Library of the Week (3): Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas at Colmex

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This week I’m doing a live post from CDMX where I’m attending the Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention (its first edition was in Dublin 2022). This will be a short but delightful post since I’m busy conferencing.

Here you can read a little bit about Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas.

Entrance to Daniel Cosío Villegas Library

Entrance Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas.

Library interior and globe closeup

Library interior and globe closeup – Sweden chipped away :< The library is a place for reflection.

Details from the library interior: your place to write, a time capsule, and an interesting way to avoid managing money in the information desk. "Silence"

Details from the library interior: your place to write, a time capsule, and an interesting way to avoid managing money in the information desk. ”Silence”.

A friend, a model of Colmex, an interior shot including library panopticon

A friend, a model of Colmex, an interior shot including library panopticon.

Library interior

Library interior with ominous portrait. I like how the library offices are in the library room! Very present.

Bonus picture because I like the yellow and I love university merch. It’s a thing.

Colmex merch

Colmex merch selection

Library of the Week (2): Savonlinna Main Library ”Joeli”

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Welcome to this new segment – we’ll see how long it lasts. Like many ”start of the new year” initiatives this may trickle out soon. This has been on my mind for a while, and what I’ve really wanted to do is to create my own library map of the world featuring all the libraries I’ve visited. Usually when I travel somewhere I try to visit a public library (or other types of libraries, but public libraries are usually the more interesting libraries because of their local flavour) and over the years I’ve seen quite a few. I take pictures, notes and then it all goes to the digital graveyard on my laptop. This is an attempt to resuscitate my library experiences – maybe they can inspire someone else too!

Exterior of Savonlinna Main Library "Joeli"

Exterior of Savonlinna Main Library ”Joeli”

Library Savonlinna Main Library ”Joeli”
Place Savonlinna, Finland
Coordinates 61.872475, 28.874575

First out in my library of the week series (hehe) is Savonlinna Main Library ”Joeli”. Last summer I went on a train excursion through Karelia and Savonia in Finand. Well, I say Savonia but I really only visited Savonlinna (sv. Nyslott), easily reached by switching to railbus in Parikkala. It’s a beautiful town, probably best enjoyed in the summer, and the main library is situated a bit off from the tourist city center. Like many cities and towns around Saimaa (Finland’s largest lake) the Saimaa ringed seal makes its appearance here and there, and can be spotted on the metal decorations of the wooden building. The library was built in 2013 and therefore has many characteristics of a modern public library, in terms of light, spaces, and furniture.

Savonlinna boasts a 15th century castle built on the then borderlands between Sweden and Russia. It’s called Olofsborg (fi. Olavinlinna, named after St Olaf) and is well worth a visit, but be prepared to walk many stairs. In the summer the castle is a venue for operatic performances (sadly I didn’t attend a show as I was only there over the day). The castle being named after the Nordic patron saint is reasonably why there was a poster marketing the celebration of St Olaf’s day at the library notice board. It’s usually not celebrated in Sweden and Finland, and more often in Norway and the Faroe Islands.

Bike anarchy outside the library and a poster for St Olaf celebrations

Bike anarchy outside the library and a poster for St Olaf celebrations.

As for the contents of the library, it was quite standard. There was a library café, good selection of newspapers, and in addition to books one could also check out records and hobby equipment. Being a fan of Morrissey I usually check out the record section of the library and surprisingly often one can find the World Peace record that has been unavailable on streaming services and in record stores for ~10 years. One shouldn’t underestimate the analogue power of a public library when it comes to access to information.

Overall, a surprisingly large library for a town with a population of 32 000 people. Savonlinna is the main city in Southern Savonia and has been an important city of trade since it was founded in 1639 (making it as old as Västmanlands-Dala Nation in Uppsala). Mind you, I repeat this from memory after my visit to the excellent Savonlinna Museum, and I do seem to remember there was some controversy regarding its status as a trade city a few hundred years back, related to its proximity to the border and having been thrown between Swedish, Russian, and Finnish rule. There’s a brief overview of this in the Swedish language Wikipedia article on Savonlinna (the English language version was less detailed on the city rights). Highly recommend a visit if you’re passing by!

The main library staircase in black and white, featuring my hem and shoe.

The main library staircase in black and white, featuring my hem, shoe, and enthusiasm for its aestethics.

