Introducing society: A lifelong learning perspective on public libraries’ contribution to integration

Public libraries have a societal duty to promote the peaceful coexistence between population and are therefore involved in integration work. However, the question is whether the integration perspective is suitable for addressing current issues or if other perspectives are more adequate. To study this, I conducted a literature review of published articles on Scandinavian public libraries’ integration work, six semi-structured interviews with male asylum seekers and an email interview with the chief operations officer at three asylum reception centres in Denmark. Using a lifelong learning perspective, I was able to consider the six asylum seekers’ experiences with integration in new ways. It became evident how integration is an ambiguous concept, and how the integration process does not constitute temporary phases but rather initiates lifelong learning processes, just like the activities native Danes conducts in their efforts to handle their lives in late modernity. The lifelong learning perspective probably cannot replace the integration perspective, but it may help us understand which activities are appropriate for public libraries to engage in. The public libraries’ task is not to assimilate, but to promote new citizens’ opportunities for peaceful coexistence by facilitating people’s participation in society

"Modkulturens" nødvendighed

Dansk Biblioteksforskning årg. 6, nr. 1, 2010 31 Af Bo Skøtt Abstract Med udgangspunkt i et ph.d. projekt på Det Informationsvidenskabelige Akademi (tidligere Danmarks Biblioteksskole) indleder jeg denne artikel med en præsentation af to forskellige synsvinkler på fænomenet ”modkultur”, der baseres på et snævert henholdsvis bredt kulturbegreb. Diskussionen mellem disse to opfattelser af ”modkultur” knytter jeg an til mit projekts ophav i biblioteks- og informationsvidenskaben, til en definition af kulturbegrebet og til de studier af bevidsthedsformer, jeg har gennemført. Dette fører frem til en diskussion af selve begrebet ”modkulter”, begrebets implicitte antagelser, samt eksplicitte konsekvenser. Jeg plæderer undervejs for nødvendigheden af, at anlægge et kulturanalytisk perspektiv, idet folkelige fællesskaber antages at være alt for komplekse til, at umiddelbare studier af dem kan være adækvate. Blandt andet stiller jeg spørgsmålstegn ved, hvorvidt den forklarende beskrivelse som anvendelsen af et snævert kulturbegreb medfører, kan anvendes i bestræbelserne på at fortolke og forstå ”modkulturel” aktivisme. Artiklen afsluttes med at udbygge relationen og interessefællesskabet mellem på den ene side de folkelige kulturinstitutioners aktivisme og folkebibliotekernes kulturformidling på den anden og med at argumentere for anvendelsen af betegnelsen ”sociokulturelle fællesskaber” i stedet for ”modkulturer” om folkelige fællesskaber

Situationspraktik – mellem universitet og praksis

Denne artikel omhandler et forsøg med integration af praksis i undervisningen, som har til formål, 1) at give de studerende en fornemmelse for, hvordan fagene på uddannelsen har relevans for arbejdet i praksis, og 2) at kvalificere de studerende til mødet med praksis. Derfor inddrages især Etienne Wenger og Jean Laves teorier om ’praksisfællesskaber’ med fokus på ’situeret læring’ i overvejelserne over og planlægning af forsøget. Forsøget betegnes Situationspraktik og organiseres ud fra tre overordnede aktiviteter: asynkrone studieaktiviteter (litteraturstudier, planlægning og forberedelse af delarrangementer), klassisk konfrontationsundervisning (teori- analyse og metodepræsentation) og som et arrangement, hvor resultaterne af disse aktiviteter omsættes i praksis. I forsøget deltager 12 studerende, der alle går på 4. semester. Situationspraktikken resulterer for underviser i erfaringer med, hvilke pædagogiske muligheder og udfordringer der er med at facilitere læringsfællesskaber de studerende imellem og med inddragelse af eksterne stakeholders. This article sets out to describe an attempt to increase students’ understanding of professional practice. 'Situational internship', as the activity is termed, aims to provide students with experience of practice in their chosen field as part of their qualification. Etienne Wenger and Jean Laves’ theories on 'communities of practice' and 'situated learning' are used when considering and planning suitable learning activities. The study is organized as three main activities: asynchronic student activities (literature studies, planning and preparation of sub arrangements), teacher initiated activities (introduction of theories, analysis and methods) and the implementation of an event. Situational internship provides many interesting experiences, both for students and teacher, especially the opportunities and challenges of creating a learning community between students and teachers, and also between students and external stakeholders. The ambition to change the students' preconceptions of practice, and the teacher in the role of facilitator are thematized in the article

