Abstract
Ideals and visions of a Library 2.0 have in recent years been widely discussed in public library research and practice. Influenced by the Web 2.0 discourse, the Library 2.0 rhetoric has to a large extent been coloured by utopian and revolutionary overtones, identifying
social media as key to transforming the public library institution. While previous research has primarily addressed this development conceptually, this paper explores how the visions of Library 2.0 are put to work in everyday practices. Drawing on ethnographic data, this paper critically examines the micro-level interplay between the social networking site Facebook and librarianship in the setting of a Swedish public library.
The study reveals that the labour required to realize the visions of Library 2.0 is characterized by a constant flux between self-determination and precarity (i.e. existence without predictability or security). While the librarians participating in the study creatively construct new routines and strategies for doing work, they are always at the beck and call of Facebook and have only marginal opportunities of influencing the technology they use. Still, this everyday and situated use gives them a possibility of interpreting the purpose of Facebook differently. The paper suggests that by articulating such alternative understandings of technology
more clearly public libraries could reject a position of being merely victims of technological change and make a difference in ICT-development.
social media as key to transforming the public library institution. While previous research has primarily addressed this development conceptually, this paper explores how the visions of Library 2.0 are put to work in everyday practices. Drawing on ethnographic data, this paper critically examines the micro-level interplay between the social networking site Facebook and librarianship in the setting of a Swedish public library.
The study reveals that the labour required to realize the visions of Library 2.0 is characterized by a constant flux between self-determination and precarity (i.e. existence without predictability or security). While the librarians participating in the study creatively construct new routines and strategies for doing work, they are always at the beck and call of Facebook and have only marginal opportunities of influencing the technology they use. Still, this everyday and situated use gives them a possibility of interpreting the purpose of Facebook differently. The paper suggests that by articulating such alternative understandings of technology
more clearly public libraries could reject a position of being merely victims of technological change and make a difference in ICT-development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 199-210 |
| Journal | Libri |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Information Studies
Free keywords
- public libraries
- social media
- Information studies
- Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap