Oct 06
Public libraries and the Nordic welfare state
NORSLIS (Nordic Research School in Library and Information Science) gave a course on Public libraries and the Nordic welfare state - the changing role of public libraries in Uppsala September 29 - October 3. Maria Kronqvist-Berg and Outi Nivakoski participated in this course and presented their subprojects. Outi is studying opinions and trends in library blogspace and Maria is studying the context and stakeholders of public library 2.0.
The course was very well-organized and the lectures gave insight into the research on public libraries role concerning both historical and contemporary perspectives. There were lectures on, for example, the public library as a meeting place, social capital and public libraries and how to use discourse analysis in public library research. The senior researchers who gave the lectures were Michael Buckland, Ilkka Mäkinen, Kerstin Rydbeck, Ragnar Audunson, Frank Huysmans, Andreas Vårheim, Laura Skouvig och Svanhild Aabø.