Situationspraktik – mellem universitet og praksis

Denne artikel omhandler et forsøg med integration af praksis i undervisningen, som har til formål, 1) at give de studerende en fornemmelse for, hvordan fagene på uddannelsen har relevans for arbejdet i praksis, og 2) at kvalificere de studerende til mødet med praksis. Derfor inddrages især Etienne Wenger og Jean Laves teorier om ’praksisfællesskaber’ med fokus på ’situeret læring’ i overvejelserne over og planlægning af forsøget. Forsøget betegnes Situationspraktik og organiseres ud fra tre overordnede aktiviteter: asynkrone studieaktiviteter (litteraturstudier, planlægning og forberedelse af delarrangementer), klassisk konfrontationsundervisning (teori- analyse og metodepræsentation) og som et arrangement, hvor resultaterne af disse aktiviteter omsættes i praksis. I forsøget deltager 12 studerende, der alle går på 4. semester. Situationspraktikken resulterer for underviser i erfaringer med, hvilke pædagogiske muligheder og udfordringer der er med at facilitere læringsfællesskaber de studerende imellem og med inddragelse af eksterne stakeholders. This article sets out to describe an attempt to increase students’ understanding of professional practice. 'Situational internship', as the activity is termed, aims to provide students with experience of practice in their chosen field as part of their qualification. Etienne Wenger and Jean Laves’ theories on 'communities of practice' and 'situated learning' are used when considering and planning suitable learning activities. The study is organized as three main activities: asynchronic student activities (literature studies, planning and preparation of sub arrangements), teacher initiated activities (introduction of theories, analysis and methods) and the implementation of an event. Situational internship provides many interesting experiences, both for students and teacher, especially the opportunities and challenges of creating a learning community between students and teachers, and also between students and external stakeholders. The ambition to change the students' preconceptions of practice, and the teacher in the role of facilitator are thematized in the article

The skills of integration librarians

Introduction: The starting point for this article is the assumption that librarians who participate in integration activities not only activate their institutional values and LIS skills (Schreiber & Elbeshausen, 2006) but are also always personally involved. In a study conducted in spring 2019, I demonstrated how a major change in Danish society's administrative structures again directed the public libraries' focus toward rationalisation and efficiency processes and reshaped the relationship between the librarian and the public. Consequently, the reform led to larger but fewer library units, digitisation and higher levels of self-service. This contrasts with the focus on integration work that preceded 2008. However, integration work has not disappeared but exists in a transformed edition. Methods: This article is based on two different approaches: a study of different theoretical perspectives on librarians' skills, as well as two semi-structured interviews (Brinkmann, 2013; King & Horrocks, 2012, pp. 35, 49-53). The first interview was conducted with an integration librarian mid-January 2019 and represents the main empirical findings. The second one was conducted in a series of interviews with asylum seekers at the end of July 2018. The latter interview function as a supplement. Ten research and dissemination articles on the evolution of the librarian profession concerning integration were verified and reviewed. I use these articles’ theoretical and practical observations to substantiate the analytical model I developed in the spring of 2019 – and apply it to analyses of the above-mentioned interview. Findings: In my model, the librarians’ skills are placed in a field of tension between the librarian as generalist and specialist (horizontal axis) and between the librarian's professional skills (vertical axis). The analysis shows that the integration librarian is professional and uses both her generalist and specialist skills when involved in integration activities, e.g. facilitating individuals or communities by applying search and dissemination skills. Furthermore, the analyses show a deep, personal commitment. The integration librarian's professionalism systematically ensures equal treatment of individuals, while personal involvement means a commitment far beyond the LIS domain. Conclusion: My study shows that the integration librarian is professionally involved in integration activities and uses both generalist and specialist skills to assist individuals and communities of other ethnic origins in their everyday life. Additionally, the integration librarian evinces a deep sense of personal engagement – with the benefits and challenges this entails.

