish)<i>. </i></div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-80410035878612729352013-09-25T19:26:00.000+02:002013-09-29T13:19:28.099+02:00Bye bye, library?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbLDV3BSQSDAnwQkKLG6Rrgg84EwCeO00tMgmKuhATESxxc7mIJ0_FCCV5Q5H6jhkN52wFOZGEwLUvDaRPQby4sEHmV2j8vl0AlyDLn88-69GICkw1ysO5iTKdvDbbX9KuBVgEF7DsC0/s1600/neasist09banner-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbLDV3BSQSDAnwQkKLG6Rrgg84EwCeO00tMgmKuhATESxxc7mIJ0_FCCV5Q5H6jhkN52wFOZGEwLUvDaRPQby4sEHmV2j8vl0AlyDLn88-69GICkw1ysO5iTKdvDbbX9KuBVgEF7DsC0/s320/neasist09banner-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by journalist Anders Mildner about the future of public libraries, for an upcoming article in Swedish magazine <i>Vi</i>. It turned out to be a nice piece where also two prominent Swedish librarians, Anna-Stina Takala and Mats Myrstener, discuss the role and legitimacy of public libraries, today and yesterday. It is well worth a read.<br />
<br />
You find it <a href="http://www.vi-tidningen.se/2013/09/bye-bye-biblioteket/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-48928724292242578822013-09-11T20:54:00.000+02:002013-09-17T12:39:53.609+02:00Prayer flags and the need for new thought in Library and Information Science<style>
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Library and Information Science is, as scientific
disciplines tend to be, a rather rational endeavour. We promote and study
cognitive and domain specific information behavior, rational divisions of
knowledge and productive organizational structures of document management and
library activities. Little room is left for that which is lying beside these cognitive
and rational aspects of life. In fact very little we do is about, well, life. I
sometimes feel that as being a bit tiresome, especially when I look around and
see how people so much depend on knowledge, ideas and traditions that goes beyond
our rational structures of knowledge organization, ultimately based as it is, on
an aristotelian world view. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fritz Machlup, the renowned Austrian-American economist who
was one of the first to recognize and analyse knowledge as economically
significant, mentions five types of knowledge that in equal amounts blend into
the lives of most people. Not all at once, perhaps, but over the span of a life time they all
play their parts in formulating a whole human being. The five types of
knowledge he mentions are:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Practical knowledge</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Intellectual knowledge</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Small talk and pastime knowledge</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Spiritual knowledge</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Unwanted knowledge</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In LIS we almost exclusively address the two first
categories. Even when we analyse spiritual knowledge, we do it in an
intellectual manner, for instance in the divisions of religious movements and
ideas in library classification systems. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spiritual knowledge, however, seldom lends itself to such rationalization.
Still it is to many people the foundation of their peronal knowledge systems,
and still it is absolutely necessary to include sprirtual knowledge into ones
life in order to navigate in this disturbingly shallow and yet complex society
of today. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnAFZ4T2uYTo_Lb8cUm5AV3xUWFK-enOsW3DB6DFQgd0n0afqn31CNoEdjFIB8qNokfvgb4UYTHlJYV9D0YdvhTaDS2TYYr4twq0edsa5T7GQ72PDzDxrkvIPlmK_3OesAVdnq99iWTU/s1600/puss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnAFZ4T2uYTo_Lb8cUm5AV3xUWFK-enOsW3DB6DFQgd0n0afqn31CNoEdjFIB8qNokfvgb4UYTHlJYV9D0YdvhTaDS2TYYr4twq0edsa5T7GQ72PDzDxrkvIPlmK_3OesAVdnq99iWTU/s320/puss.jpg" width="240" /></a>The other week, in preparation for our wedding, my wife
ordered from San Francisco a package of Tibetan prayer flags. The company she
bought them from operates from California, but trades with flags made in Tibet
and Nepal. We decided to put them in the trees of our garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Autumn and darkness is coming quickly now,
and they will bring their colors into the season of no colours, but not just
that. They will also bring strenght, compassion, peace and wisdom
into the wind surrounding our home. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tibetan prayer flags come in groups of five, mostly in
colours blue, white, red, green and yellow. They represent the
elements and the five pure lights: blue is for sky and space, white is for
wind, red is for fire, green is for water and yellow is for earth. In Tibetan buddhist
tradition, balance between these elements brings harmony and health. It is an
easy, yet powerful way of putting a knowledge system to work, promoting other
values than those we have to struggle with on the daily basis of our
professional and economic activities. The structure of the knowledge system
represented by these prayer flags is a reminder of the limitations of
rationality and that it is important not to waste our lives focussing too much
on it. </div>
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I think it is time for Library and Information Science to
start looking in new directions in order to develop knowledge that is relevant
to people in a more complete way, thus creating a deeper understanding of the roles different
forms of knowledge play in the lives of humans (and other species – everything
is tied together as one). There are several non-intellectual knowledge forms
waiting to be explored in ways that fit their own requirements. In order to
approach them, however, we need to revise some of our acquired theoretical and
methodological preconceptions.</div>
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Prayer flags wither in the wind, thread by thread. When
doing so, they don’t send off prayers with each thread. Instead they paint the wind
with the knowledge that harmony and compassion will come to all beings sharing
this same wind. </div>
