Search results

There are two main purposes in this paper. The first is to explore possible relationships between adoption of management tools in a broad sense, the organisational culture and the character of leadership in libraries. This is a very important area because management tools are diffused, interpreted, translated and implemented in many other ways than intended. The second purpose is to present some major findings of nation‐wide studies done on these topics to raise awareness about the complex relationships and context that influence chance processes in libraries. Connected to these purposes is also the intention to introduce elements of some institutional theories that have been rather neglected in the more rationalistic literature on, for example, performance measurement.

The paper is based primarily on a comprehensive leadership survey conducted in Denmark in 2007 and on a qualitative study based on extensive interviewing of directors and staff members from 24 public libraries. Some supporting material from earlier leadership surveys is included. The theoretical frame for this paper is theories of isomorphism, management standards and recipes together with a model of organisational culture.

The main findings supports some of the newer theoretical literature concerned with isomorphism, translation and diffusion of standards and recipes, namely that the variation is great and that some of the processes are heavily influenced by the organisational culture in which leadership plays an important role. It is also important that the paper emphasises that management tools, whether performance measurement instruments or technological devices, possess both a technical and a symbolic aspect.

The paper reports findings from both a survey and extensive interview research. This implies that only few of the results could be analysed and that the analytical level at some places takes the character of an analysis of tendencies.

The paper reports on several leadership surveys conducted since 2001 in Denmark and the UK. The paper also reports qualitative interview research with 24 library directors and 75 staff members. This research is the first of its kind in Scandinavia and the theoretical perspectives make it also of interest to researchers and professionals outside Scandinavia.

The public libraries face several challenges. The most important is probably the economic situation. A second is discrepancies between the profession's perception of the roles of the libraries in the local community and the users' much more traditional views of the constituting elements of a public library service. The third challenge is the rather overwhelming introduction and proliferation of new services and the prioritising of these services. Recent research indicates a possible gap between the public library users and their perceptions of the elements constituting a library and the library profession's struggle to place the public library in the centre of the perceived development of society. This paper seeks to analyse this gap and address questions concerning the traditional roles of the library and the discourses in the profession concerning the public library as a place and an agent for social capital, integration, entrance to the public system, a player in the field of emerging social technologies, and to discuss possible consequences in relation to the significance users, and non‐users, place on different types of service provision. Further, the paper aims to analyse and discuss how public libraries can bridge the gap between the traditional roles and the role as an agent of change or innovation using existing data and user surveys.

The primary data for the study consist of three large surveys. The first was a nation‐wide survey of high school students' use of libraries and information resources. The second was an in‐depth survey of users and non‐users in a municipality in the Copenhagen area. The third survey is an analysis of perceptions of citizens' services in the public libraries. Supporting data draw from the National Library Statistics and analyses of statements and opinions in the professional literature.

The results of the surveys analysed in‐depth indicate a clear, very marked and possibly increasing discrepancy between the users' rather traditional perceptions of what constitutes a public library. The analysis employs different segmentation methods, and offers a differentiated view of behaviour and perception in segments of users and non‐users, indicating a very diversified picture of behaviour, perceptions and priorities for different kinds of services. The paper focuses especially on the possible gap between the perceived importance of traditional services and new services and discusses these problems in relation to declining resources and use.

The paper addresses the problem about balancing users' traditional views on public libraries and the need for innovation of both services and service delivery.

The paper presents a dramatic appraisal of trends in Danish public library use, which are applicable to modern public library services worldwide.

Presents results from investigations into the information labour market, library school students′ work preferences and orientations. Also presents the ordinary citizen′s view of librarians and library work. These investigations show that Danish library school students have changed their work aspirations and disclose that the chance of job success is correlated with the chosen specialization at library school. Managers′ and the public′s perception of librarians shows that there are still traditional images to overcome. These investigations give a frame of reference for the discussion of necessary qualifications. The main problem in a modern library school curriculum is the mix of the traditional core disciplines with information technology and marketing subjects. Discusses this in detail, concluding with a list of necessary competences.

The purpose of the research is to investigate Norwegian web‐tutorials in contexts consisting of organizational issues and different forms of usability in relation to students’ perception and use of the system. Further, the research investigates the usefulness of the concepts concerning affordances and different forms of usability.

The research has employed a variety of data‐collection methods including interviews with librarians, interviews and focus group interviews with students, coupled with tests of their capabilities using the systems. A detailed research design is included in the paper.

In the organizational context, the research confirmed the importance of a close contact with teachers and disciplines and it was also clearly indicated that disciplines that supported an evidence‐based approach to research were much more active in using the tutorials as part of the requirements. Further, examples of organizational amnesia are discussed, pointing to the necessity for leadership support and systematic knowledge sharing. System Usability Scores are analysed in relation to solution of tasks and interesting relations are analysed. The perceptions of students were also interesting, clearly indicating marked differences in perceptions depending on study year and discipline but also different valuation of the different forms of usability. Overall, the research indicated a discrepancy between design intentions versus use and perception of the tutorials.

The theoretical approach has not been used often in library and information science research and the paper indicates its usefulness for further research. The findings presented in the paper also have implications for the way libraries design and promote information literacy tools.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the relationship between the concepts of social capital and organisational effectiveness in a library setting.

The concepts are discussed in relation to two studies of information behaviour. One of the studies is a local public library study and the second is a nationwide survey into high school students' information behaviour.

The data indicate a discrepancy between the development of (especially) public library services and the perceptions of a library in the mind of both users and non‐users.

It has only been possible to raise a few questions on the basis of the two surveys. However, these questions relate to the theoretical concepts introduced in the beginning of this paper.

The paper highlights discrepancies that need to be remedied if the trust that is so important for public institutions is to continue to be at a high level.