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As a part of the DiMPAH-project, the authors have developed an open educational resource (OER) on netnography. In this paper, the OER is presented and critically discussed as the broader problem identified during course-development is made explicit and explored through two research questions: 1) How can an OER be designed that positions netnography as a viable methodology for the digital humanities? 2) How can an OER be designed that theoretically and methodologically combines both quantitative and qualitative approaches for doing netnography? An up-to-date theoretical overview of netnography as a methodology for studying social experiences online is provided. Methodological considerations are presented, aimed for sensitizing students to nuances of active (participatory) and passive (non-participatory) netnography through two analytical concepts. The OER is presented through three case studies and a learning scenario offering flexible and authentic technology-integrated learning. Netnography is found to contribute to the digital humanities, overall characterized by method-driven and quantitative approaches, with reflexivity and a potential for critical research and pedagogy. The two analytical concepts community-based netnography and consociality-based netnography allow for a nuanced methodological understanding of how and when qualitative and quantitative approaches should be employed, and how they may complement each other.

This article reports conclusions from a three-year research project on Swedish public libraries. The focus of the project is on librarians experience of libraries mission to promote democracy when democratic norms and values are challenged politically by radical right populism. Results of a longitudinal survey point to stability and lack of political interest over time, but increased societal polarization causes several ethical dilemmas for librarians. Examples of illegitimate political influence and librarians adapting to changes in the political climate call for renewed discussions on the professional role and understandings of democracy in library practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This paper reports results from an ethnographic study of teacher trainees' information activities in digital, group-based learning and their relation to the interplay between use and appropriation of digital tools and the learning environment. Method: The participants in the present study are 249 pre-school teacher trainees in Sweden. Three key informants and their teams were followed during a course module using online and offline participant observation. The produced material includes transcribed interviews with nine students, recorded digital interactions from Facebook, Google Drive and Prezi, field notes and a field diary. Analysis: The material was read repeatedly, coded and comparatively analysed using the lens of information literacy and the concept appropriation. The analysis generated recurring themes. These themes emerged as phases of the group-based learning process. Results: The results illustrate how information activities during teacher trainees' digital, group-based learning are performed during four phases--setting the scene, negotiating the topic, gathering material and presenting the assignment. Conclusions: Crucial aspects of an information literacy of digital, group-based learning in teacher training are identified. The learning environment of teacher training constrains and enables use and appropriation of digital tools in terms of flexibility, lack of participation and transparency.

Introduction: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in ethnographic research within the field of library and Information studies. Although ethnography has been used by information researchers for studying a wide variety of phenomena, discussions concerning methodological developments and directions, as well as ethnography's wider applicability within the field are rare. Our intent is to contribute to the such discussions. Method: The article draws on three on-going research projects to illustrate how the analytical and methodological concepts of following and translation are operationalized. Analysis: Particularly the article addresses the tension between the site specificity traditionally associated with ethnographic methodology, and the fluidity and place transcending but yet situated character of the objects of study in the field. Conclusion: The authors conclude that an ethnography of following and translation is a tool for handling the movability characterizing the phenomena studied in the field, thus turning the necessary uncertainty of inductive research into an advantage. This allows the researcher to stay open and let the object of study lead the way. [This paper was published as part of: Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-22 August, 2013.]