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I imagine that Fritz Machlup would appreciate this thought,
even though he was an economist. One can only wish that more economists would
study his work, and if some of them would choose to put prayer flags in their
gardens to paint their immediate wind in the colours of harmony, well that
might just create some change. By all means, that goes for LIS scholars too.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Picture of prayer flags in our garden is taken by Lotta Hansson Löthgren/<a href="http://1811.nu/">1811.nu</a> </span></div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-67201479456724311952013-06-26T16:26:00.000+02:002013-06-26T16:32:38.477+02:00Presentation for DOCAM'13 is now up on YoutubeMy presentation on the topic "Documentality as inscribed acts; ontology, technology and practice of professional codes of ethics in librarianship" is now uploaded on youtube.<br />
<br />
The recordning was made for the Annual Meeting of the Document Academy, held in Tromsö, Norway 19-22 june 2013, due to the fact that I could not attend the conference in person.<br />
<br />
The project on the documentality of librarianship ethics is in process now, and I will get back, not least here on NDL, with comments and reflections related to it further on.<br />
<br />
The presentation itself start about 50 seconds into the clip. Enjoy:<br />
<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/bRkCqvAYALo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-51014944759641892802013-06-25T14:46:00.001+02:002013-06-25T14:55:40.918+02:00The Swedish Dewey Project - short comment on its final report<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXwnDVOHrfeGp2_Im8f4D99idequta0xkovKejIFxaGsvoech1BsnuwvF7z74V1pBp4hM1JcJAC7PIZlnniQdXB2m_bcqyGKnwDuxOMK-8Ynrmfjli_u5-xQ5xlbauwvE8Y5O3cL05YQ/s1600/Deweyprojektet-211x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXwnDVOHrfeGp2_Im8f4D99idequta0xkovKejIFxaGsvoech1BsnuwvF7z74V1pBp4hM1JcJAC7PIZlnniQdXB2m_bcqyGKnwDuxOMK-8Ynrmfjli_u5-xQ5xlbauwvE8Y5O3cL05YQ/s1600/Deweyprojektet-211x300.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">During the last five years the National Library of Sweden (KB) has
been running a project to prepare the Swedish library sector for the use of
Dewey Decimal Classification, DDC. Now the final report of this project has arrived,
and it is an interesting read.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The overall aim of the ”Swedish Dewey Project” was to develop the
tools to make it possible for libraries in Sweden to introduce DDC. The
decision to actually do has, however, been left to each library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As of today, some 30 libraries has left the
Swedish SAB-system and introduced DDC in their classification practice and/or
shelving. Almost all of them are research libraries, only two public libraries
have yet taken the step.</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The reasons for the proposed transformation of Swedish classification
practice has been threefold: the international character of bibliographic
practice, rationalisation – to reduce double classification in parallel systems,
and increased quality in classification practice. The argumentation is simple,
but relevant: most of the literature in research libraries are already classified
in DDC when bought; the DDC is the the most widely spread classification system
in the world, today used in more than 135 countries and translated into some 30
languages; it is well kept and frequently updated.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The change to DDC is singularly the most significant change in Swedish
library life during the last century, at least if we look at collection
manangement and the organization of stock. We know from experience that such
changes are not easy to accomplish, nor is it easy to make everyone happy. When
KB decided in 2008 to change into DDC, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding
the aim and consequences of this decision. The public libraries in particular,
felt left in a situation that they neither had asked for, nor knew how to
handle – the need for DDC was expressed exclusively from primarily large
research libraries. Reading the now published report has really nothing to add
to this uncertainty – are the public libraries expected to use DDC or not?
However, that is not a question to be answered in this report.</span>
</div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The project can be said to
have focussed on two primary targets – (1) translation into a Swedish version
of DDC, and the development of system requirements for it to work in a Swedish
environment, and (2) education of librarians. On both these issues, the project
seems to have been rather successful. The problems described concerning
translation and conversion of codes appear quite forseeable, and the
educational efforts have been constructed in a dialogue with both the library
sector and representatives from the Library and Information Science educational
departments. One practical detail which should not be undersestimated is the
translation of the textbook <i>Dewey Decimal Classification: Principles and
Application </i>by Lois Mai Chan and Joan S. Mitchell – this book is now being
used in the basic training in classification i Swedish LIS educations,
preparing new librarians in DDC from the very start of their professional life.</span></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">One thing that is worth
noting in the felt shortcomings of the project is how they mostly seem to come
from lack of resourses and short sighted planning horizons from the National
Library. Parts of the project simply seem to have been carried through in spite
of, and not because of, the National Library Management. For that, huge credit
must be given to Magdalena Svanberg and her colleagues who have lead the
project through to its end with admirable dedication, determination and skill. </span></span>
</div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">Now that the final report of
the Swdish Dewey Project is ready, we can see that it also triggers questions.