The oddly shaped staircase (see the angles on the library interior map I posted) was in black and white, very pleasing for the eyes. Although it looked like it could be slippery in the winter.

Mumin, digitaliseringsstrategen och det konstlade språket

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Mumin och digitaliseringsstrategen

Mumin och digitaliseringsstrategen

Gjorde en uppdaterad version av den här bilden som valsat runt. God jul!

Jag håller på att slutskriva min avhandling och återupptäcker med ömhet kärleken till språket mitt i allt harvande med all information som ska förmedlas. Jag blev också hjälpt av att läsa inledningen till Sigrid Schottenius Cullheds ”Filomelas förvandlingar” (via Kulturrådet till Enköpings kommunbiblioteks hyllor – tack!) som var så vackert skriven att jag var tvungen att lägga ifrån mig boken en stund. Nästa gång jag ser forskningsfrågor presenterade i punktform (eller värre – listade som R1, R2 osv!) kommer jag helt säkert att börja gråta.

Det harmar mig på många sätt att skriva avhandlingen på engelska eftersom man alltid är mycket sämre på andra språk än sitt modersmål även om man ibland förleder sig att tro motsatsen. Det internationella anslaget i min forskning gör förstås att jag vill skriva för den målgrupp som berörs och därför skriver jag ändå på ett lingua franca.

Det är många som försöker förklara fördelar med att använda AI-verktyg för att konstruera meningar och sammanfatta information, men är inte just denna konst det man lär sig som forskare? Språkets skörhet och makt är alltför viktig att lämna bort och dessutom skulle jag beröva mig själv glädjen att söka, skapa och förmedla. Jag är intresserad av forskning just därför att människan intresserar mig; människans förmåga att uttrycka sig är en spegling av människans inre värld.

”Thumbs up” ended the conversation before it began

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I’m currently reading Naomi Klein’s Doppelgänger and I’ve therefore experienced a flare of disgust at the thought of building my personal brand (it’s essentially just more data for the surveillance capitalism monster).

The last year or so I’ve been posting about my doctoral research progress on Linkedin. I think I at some point started worrying about my future career (doctoral research is a very, very lonely endeavour and I sometimes lose my bearings) and thought I needed to make something of what I do seen. Please keep me in mind …!

Being in a better place now, I recently posted about two thrilling topics that I expected would spark enthusiastic discussion. Alas, they did not. I am not surprised, but I am outraged. What intellectual contribution does anyone bring with a thumbs up? None. And if it’s none, why am I trying to start a stimulating discussion in that forum?

In combination with my Doppelgänger mood, I’ve therefore started to move some of my old posts from Linkedin to my weblog and delete them from Linkedin. It’s annoyingly difficult to find out the publication date of a Linkedin post as it just says ”5mos” or similar, but I found this tool to help figure it out.

Why? Well, it’s my research journal, my professional endeavours, and my data. So it should be here, on my webpage, and not on ”social” media, gathering a collection of ”thumbs up” that really only says the conversation ended before it began.

Vad är Europa?

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Jag forskar ju som bekant om europeiska folkbibliotek. Jag var ursprungligen nyfiken på om nationella förhållanden påverkade synen på integritet och yttrandefrihet. I Sverige har jag t.ex. funderat på om vår naiva syn på dataskydd härstammar från hög tillit till staten, medan vår väg mot det kontantfria samhället får tyskar att häpna och våra personkataloger online får finländare, britter och egentligen de flesta andra nationaliteter att gapa stort och förundrat. Vad gäller yttrandefrihet märker man också att hädelselagstiftningar och inställningen till Palestinademonstrationer skiljer sig åt i europeiska länder.

Jag har flera gånger fått frågor om mitt urval (jag har intervjuat 41 biblioteksanställda i sex länder: Bulgarien, Finland, Frankrike, Storbritannien, Sverige och Tjeckien) och hur väl de representerar Europa. ”Ska du inte ha något mer östeuropeiskt land? Vad med Estland?” kanske någon har sagt, trots att Estland i de flesta statistiska uppdelningar hör till Nordeuropa. (Är det järnridån som spökar här?)

”Varför Storbritannien, de är ju inte ett EU-land?” kanske någon annan har frågat. Ja, de är ju ett europeiskt land i alla fall och har fram tills nyligen haft ett betydande inflytande som storland i EU, så oavsett finns väl en relevans. Är Storbritannien förresten Väst- eller Nordeuropa? Är Tyskland i Väst-, Central- eller Östeuropa? Det beror lite på vem man frågar. Själv utgick jag från EuroVocs indelning och valde två länder var från Central- och Östeuropa, Nordeuropa och Västeuropa.

Exempel på indelning av Europa, "The order of road distances on signs in Europe", från Terrible Maps

Exempel på indelning av Europa, ”The order of road distances on signs in Europe”, från Terrible Maps

Men – och detta är pudels kärna – det jag fann är att folkbibliotekarier i Europa snarare funderar på sina verksamheter utifrån den roll de har som bibliotek. I den mån de har lika resonemang relaterar det snarare till om biblioteken finns i städer eller mindre orter, om det är digital eller fysisk verksamhet det handlar om eller om målgruppen är unga, arbetande vuxna eller äldre. Ett bibliotek ute på landet skulle gärna lära ut om integritet och cybersäkerhet men deras prio är att få folk att överhuvudtaget komma till biblioteket. Ett storstadsbibliotek kan lägga stora resurser på utbildande evenemang och behöver sällan designa sin verksamhet utifrån ett alla-i-byn-känner-alla-perspektiv, men har å andra sidan stor konkurrens i evenemangsverksamheten.

De internationella biblioteksföreningarnas EU-valsmanifest (https://eblida.org/the-joint-european-library-association-manifesto/) tar delvis vara på detta perspektiv och lyfter bibliotekens roll i Europas kulturarv, utbildning, innovation och i demokratins försvar. Om den som söker information inte får läsa ifred, hur ska den obehindrat kunna forma sig en egen uppfattning som medborgare? Här blir det tydligt hur integritet och yttrandefrihet är två sidor av samma mynt och hur bibliotekens gemensamma värdekompass tillgodoser båda sidor.

Det finns goda skäl att fundera på mer än de svenska kandidaternas valmanifest i EU-valet (eller ja, sittande parlamentariker är ju faktiskt ofta EU-inriktade, men den svenska mediebevakningen är tröttsamt nationell – DN:s ”flest svar på en minut”-serie får t.ex. näsborrarna att fladdra av frustration) och blicka utåt Europa och de partigrupperingar som finns i Europaparlamentet. Vi har nämligen många gemensamma utmaningar som måste diskuteras och lösas så internationellt som möjligt, både gällande den uppkopplade digitala planeten, våra gemensamma fysiska mötesplatser och naturligtvis planetens klimat.

Exempel på indelning av Europa, "Toes", från Terrible Maps

Exempel på indelning av Europa, ”Toes”, från Terrible Maps

Ett steg i att anta dessa gemensamma utmaningar är förstås att vi själva ser oss som en del av Europa och att vi slutar fundera på mycket på väderstreck när vi pratar politik. Vi kan för all del hålla fast vid kompassen när vi funderar på historien (detta är något man ska göra ofta och mycket för att kunna skapa sig en uppfattning om vad som händer i dag i världen) och samtidigt också orientera oss efter den moraliska kompassen (inkl. historiska internationella uppgörelser om mänskliga rättigheter).

Vad är det man brukar säga? Öst är öst och väst är väst och på ett fritt internet finns Rudyard Kiplings dikter tillgängliga i den kulturella allmänningen.

Revisiting the Multimedia PhD Thesis: Interview Quotations

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I’m currently in Chester, taking a two week course in academic English. It came at an opportune time for me as I am in the process of writing of my doctoral research in a monograph.

This morning we did a writing exercise in free writing – a stream of consciousness from the academic mind, if you will. I had planned to ask our teacher about how to quote from interviews in academic writing (n.b. not how to write the quotes, but how to choose and integrate in the textual flow) so with this on my mind, my text flow was centered around this topic.

The problem: representing the interviewees without disrupting the textual flow

Quotes from interviews are useful to validate any claims you as a research might have when presenting results or findings. A quote can be more powerful than a paraphrase or summary of  what was said since it represents the voice – an empirical voice – of the interviewee. The real life experience as told in an interview is part of what makes qualitative research compelling. It’s not just about the researcher’s analysis of the interviews but also about the researcher’s responsibility to retell and represent the stories told by interviewees.

From a textual perspective quotes take up a lot of space (useless in articles that are so limited in scope) and can also disturb the flow of the text, making it a smorgasbord of various thoughts and voices instead of being a presented dish at a Michelin restaurant.

How to overcome this hurdle? Is there a best practice – and is that practice really the best?

The solution (?!): a multimedia PhD thesis

The train of thought led me back to a topic I was keen on exploring in 2016 (but never did): the multimedia PhD thesis. If I was asked to explain what this is, I would say: it’s about moving on from the Gutenberg parenthesis and the pdf pseudo codex and instead utilising the marvel of technology to make the most of presenting the research to various audiences.

I could say more, but you get the general idea. I you want to, you can read more about multimedia theses in Coral Manton’s ”Multimedia and Non-Text PhD Research Outputs: Theses research project for the British Library EThOS web service”.

My idea for a solution to the interview quote problem is to use hyperlinks to display quotes supporting a statement made in the academic text. This way, a statement will be directly linked to the quotes supporting it, without having 3-4 repetetive blockquotes taking up space in the text body. The reader can choose whether they just want to read the article text or if they want to get closer to the sources by reading the quotes.

A quick sketch of hyperlink quotations (and some notes)

A possible extension is to link the quotations to the interview transcript, providing further context for the quote that could be interesting to study. This multilayered hyperlink approach make the transcription dataset more accessible than if it was published as bulk text data.

With this transparent presentation design, both the voice of the researcher and interviewee can be heard and the reader can compare the researcher’s analysis with the source material and make their own interpretation.

Mockup: does it work?

I thought I’d do a quick mockup to see if this is a feasible design idea. I’d also like to collect some views from readers on whether this would be an interesting way to read a paper or whether it’s just theoretically pleasing. The mockup will be based on my 2023 article of AI skills in libraries (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the associated dataset (an interview transcript) (CC BY 4.0). (The choice of licensing really pays off when you want to do experimentation like this! Open science ftw! \o/)

We’re soon heading out on a tour of the city so this section will be updated later…

Österbotten: Norrland eller Bottenland?

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Jag har längre undrat över varför Österbotten heter Pohjanmaa på finska. Pohjan låter ju väldigt likt pohjoinen ’norr’ och Pohjola ’Norden’, och för all del skulle väl landskapet kunna heta Norrland, men varför talar man i så fall om de bottniska (student)nationerna? Frågade runt lite om detta i Helsingfors 2015 och fick det sedvanliga folketymologiska svaret ”det bara är så, Pohjanmaa är Österbotten”. Nå, det är ju inte jätteviktigt, jag stillade ju min etymologiska hunger när jag funderade färdigt på Lappeenranta och Villmanstrand.

Men häromveckan låg jag i förkylning och ströläste i en bok om Finlands svenska historia. Plötsligt, ett svar! I den boken [1] stod att väderstrecken på forntiden fått namn efter de tältbostäder folk bodde i som alltid hade tältöppningen mot söder, och därför skulle etelä ’söder’ vara besläktat med finskans preposition edessä ’framför’. På samma vis skulle pohjoinen ’norr’ vara besläktat med pohja ’botten’, alltså botten av (längst in i) tältet.

Hur glad tror ni jag blev av denna språkhistoriska uppenbarelse? Svar: jätteglad! Pohjanmaa är alltså fullt logiskt Bottenland. Samtidigt är det också Toppenland, detta kan nog vem som helst intyga som varit på tomatkarnevalen i Närpes.

[1] Tarkiainen, K. 2008. Sveriges Österland: Från forntiden till Gustav Vasa. Helsingfors : Stockholm: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland ; Atlantis.

Föreläsning i Sjöbo om AI och bibliotek

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Vilken pangdag! Jag har varit i Sjöbos vackra bibliotek och föreläst om AI och bibliotek för bibliotekarier från Sjöbo, Tomelilla, Skurup, Simrishamn och Ystad. 👩🏻‍🏫🍂🦌

Jag passade på att väva in en kort video från Wil Wheatons instagram i föreläsningen där han pratar om SAG-AFTRA:s strejk och vad motparten ville avtala om för att skapa digitala kloner av skådespelarna med AI. Det jag tycker han belyser är att detta inte bara berör frågan om försörjning och att yrket blir redundant pga teknikens utveckling utan att det berör etiska och existensiella frågor som ”vem är jag? vad består jag av? vem äger mig?” Jag tycker att dessa frågor blir mer och mer angelägna att diskutera – inte för att AI utvecklas utan för att människans syn på vad människan är i ett informationssamhälle behöver utvecklas. 🎬🧬🔮

Jag älskar att träffa och prata med bibliotekarier för de säger så intressanta och smarta saker och man lär sig alltid någonting nytt. Tack igen till Sjöbo bibliotek för att ni bjöd in mig! 🥰📚✨

Detta inlägg flyttades hit från Linkedin 31 maj 2024.

