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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of local studies collections and contributions from local studies librarians to a Norwegian local history wiki.

The paper focuses on access to metadata in the form of bibliographies, databases and catalogues, in addition to general articles on local history. The methodological approach is qualitative and comparative based on semi‐structured interviews with librarians in charge of local studies collections and with the administrators of the wiki. The study includes an analysis of a selection of local studies collections and criteria for inclusion into the local history wiki. A short comparison with history wikis in other countries is added.

Local studies collections contain valuable and unique material for the wiki, especially metadata resources. The expertise of librarians could increase the value of the wiki. Generally, librarians are not active contributors. Strategies for involvement are needed.

The paper may encourage and inspire local studies librarians to contribute actively to the wiki and incorporate relevant parts of their collections.

In the autumn of 2006, two groups of students from the Faculty of Journalism, Library and Information Science at Oslo University College participated in a cooperative project with the Norwegian online reference service, Biblioteksvar.no (Ask The Library (ATL)). The students were in their third term of studies and received instruction in retrieval systems and tools. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the students in actual reference work. It seeks to examine a sample of questions and answers. In a wider perspective, the study highlights the value of this kind of educational strategy.

The evaluation criteria in this study are based on a qualitative analysis of actual questions and answers from the ATL, student summaries of their own work on the project and interviews with professional librarians working with the ATL service. A substantial amount of data has been collected during the project period.

Analysis shows that the students generally performed very well. This corroborates the findings from a similar project last year. The students' answers had the same level of quality as the responses supplied by professional, experienced librarians working on the ATL service. Possible reasons for this result are discussed. The study confirms the importance of the reference interview for increasing the quality of the responses.

The results of the study indicate that the ATL service should not only provide links to information sources in response to user questions, but should also include a short explanation of how the links are found. Further, patron satisfaction surveys are useful. The collection of contextual data about the question and the patron may improve the quality of the response from the service. It is recommended that the SMS‐based service be included in the student project next year so that the students will have the opportunity to participate in all three of the currently available ATL services from Biblioteksvar.no.

The paper may inspire other faculties and schools of information studies to cooperate more closely with the library profession and to prepare students for their future careers as reference librarians through participation in actual reference work from a relatively early stage in the program of study. The project described in this paper illustrates the change from traditional lecture‐based teaching to problem‐based learning in projects as outlined in The Quality Reform in Norwegian Higher Education.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss visions and realities in recent Norwegian governmental reports on libraries. How realistic are the government's plans? Do the commitments in the reports comply with the budgetary proposals? How do the local libraries interpret them? Would a change in government affect the public libraries, as they are funded by municipal authorities and local politicians?

The methods used are a qualitative analysis of interviews and an examination of the reports and relevant statistical data. Six public libraries, of different types and geographical distribution, were chosen for analysis. Statistical and economic data were obtained from the KOSTRA database (Municipality‐State‐Reporting) from Statistics Norway and the annual ALM (Archives, Libraries, Museums) publication Statistics for Archives, Libraries and Museum (Statistikk for arkiv, bibliotek og museum).

The budget proposals of the Norwegian government indicate willingness to implement the commitments in the governmental reports, with the exception of the small amounts allocated to competence development and model libraries. The reports do not address the serious challenges facing Norwegian public libraries.

The paper discusses the latest official plans and strategies for Norwegian libraries. This should interest library employees and library and information students and teachers, as well as governmental representatives and politicians.

The in‐depth analysis of a selection of Norwegian public libraries could be valuable for librarians in Norway, as well as in other countries, in times of budget cuts, decreasing resources and financial difficulties.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss learning experiences, mutual benefits and possible drawbacks from collaborative writing and presentation of scientific papers at Bobcatsss international library conferences.

A web‐based questionnaire was sent to participants who co‐authored and presented papers at the Bobcatsss 2012 conference. The results are measured against the viewpoints and experiences of five Norwegian students, who have collaborated with the author of this paper, at four Bobcatsss conferences, in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Responses from the survey and the student interviews indicate that collaborative writing is a superior strategy for learning LIS subjects. None of the interviewees and few of the respondents had attended a writing course to improve their writing skills. Many had not read literature of the type: “How to write a scientific paper”.

The study may be useful for future LIS students who arrange Bobcatsss conferences and for those who plan to write and present a scientific paper. Contributors could benefit from a study that highlights the theoretical, didactic and practical problems in the field of collaborative writing.

While the data are exclusively from Bobcatsss, the findings may be more widely relevant. There are few studies on Bobcatsss, except for the annual reports. This paper explores the educational rewards, the complexity and difficulties of collaborative writing.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the main contents of the 18th BOBCATSSS Symposium, held in Parma, Italy in January 2010, dedicated to the main theme “Bridging the digital divide: libraries providing access for all?”

The report provides a concise presentation of the main themes discussed during the conference.

The topics presented focused mainly on the fields of access and delivery, community support and collections, with some others focusing on leadership and management.

This symposium is one of the few conferences in the world where students are the main characters and participate as organisers, reviewers and presenters of the contributions. Reports on such conferences are of interest to both students and to teachers and professionals.