What now? Will KB strategically uphold the development of the Swedish DDC? Will
further initiatives be taken to argue for the benefits of DDC to an evidently reluctant
public library sector? Are there any such benefits?</span></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The final report of the Swedish Dewey Project is <a href="http://deweybloggen.kb.se/?p=1456" target="_blank">here</a>, (in Swedish).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The picture below is a snapshot taken as I was given the opportunity to
welcome Magdalena Svanberg to the LIS department at Linnaeus University in
march 2011 for a lecture and discussion, as part of the educational programme
of the Swedish Dewey Project - an occasion much appreciated by our students.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4GPhaLE6tCXNZW6igGHgVsqWO6yW3tItP_iQ43CVTp7nJH8_EBfxP0SBgJggDZjbyTJK_fOmrz_pNAMsvbo77exyAjjHXFZLfh2ro8FSBgNDZHM8anY7MZZ_Tc_3AZ-ODFbURdRDsNE/s1600/190448_187980624577735_6543948_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS4GPhaLE6tCXNZW6igGHgVsqWO6yW3tItP_iQ43CVTp7nJH8_EBfxP0SBgJggDZjbyTJK_fOmrz_pNAMsvbo77exyAjjHXFZLfh2ro8FSBgNDZHM8anY7MZZ_Tc_3AZ-ODFbURdRDsNE/s320/190448_187980624577735_6543948_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Joacim Hansson, LNU and Magdalena Svanberg, KB </span></div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-57091520309235837402013-06-23T20:30:00.000+02:002013-06-24T09:42:03.942+02:00Society and the humanities - a eulogy<style>
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</style> Summer is over us and with it, a short relief from the
burdens of administration. Some call it vacation. Others use this period to
think and write. This is also a good time to reflect on the conditions under
which we work in the humanities and at the universities at large. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The faculty where I work, the Arts and Humanities Faculty at
Linnaeus University is a good one - nice, creative people who produce much and
good research. But, in the eyes of the university management and in the eyes of
national research policy makers, it is a rather bad faculty. It does not attract
enough ”external funding” for them to be happy. For that, the factulty will be
fiscally punished in the upcoming budget. The fact that the lack of ”external
funding” does not seem to affect the research outcome in any negative manner (quite
possibly the opposite) goes without recognition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Research today is formulated as a form of competetion, where
the singular most critical success factor is the attraction of ”external
funding”. For the humanities this is absolutely devastating. Forcing humanistic
scholars to engage in the quest for money from research councils that spread
their graces over less than 10 % of the submitted applications is nothing short
of a waste of time. Besides, every active scholar knows that the only thing
that counts in the long run is the quality of the published research - the
results, in whatever environment they will find their place. The system today
fosters another priority; that of expected research. It is more important to submit
suggestions for research than to actually go through with them. Although that
might not be the intent of our present political decision makers, it is for
sure the outcome, since most applications will gain no interest what so ever by
the research councils.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today there is a discussion in Sweden about the role of the
humanities. It is a kind of ”debate” which occurs every now and then. This time
around the main question is not only the usual attempt to show an intrinsic
value of the humanities to society (we’re ”good”), but also how we can adapt
humanistic research to the present system of research finance – how to make the
humanities attract more ”external funding”. No one asks the question ”why
should we?”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Research is not a competative endeavor – especially not that
of humanistic and cultural studies. The obvious alternative to the present
system is to directly provide the universities with the funding needed by their
active scholars. The ones populating the diverse and fluid structures of
disciplines within these fields - doctoral students, lecturers and professors -
are the ones who should decide what research to persue. The present system
forcing us to constantly scribble down applications for ”external funding” is of
course highly political and a direct enemy of the slow, creative process that
is the mother of all humanistic scholarship. Achieving scientific results takes
time, and the constrains of tight time limits and evaluation demands is not beneficial
for neither process nor results. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some say that this is an idealistic way of reasoning. I
don’t think it is. By saying that it is, one is admitting the necessity of the
present system, that ”this is the way it is”. That is a highly unintellectual
stand. I (still) believe that society is shaped not by economic standards, but
by the will of its citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The power over
politicians of administratrators and financiers is strong though, and by
admitting them to set the rules, cultural studies and humanities research are
bound to lose. We see their triumph all around us. We live today, at least in
Sweden, in a society which is filled with people who despite their good (often university)
educations are cultural ignorants. Hundreds of thousands well equipped and
capable of doing their task in the production apparatus, but unable to relate
it to an overall reason or to associate with the depth of human experience
accessible to us through religions, literature, ethics, art, philosophy, drama
and music. These people are easy to manipulate, something which of course has
been noted by several thinkers during the last century, such as Karl Marx,
Sigmund Freud, Elias Canetti and Zygmunt Bauman. Fostering citizens like that
may be economically productive, but in the end it is socially devastating. Thus, it is not
the humanities that is the problem. It is the politicians turned technocrats,
treating research like industrial excercise, treating culture as a burden –
they are the problem. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, in the firm belief that society always is the result of our collective intentions, I
propose a shift of focus. No more should we ask what humanities can do for this society,
but what this society of ours can do for the humanities. If so, we have a
starting point. It is, basically, a matter of integrity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alas – summer: in a spirit of love and strength I leave you
this time with Alfred Schnittke’s brilliant paraphrase <i>(K)ein Sommernachtstraum. </i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">By the way, on this particular recording, made by Malmö Symphony Orchestra in the mid 1980's, my father plays bass trombone:</span></div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/1OaE_Esx8VA/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/1OaE_Esx8VA&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/1OaE_Esx8VA&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<i> </i>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-5379214203618734902013-06-11T09:54:00.000+02:002013-06-11T15:51:54.747+02:00Clip from Professorial Inauguration Lecture of 2010 now on YoutubeA 30 minute excerpt of my inaugural lecture as professor in Library and Information Science has been discovered and uploaded on Youtube. The full lecture was just over two hours long, and the part now found is from around the middle of it.<br />
The lecture was given in may 2010 at Linnaeus University in Växjö, the day before the formal inaugural ceremony. <br />
The clip is in Swedish.<br />
<br />
A written version of the lecture has been published in <a href="http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:415039/FULLTEXT01" target="_blank">Humanetten</a> and later also in the book <a href="http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=9170187193" target="_blank">Folkets bibliotek? </a><br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/G3vJMvqrqvQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
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Enjoy.Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-49636358611630728062013-04-09T20:59:00.000+02:002013-04-10T08:05:00.973+02:00Of railway stations, universities and the curse of corporate ideals in free spaces<style>
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</style> I am very fond of railway stations. Just as I like airports.
There is something very democratic among travellers in those spaces, where
everyone is there only to get to the next destination. At the same time,
however, they are also places for contemplation and observation. We see each
other in a different way there. We are stripped of our everyday roles and
images, even though some do their best to uphold them. We are very (in a deep
sense) human there and that, I like. Somehow it makes me feel less lonely in
this strange and, for me at least, yet unresolved world. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A couple of days ago, I went to a meeting in Stockholm, as I
do a couple of times a year. The train ride takes about three and a half hours,
and I know the town well. I quite enjoy those trips, although I would never
like to live there. When the meeting was done and I had a couple of hours to
kill before returning, I decided to go back to the central station to get
something to eat – there are a couple of places serving at least decent
vegetarian meals there – and to read a good book (right now Frank Zappa’s
hilarious autobiography <i>The Real Frank Zappa Book</i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I strolled around the ever expanding
waiting hall, I noticed that something had changed. Practically all the benches
where people used to sit, rest, read, talk to each other or observe were gone.
The huge waiting hall was… empty. If I now wanted to sit and do those nice
things, I had to go in to one of the many coffee shops that had been
established along the sides of the hall. Or simply wander around in any of the
many new shops selling stuff I don’t need. There had obviously been a change
in the way that people were treated in this old, open building. They are no
longer travellers or citizens. They are consumers. To sit and read, observe or talk
do not render money, so away with the benches and put the people where they
have to pay to sit. Then they can do whatever they are doing while waiting for
trains. It is a striking picture of social development (or degradation). Social
space has turned in to economic space. Thank you, Ronald Reagan (who started it
all) and the subsequent non-thinkers of present Swedish politics. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTDoPsVfjxgAsJb3l3e9If-kNRtIWA1MjhfDpahLvuBkAMV4TqQ2hXRd2e-Pg1W22xZkzu4XPFR9lxPxnHHWTqYT8_lS3S013ctqM8fzBJuYsinYQ3uacBNViIzAAN3VI20cMW3KYv5rI/s1600/56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTDoPsVfjxgAsJb3l3e9If-kNRtIWA1MjhfDpahLvuBkAMV4TqQ2hXRd2e-Pg1W22xZkzu4XPFR9lxPxnHHWTqYT8_lS3S013ctqM8fzBJuYsinYQ3uacBNViIzAAN3VI20cMW3KYv5rI/s320/56.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I got on the train it struck me that I had not only seen
a wrecked social space, I had seen a picture of Swedish universities – not
least my own. Departments are seen as production units, students as consumers
moulded to a marketplace of (un)employment and even the thought of ”free”
research is opressed in the race for ”external funding”. A place where we once
could read, observe, talk to each other, and see each other as human beings has
been replaced by a system where intellectual space has turned into economic
space. No benches are left to sit on. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My own university is extremely senitive to this development.