Recent use of public libraries as political symbols by the radical right in their challenge of the established consensus in Swedish cultural policy is part of an ongoing (re)politicization of the field of cultural policy. This paper frames this development as part of a post-political condition of Swedish cultural and library policy. Through an analysis of previous research, policy, and policy debates, a conceptual understanding of the post-political condition is offered. The paper also provides an analysis with empirical examples of how this condition unfolds in librarians’ accounts of everyday public library practices. This composite analysis furthers our understanding of the enactment of Swedish cultural and library policy and contributes to a broader discussion of the current challenges facing these policy fields following the rise of the radical right in several countries. The findings point to a need for more nuanced and ideological discussions concerning the relationship between politics and culture and where public libraries are situated between autonomy and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of the DiMPAH-project, the authors have developed an open educational resource (OER) on netnography. In this paper, the OER is presented and critically discussed as the broader problem identified during course-development is made explicit and explored through two research questions: 1) How can an OER be designed that positions netnography as a viable methodology for the digital humanities? 2) How can an OER be designed that theoretically and methodologically combines both quantitative and qualitative approaches for doing netnography? An up-to-date theoretical overview of netnography as a methodology for studying social experiences online is provided. Methodological considerations are presented, aimed for sensitizing students to nuances of active (participatory) and passive (non-participatory) netnography through two analytical concepts. The OER is presented through three case studies and a learning scenario offering flexible and authentic technology-integrated learning. Netnography is found to contribute to the digital humanities, overall characterized by method-driven and quantitative approaches, with reflexivity and a potential for critical research and pedagogy. The two analytical concepts community-based netnography and consociality-based netnography allow for a nuanced methodological understanding of how and when qualitative and quantitative approaches should be employed, and how they may complement each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore and to make visible how the information work of hospital librarians is enacted in key practices where services of the hospital library are employed to support evidence-based practice. The empirical material was produced at three hospital libraries in three different regions in Sweden between January and March 2020. A practice-oriented approach using the theoretical lens information work is employed to analyze nine semi-structured interviews with hospital librarians and hospital library managers, together with field notes from observations of interactions between hospital librarians and healthcare practitioners. The analysis investigates the conditions for information work performed by hospital librarians as they participate in three key practices: clinical practices, information seeking practices, and HTA-practices. The results of the analysis are related to four categories of invisible information work, and the nature of the information work done to counter different types of invisibilities within the key practices is discussed. The findings suggest that a substantial amount of the information work of hospital librarians is invisible to clinicians. At the same time, considerable efforts are made by hospital librarians to counter different types of invisibility, for example through building relationships with healthcare staff and to develop and make specialized competencies visible. In particular, the importance assigned to evidence-based practice in healthcare allows for the librarians to be regarded by clinicians as legitimate partners with clearly defined competencies in specific situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of recent political developments on the mission of public libraries in Sweden. It reports from an ongoing research project that examines how library managers and librarians experience changes in the political landscape, which challenge the established the mission of public libraries to promote a democratic society. It mentions the interplay between national policies and local politics, as well as opposition between the national and local political levels.

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the repurposing of Facebook into a tool for learning in teacher training, and how information literacies are enacted in the process. The study is informed by a socio-cultural view on information literacy which implies that learning and literacies are situated, tool-based practices. An ethnographic study of a Facebook Group with two hundred Swedish teacher trainees and two educators is conducted. Five semi-structured interviews contextualize and validate the online material. 201 conversations from the Group during April and May 2012 are analysed using the theoretical concept appropriation and the empirical lens of information literacy. The Facebook Group can be appropriated as a problem-solving tool and a relation-building tool. Depending on the mode of appropriation, different information literacies including different conceptions of credibility are enacted in the Facebook Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. This paper reports results from an ethnographic study of teacher trainees' information activities in digital, group-based learning and their relation to the interplay between use and appropriation of digital tools and the learning environment. Method. The participants in the present study are 249 pre-school teacher trainees in Sweden. Three key informants and their teams were followed during a course module using online and offline participant observation. The produced material includes transcribed interviews with nine students, recorded digital interactions from Facebook, Google Drive and Prezi, field notes and a field diary. Analysis. The material was read repeatedly, coded and comparatively analysed using the lens of information literacy and the concept appropriation. The analysis generated recurring themes. These themes emerged as phases of the group-based learning process. Results. The results illustrate how information activities during teacher trainees' digital, group-based learning are performed during four phases: setting the scene, negotiating the topic, gathering material and presenting the assignment. Conclusions. Crucial aspects of an information literacy of digital, group-based learning in teacher training are identified. The learning environment of teacher training constrains and enables use and appropriation of digital tools in terms of flexibility, lack of participation and transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]