Reading as dialogical document work: possibilities for Library and Information Science
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a dialogically based theory of documentary practices and document work as a promising framework for studying activities that are often conceptualised as information behaviour or information practices within Library and Information Science (LIS).
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical example – a lesson on how to read railway timetables – is presented. The lesson stems from a research project including 223 Swedish lessons recorded in Swedish primary schools 1967-1969. It is argued that this lesson, as many empirical situations within LIS research, can fruitfully be regarded as documentary practices which include document work such as reading, rather than instances of information behaviour.
Findings
It is found that the theoretical perspective of dialogism could contribute to the theory development within LIS, and function as a bridge between different subfields such as reading studies and documentary practices.
Research limitations/implications
The framework is yet to be applied on a larger scale. This would require a willingness to go beyond the entrenched idea of information as the core theoretical concept and empirical object of study within LIS.
Social implications
The theoretical framework offers a view of the relations between individuals, documents, and social contexts, through which it is possible to explore the social significance of core LIS concerns such as reading, literacy, and document work.
Originality/value
The theoretical framework offers an alternative to the monologist, information-based theories and models of people’s behaviours and practices prevalent in LIS.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The writing of this paper was made possible through the project Reading, traditions and negotiations: reading activities in Swedish classrooms 1967-1969, funded by the Swedish Research Council 2013-2015, ref 2012-4140. The project is part of the Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS) at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Borås, Sweden, funded by the Swedish Research Council, ref 349-2006-146. An early version of this paper, “Dialogical documentary practices: analysing reading in Swedish primary school classrooms 1967-1969” was presented at DOCAM 13, The Annual Meeting of the Document Academy, at the University of Tromsø, Norway, 19-22 June 2013. The authors would like to thank the DPA original researchers and participants, as well as Jonas Emanuelsson, Oskar Lindwall, Elin Johansson, Charlotte Sellberg, and Erik Lundberg at Gothenburg University for all their efforts to make the data available to us; Niclas Hardman and Jan Buse at the University of Borås for their technical assistance; Rebecca Buse Landmér at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) for her professional editing of the picture; Frances Hultgren at SSLIS, Christine Yates and Keith Hampson for their help with the English editing of the manuscript; and Helena Francke and Ola Pilerot (2011) at SSLIS for helpful guidance in the area of document theory.
Citation
Lundh, A.H. and Dolatkhah, M. (2016), "Reading as dialogical document work: possibilities for Library and Information Science", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 72 No. 1, pp. 127-139. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2015-0019
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
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