Good to know!
A sociological analysis of Norwegian Q&A services
Oslo University College has granted a two year research scholarship
starting in August 2004, and my main project is now called Good
to know! (= Godt å vite!).
The activities that are described under its former name - What
do people ask? - will still be carried out, however.
Several new aspects of the field have become more prominent during
the last couple of years. I would mention:
- the development of reference, or question-and-answer services, as
a market with many service providers outside the library sector. Services
for the general public are generally free or low-cost.
- a substantial reduction in the demand for library reference services,
which is particularly noticable in the United States
- the shift of traffic from personal or staffed services towards unstaffed,
self-service resources (search engines, general and specialised subject
portals)
- the close relationship between reference services, on the one hand,
and lending services, on the other. The pattern of demand reflects
the same user interests and needs.
The close cooperation with Oslo Public Library will continue. This
is also related to its big building project - near the harbour (Aker
brygge) and Oslo City Hall.
Likely tasks during the next academic years (04-06) are:
- writing an analytic article on digital question-and-answer services,
which takes both library and non-library services into account
- developing and testing efficient, sample-based procedures for collecting
field data on reference work in public libraries (includes field work
in Gjerdrum)
- analysing reference data (collected in 2002) from the music section
of Oslo public library
There is more information (in Norwegian)
in the project application. |
Recent publications
The paper Why is quality control so hard? Reference studies
and reference quality in public libraries : the case of Norway
was presented at the IFLA Library Theory and Research Section in Berlin.
More ...
Because of illness I could not participate in Glasgow in 2002, but
the first part of the paper Why do you ask?
Reference statistics for library planning was converted into an
independent article and published in Performance measurement and
metrics, vol. 4 (2003), no. 1, pp. 28-37.
Local library development
During the last couple of years I have assisted Gjerdrum public library
as an informal consultant. Together with the director, Bozena Rasmussen,
I have written a paper for the Genealogy and Local History Section of
IFLA: Library innovation is hard work: Lessons
from a Norwegian case study.
The paper, which was also presented in Berlin (by Bozena Rasmussen),
deals with local efforts to realise cooperation between archives, libraries
and museums. The library will also be used as a test area for collecting
systematic data on reference transactions.
Who goes to IFLA?
A study of participation
To learn more about the global aspect of the library profession, I
have analyzed the persons - or rather the groups - that go to IFLA.
More ...
Lost in Alexandria?
A bibliometric study of cultural survival
This is a new project that I have started, on a small scale, in the
spring 2003. More ... |