Not only has it recently been re-organized so that it is now run more or less
like a private corporation – all in the name of <i>New Public Management</i>. It has
also been subjected to a large donation of research funds which is well on the
way of killing every inch of free critical research in any of its faculties –
not least in the arts and humanities faculty to which I belong. Suddenly the
whole university is running like crazy for an, although ridiculously large, amount
of money tied to ”research themes” dictated by ignorant corporate
representatives without the slightest clue of how research is being
done. Of course, critical (or ”free”) research is not what is sought for. Highly qualified researchers are used as marionettes in the pursue of further economic growth.
Is that what we really need? It would have been a lot better if the absurd
amount of money in this fund would be taken in by the tax system and then
distributed to the Swedish universities to take care of without the muddling of
corporate ignorance. This, of course, will not happen. It is too late. Instead
I see good and capable colleagues nervously discussing how to "adjust" their research
interests to fit requirements set by people who know very little, but
have a hell of a lot of money. Somehow, the will of these people have been mixed up with the needs of society – there is of course no similarity there. It is just so sad. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Someday this system will crumble and break under its own
weight. But not yet. As we wait for that to happen, is it possible to oppose,
to stand beside all this? Of course. By not applying for their money. By
focussing on ones own research, without letting others dictate the problems
studied. By not running in the same direction as everybody else, just because
management tells you to. By not believing the myth saying that ”this is the way
it must be – the way it is”. Disobedience in these matters might bring some personal
disadvantages, it might even lead some symbolic punishment. It is a hard system
we have had imposed upon us. However, it would, above all, be a manifestation
of integrity, and of belief in the value of free thought and critical research -
in contemplation, talking, reading, observing. In order to do that we need somewhere
free to sit. So, let us begin by carrying back the benches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-58116305317597011472013-03-27T09:53:00.000+01:002013-03-27T14:05:48.050+01:00On Academic Library Support for Scholarly Publishing<style>
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</style> Together with my good friend and colleague, Dr Krister Johannesson
of Skövde University, I have recently wrapped up a two-year project in which we
have studied the everyday experiences of academic librarians in their work with
researchers. Special focus was put on issues concerning publication strategies
and work with Open Access. The project, which was done without any ”external
funding”, involved some 25 librarians in three library units at Linnaeus
University and Skövde University, who participated in repeated focus-group
interviews and wrote log books of their daily work over a period of six months.
This provided us with a very rich material which was encoded with the analysis
software NVivo and boiled down into two articles. We’ve had a good run and the
project turned out very well. <br />
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<br /></div>
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We would like to extend a big ”Thank You” to the
participating librarians, who put down both time and effort into this. To
paraphrase the good Morrissey: the pleasure and the privilege was ours. We hope the
results will contribute to further discussions on these issues – both within
the participating libraries and inte the academic library sector in general.</div>
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The main article is now published in <i>The Journal of Academic
Librarianship</i>:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Librarians' Views of Academic Library Support for Scholarly Publishing:
An Every-day Perspective</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">by</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Joacim Hansson, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Krister Johannesson, Skövde University, Sweden </span></div>
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<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Abstract </span></i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This article reports on a study of academic
librarians' views of their work and possibilities regarding support for researchers'
publishing. Institutional repositories and Open Access are areas being dealt
with in particular. Methods used are highly qualitative; data was gathered at
two Swedish university libraries over a six month period through focus group
interview sessions and personal logs by informants. Findings indicate that
attitudes are often in collision with practicalities in the daily work in
libraries. Even though they have a high degree of knowledge and awareness of
scholarly publication patterns, librarians often feel insecure in the approach
of researchers. There is a felt redirection in the focus of academic
librarianship, from pedagogical information seeking tasks towards a more active
publication support, a change which also includes a regained prominence for new
forms of bibliographical work. Although there are some challenges, proactive