Newcomers at the library : A library perspective on the integration of new citizens

Introduction. Since the 1960s, intensified migration movements have changed the nation-states’ cultural composition, and this is why integration efforts have increasingly been targeting newcomers. In 2007, a reform of the public administration in Denmark entered into force and the purpose of this article is to initiate an investigation of what this initiative has meant for the integration work in public libraries. Method. The article is based on selected research articles and reports on the changing missions, visions, and objectives of Danish public libraries and subsequently used as a theoretical framework for the analysis of an interview with an integration librarian. Findings. The Structural Reform changed the public library paradigm and promoted an administration perspective that focuses on the public’s existing knowledge of libraries, requiring an upgrade of librarians as teachers to make library use more efficient. Vice versa, the integration perspective is based on target groups’ ignorance of the library and this is why integration activities strive to create equality through compensatory discrimination. This ambition requires initiatives to be personalised and an interest in target groups’ preferences. Conclusion. When the professional attention shifted from compensatory discrimination to formalised education, the public libraries’ raison d’être was changed, too

Kulturformidlingens transformation - folkebibliotekernes formidling i en digital tid

The aim of this article is to investigate how the digital conversion that currently takes place in public libraries in Denmark, affects the perception of those cultural dissemination activities that result from the work with documents. My starting point is that the digital conversion means an increase in digital documents and that the characteristics of these documents differ so significantly from analog documents that it potentially means changes in both the practical handling and the conceptual universe associated with the designation, identification, and definition of practice. The study is conducted as a literature survey, where Johan Fjord Jensen (1988), Dag Solhjell (2001) and Jens Gudiksen (2005) constitute the theoretical framework and where eight public libraries’ digital strategies from region Midtjylland are analyzed on the basis of a heuristic approach to the discourse concept. The conclusion is that the eight digital strategies do not explicitly refer to concepts that traditionally denote the cultural activities of the public library (e.g. 'enlightenment' and 'cultural activity') but that these concepts are thematized and understood in new and more transmissive terms such as 'accessibility' 'usage frequency' and as 'need', 'consumption' and 'demand'. This happens because the eight strategies consider technology and the use of technology superior to content, which makes the strategies more part of the public libraries' legitimization work and less a part of the facilitation of people’s common actions in late modernity

The skills of integration librarians

Introduction: The starting point for this article is the assumption that librarians who participate in integration activities not only activate their institutional values and LIS skills (Schreiber & Elbeshausen, 2006) but are also always personally involved. In a study conducted in spring 2019, I demonstrated how a major change in Danish society's administrative structures again directed the public libraries' focus toward rationalisation and efficiency processes and reshaped the relationship between the librarian and the public. Consequently, the reform led to larger but fewer library units, digitisation and higher levels of self-service. This contrasts with the focus on integration work that preceded 2008. However, integration work has not disappeared but exists in a transformed edition. Methods: This article is based on two different approaches: a study of different theoretical perspectives on librarians' skills, as well as two semi-structured interviews (Brinkmann, 2013; King & Horrocks, 2012, pp. 35, 49-53). The first interview was conducted with an integration librarian mid-January 2019 and represents the main empirical findings. The second one was conducted in a series of interviews with asylum seekers at the end of July 2018. The latter interview function as a supplement. Ten research and dissemination articles on the evolution of the librarian profession concerning integration were verified and reviewed. I use these articles’ theoretical and practical observations to substantiate the analytical model I developed in the spring of 2019 – and apply it to analyses of the above-mentioned interview. Findings: In my model, the librarians’ skills are placed in a field of tension between the librarian as generalist and specialist (horizontal axis) and between the librarian's professional skills (vertical axis). The analysis shows that the integration librarian is professional and uses both her generalist and specialist skills when involved in integration activities, e.g. facilitating individuals or communities by applying search and dissemination skills. Furthermore, the analyses show a deep, personal commitment. The integration librarian's professionalism systematically ensures equal treatment of individuals, while personal involvement means a commitment far beyond the LIS domain. Conclusion: My study shows that the integration librarian is professionally involved in integration activities and uses both generalist and specialist skills to assist individuals and communities of other ethnic origins in their everyday life. Additionally, the integration librarian evinces a deep sense of personal engagement – with the benefits and challenges this entails.