attitudes among librarians are felt as being important in developing further
support for researchers' publishing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i>Keywords</i> </span><br />
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Academic
libraries; </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Scholarly
publishing; </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Open access; </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sweden; </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Organizational
identity; </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Focus group
methodology</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
DOI of the full article is <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133313000177" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
second article from the project is written in Swedish and published in a Danish
anthology on current academic library challenges:</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Johannesson,
Krister & Hansson, Joacim (2012) ”Akademiska bibliotekariers
förhållningssätt till forskares publiceringsstrategier – med särskilt avseende
på frågan om Open Access”. <i>Viden i spil: forskningsbibliotekers funktioner i
forandring</i>, Eds: Helene Hoyrup, Hans Jorn Nielsen & Birger Hjorland,
Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur, pp. 280-302.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
book can be found and ordered<a href="http://www.samfundslitteratur.dk/Visning-af-titel.242.0.html?&cHash=30296f6510b1866e2f06987dc76c76ab&ean=9788759316665" target="_blank"> here</a></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Krister
Johannesson and Joacim Hansson</span></div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-37508473452458860422013-03-19T10:18:00.000+01:002013-03-19T12:30:44.461+01:00Wittgenstein, Knowledge Organization and the value of ginger<style>
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</style> When Ludwig Wittgenstein in 1921 stated, as the seventh and last main
proposition of his <i>Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus</i>, that ”whereof one cannot
speak, thereof one must be silent”, no one thought that he would actually take
it literally. He would never publish anything as ambitious during his lifetime again
and only after his death came out the ”follow-up”, <i>Philosophical Investigations</i>,
which denied much of what had been said in the Tractatus, although he had
claimed to therein have solved all philosophical problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After his long silence he formulated the idea
(to simplify dangerously) that instead of the extensional meaning of a word
being that in the world that it referred to (the picture theory), it should be
defined by its use. A word (or a term) can mean many things in various contexts
and discourses, and contains all these potential meanings. The specific meaning
reveals itself only in relation to how it is put to use in different
discourses. <br />
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This formulation of the function of language is interesting
for Library and Information Science (LIS) in that it directly affects research
on classification and the organization of knowledge. The meaning of terms is
what constitutes the basis of ”subjects” and relations in knowledge
organization systems. If we study the epistemological discussion in relation to
bibliographic classification, for instance in the erudite writings of Elaine
Svenonius, we find that the ”late Wittgenstein” strikes down on most of the
underlying epistemological assumptions of classification throughout history. No
small thing. After centuries of Aristotelian classification where each class
must be both exclusive and exhaustive, with each subject in one and only one
place, the door was suddenly open for other interpretations of the possible organiziation
of knowledge. Subject terms could have different meanings in different areas,
contexts and situations. Svenonius offers a good and simple example: ”mercury”
– metal, planet, car, Greek god etc etc. Classification had to face, as a
consequence of Wittgenstein’s thought, such practical issues as how to treat
homonymes and polysemes – ”Polysemy abounds”, Svenonius exclaimes. </div>
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The turn from the Aristotelian coloured picture theory of
the Tractatus, where a subect in a classification scheme mirrored ”reality”, to
a view on subjects seen in analogy with family resemblances led to, among other
things, fuzzy set theory and use of ambiguity operators in indexing systems.</div>
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Reading the literature on knowledge organization one
sometimes get the feeling that the end now was reached. If language used in
indexing and classification is not absolute, neither in relation to truth nor to
reality, but instead relating to discourse and context, we do indeed have a
huge set of interesting challenges to deal with - and so has been done.</div>
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<i>Philosophical investigations</i> was first published in 1953,
two years after Wittgenstein’s death. Even though influential visions of new
modes of organizing knowledge had been formulated by Paul Otlet in the 1930’s
and Vannevar Bush in the 1940’s, the environment of these thoughts were firmly
set in the pre-computorized world – a world, some would say, much simpler.
Aristotle reigned still.</div>
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Today we have a somewhat different situation. New metaphores
and new modes of thinking to intellectually grasp a technology we could not
conceive of just a few decades ago seem to be needed. The vast dissemination
and lack of organization of knowledge in today’s digital document environments
challenge us. It seems to be the very practice of post-modernism (which owe so
much to Wittgenstein), that is in front of us. It is in this context that the
concept of rhizome has come to relevance in LIS. It was formulated by Deleuze
& Guattari in the mid 1970’s. Most people today try as good as they can to avoid
French post-modern philosophers, and Deleuze has mostly gone unnoticed in the
LIS literature, but in an interesting way the concept of rhizome has stuck, and
started its own (rhizome-like) life in the literature of the discipline. Lyn
Robinson and Mike Maguire has made a good overview of the relevance and use of
the concept.</div>
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Rhizome? Well, it is a term taken from botany. There, it is a
subterranean stem structure consisting of ”nodes” where roots may spring out of
virtually every place of it, in every direction. Most of us encounters rhizomes
in the kitchen, as ginger. The rhizome is thus seen metaphorically as the way
in which information and knowledge connect on the world wide web and in digital
document environments. From every place, anytime, in any direction. The
language theory of Wittgenstein is not seen as sufficient anymore. The Internet
is an anarchic mass of documents which links to each other in unpredictable
ways, making systems for information and knowledge organization face completely
new challenges. The question is, of course, how revolutionary this is. Has it
not always been like this? Perhaps technical tools have just made the chaos of
reality explicit? How do the ”old” metaphores (the tree of knowledge, nets of
knowledge) hold up against a dynamic rhizome-like structures of documents? We
cannot say. What is clear though is the the need for new metaphores and modes
of analysis in knowledge organization are considered to be acute. We may lean
on Aristotle, and we may lean on Wittgenstein, and in many aspects they of
course still hold sway. Knowledge is not its presentation, the Internet is not
our knowledge – it is merely a technical tool which we in many ways still have
to figure out what to do with, both in terms of epistemology and in
oragnizational practice. Those who say we have already figured it out are not
worth believing. Many should – like Wittgenstein – withdraw into silence, think
hard and come back when they have something to say on the "novelty" of
knowledge today. Perhaps the rhizome metaphor will show to be stronger than
more established structures of knowledge classification. Perhaps it does best
to keep in the kitchen – the health benefits of ginger seem, at least for now,
indisputable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Suggested readings:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Svenonius, Elaine (2004) The epistemological foundations of
knowledge representations. Library Trends, Vol. 52(3), pp. 571-587.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Robinson, Lyn & Maguire, Mike (2010) The rhizome and the
tree: changing metaphors for information oragnisation. Journal of
Documentation, Vol. 66(4), pp. 604-613.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-59494555725661039362013-02-25T17:09:00.001+01:002013-02-25T19:03:24.876+01:0020 years in Library and Information Science - reflect and repent, part 4: theorizing<style>
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</style> One afternoon in 1997 (or 1998) I had a seminar on the
study that eventually became my doctoral thesis. I can’t quite remember the
discussion, but it must have concerned some rather theoretical issues, because I
do remember my supervisor, professor Lars Höglund, sighing: ”but we must be able to tell something – it is
possible for us to know things!!?”. I was a bit puzzled by this odd exclamation –
that was really not the way I looked at what I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course he was right. When I started off in
research twenty years ago it was not, however, self-evident that a young doctoral
student would have that perspective. Postmodern theory was, at least in Library
and Information Science, prevalent amongst the young, and we upheld some pride
in taking in the ”new”. <br />
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Looking back now, however, I can see that maybe I never
actually was as postmodern as I thought I was. At some point I definitely
understood that I at least had left the postmoden irony-laden theories which I,
to be honest, found quite tedious. Instead I see, through the whole of my work, a consistent theoretical underpinning relating to marxism (the ”young”
Marx), neo-marxism and critical theory. The names I have followed and used in
my research are, among others, Paul Ricoeur, James G. March, Chantal Mouffe and
lately also Maurizio Ferraris. I have revolved around an axis which actually
consists of a serious questioning of the postmodernity I thought I was a part
of in the beginning of my scholarly path. What instead has guided me is the
firm belief in society as something which really is ”out there”, possible to grasp and
analyse, based on a materiality untouched by interpretation (often visible
through its documentality) and without the binary relation
of individual/context that so has fuelled contemporary Library and Information
Science. The theory of mimesis by Paul Ricoeur was Aristotelian rather than Platonic;
the ”new institutionalism” of James G. March opposed traditional institutional
theory, based on simple behaviorism; the theory of agonistic pluralism
forwarded by Chantal Mouffe gave me tools to analyse political processes which
could explain why the often proclaimed death of ideologies was just an
illusion; the concept of documentality, as formulated by Maurizio Ferraris, has
made it possible to explain the legitimacy of social objects and insitutions
through the documents and processes of documentation by which they are made
visible.</div>
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These perspectives of course not only provide arguments for
social critique, they may even be part of an argument for change. On the other
hand, I don’t believe (anymore) that science will overturn the structures of
power that opress the world today. Should the masses act on scientific
knowledge, then we would for instance all be vegetarians, based on the fact
that (a) we do not need to eat dead animals to survive, (b) the logic of the
”market” make the meat industry one of the most cynical and disgusting in the
world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most people don’t act on such
facts, now do they?</div>
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In Library and Information Science, we can establish the
democratic significance of library services working in local society settings,
as well as we can analyse the importance of a well working scientific
communication – a prerequisite for development through knowledge. Not enough, perhaps,
to turn contemporary society into a more worthy and humanistic one than that which
we have today – but, enough to provide the basis for formulation of important
questions that reach well beyond the influence (and interest) of the
discipline.</div>
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In order to see the world, we need knowledge; in order to
see the knowledge we have to document it; the documents need to be described
and organized, they need to be made available and possible to retrieve; once so,
we can internalize them and convert them into action, and out of this action
there is (still?) room to achieve change. But, of course, the thought of
redirecting social development requires an understanding of the very existence
of social relations, not as ironies or discursive constructions, but as
experiences of real people. In this way both studies of librarianship and
documentation may in itself be legitimized from a materialistic point of
view. Library and Information Science has indeed a lot of potential in this
respect.</div>
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<br /></div>
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If any of my scientific writings should find a place for
someone, somewhere, in the quest for social change and the role therein of documentation
and librarianship, I would probably die a happy man. Before death, though, I
might just keep doing this for, well, another twenty years.</div>
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Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-803275909886065753.post-68768195290383898992013-02-24T21:07:00.003+01:002013-03-27T15:02:44.696+01:0020 years in Library and Information Science - reflect and repent, part 3: writing<style>
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</style> For twenty years now I have been paid to communicate abouth
things I find important in writing. As I am not particularly fond of people in
general, I see this as a privilege. As a scholar I am to a very high degree a
writer, something which I feel seldom is talked about when it comes to research
– one only rarely hear a social researcher talk about his or her writing
process – focus is always on the ”results”. To me the identity as a scholarly
writer has been essential. When I entered the academy it was with a large
portion of curiosity of what I would be able to do as a writer within the
confinements of science – both in terms of research, and in terms of more
popular writings. All of my research output is very personal to me. When I see my list of
publication, I do not see just a list of articles, book chapters, reports and
books. I see an ouvre. Some might find that pretentious, and it is. I do
believe that lack of pretention is a big problem today, in research, and in
society as a whole. The original fascination for documentation and libraries that once made
me choose to engage in Library and Information Science in teaching and research,
has always been my main guidence in the choices I have made in terms of topics
and form. To me, my work follows a fairly straight path (with a few
exceptions), and each new project I have taken on has begun in my own private
contextualization, were I ask myself where this could fit in to the overall
structure of my work. Whether this is visible to others is completely
uninteresting. I am only interested in the direction of my own inner
compass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I follow that, I am
confident I will formulate interesting things to say that will take on a life of its own and be a part of discussions and debates of various sorts. In many
cases this has also been the case. Suddenly I see, or hear of, a text of mine
in a discussion that I could not imagine – sometime several years after it has
been written. To see the individual lives of my books and articles unfold
before me is gratifying beyond words. It is very much the way in which I
connect to the world. I have several times over the years been invited to
discussions and debates relating to topics I have written about. For the most I
decline such invitations – I do not feel comfortable talking in the context of a
debate – it is really as simple as that. <br />
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My research is, as I said, very personal to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is therefore very important to me to keep
as much independence in my work as I possibly can. Once the text is out and
about, it is for any and all to scrutinize and crucify, but I do not
compromise with my ideas. This why I do not engage in searching for ”external
funding”, as it is called at the university. As most external funding in Sweden is the
same tax money that already give me my pay at the end of the month, this is of
course just discourse. External funding, especially in a topic like Library and
Information Science, is nothing more than a control system giving some research
a political legitimacy, and other not. I am utterly uninterested in the
political legitimacy of my work, and doing my research in the realm of my given
slot of time as a scholar has always been important. The result starts by now
to show – it is possible to develop and do interesting research without
spending a lot of time applying for money that you will most likely not get.
This system set to discipline the spirits of scholars is devastating for many good ideas
or, at the very least, time consuming - time that could be better used doing research. The system of reward within the university in
terms of symbolic power and influence is obvious. It does, however, not have anything to
do with the quality of research performed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Writing science is in itself a negotiation, in terms of peer
review processes and the scrutiny at conferences. The important thing is that
these processes come relatively late in the creative process, and primarily concerns (at
least with peer reviewing) the presentation of results. I remember when I started
off with my first articles in 1993/1994, how I felt as if I was learning a new
language. It was like learning to write sonnets – without the correct rhymes, it
will simply be something else. Soon enough I realized it wasn’t all that
rigouros, and I have done some experimentation with forms - for better and for worse. It was, however, an important choice for me – if I wanted to communicate and reach
out to people, this could very well be a way that was fruitful. The writing
process still holds. I can work though a project, or dwell on a problem for a
very long time (sometimes years) without even making notes. At a given time –
or a deadline – I sit down and I… write, quickly, with the basic structure all
set in my mind's eye. Sometimes a given argument or line of thought finds its form in this very
late writing process as I tap away – sometimes I have had a formulation or a
sentence in my head for a very long time. If it’s good, it stays, if it doesn’t
hold, it’ll disappear never to come back. </div>
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Results of social research is always negotiations and
interpretations. I have always wondered why individual writing processes are so
seldom discussed within the universities – as if we only reported, as if we are
not – first and foremost – creative intellectuals, authors of science. </div>
Joacim Hanssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02359920742297473136noreply@blogger.com0