September research update

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September is the best month of the year. I’ve always found it ideal for travelling. Summer is starting to let go but the autumn slump has not yet begun and the beginning-of-the-semester vibe is omnipresent, full with hope and enthusiasm for the future. 🌞🍁⚖️

This September I have been (and am still!) travelling through Sweden 🇸🇪 (and Finland 🇫🇮) to interview public librarians for my research. I want to learn more about their perceptions of privacy and freedom of information in relation to public libraries and also how this works in practice – what challenges do they have? What questions are being discussed among librarians and library users in relation to these topics? 📚🛤️👩🏻‍💻

Democracy day celebrated at a Swedish public library, including workshop for making your own protest sign

Democracy day celebrated at a Swedish public library, including workshop for making your own protest sign

One of my main research questions is the European perspective – do European librarians face similar issues, do they have a common librarian information ethic or are they heavily influenced or limited by local laws, traditions, and perceptions? And if so, how does this affect international policy making as the international aspect is impossible to ignore due to the “nature” of the information society (e.g. the internet, that so far remains “borderless”)? I’ve previously interviewed librarians in Czechia 🇨🇿, France 🇫🇷, and the United Kingdom 🇬🇧.

I am aware it will be hard to answer the European question – partly due to the method (semi-structured interviews – meaning fewer informants but a richer, more complex material) and partly due to not being able (restrictions: time, money, advised length of academic articles) to interview more public librarians from more European countries. However, the selection I do have is incredibly interesting in itself with so many rabbits to follow it’s unclear if I’ll show up on the other side with something coherent. Fingers crossed I do. 👩🏻‍🏫🐇🤞

This post was moved here from Linkedin on 31 May 2024.

August research update

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Let’s start off this semester with some reflections on artificial intelligence in libraries. 🤖 🗃 📚

This month is a lot of revising, writing, transcribing, reading, and making travel arrangements for fieldwork in Sweden in September. East, south, west, north – fingers crossed the ships and trains will carry me where I need to go. 🚢 🚉 🇸🇪

Oh, and yesterday I submitted a challenge paper with my colleague Hilda Ruokolainen (I highly recommend you read her recently defended doctoral dissertation on misinformation – whether our paper is accepted or not it has been a great experience and it immediately switched my brain from vacation to research mode. Great way to start August! 👩‍🏫

This post was moved here from Linkedin on 31 May 2024.

New publication: Report about Wikipedia and libraries

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I’ve written a report (sv. kunskapsöversikt) about libraries and Wikipedia on behalf of Biblioteksutveckling Sörmland. The report highlights how libraries can work with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia platforms to

– teach media and information literacy and digital literacy 💻 ;
– preserve, communicate, and encourage interactivity with cultural heritage collections 🎭 ;
– inspire the future development of knowledge organisation and management 🗃 ;
– support libraries in their work to promote democracy, e.g. by engaging with minorities and minority languages 🗣 ;
– promote and support open knowledge and research available for all 📚.

The report was published last week and is available as pdf document. There is also a 10 minute long film summarising the findings of the report. Both are in Swedish 🇸🇪 , but the long list of references is multilingual so hopefully it can be useful as a resource even if you don’t read Swedish. 😁

The document is not complete in the sense that there is a lot of new research coming out about Wikipedia, it’s difficult to cover everything that has been done so far, and I had to make a selection. The report will therefore be published in a wiki format later on, so that people can add to it, extend it, and contribute with new references. It’s how knowledge should be built, right? Together! 🤓 🌍

You can find the report 📕 and the film 📽 through this link.

This post was moved here from Linkedin on 31 May 2024.

My first keynote! On AI, libraries and society

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May was a month of adventures! On 11 May I gave a keynote on AI, libraries and society at the library days of Finland’s Swedish library association. This picture from this event was graciously taken and shared by Maria Lorentzon.

Karolina holding a keynote speech at FSBF:s biblioteksdagar in Vaasa

Karolina – a keynote speaker!

On 24 May a text I wrote together with my colleague Hilda Forss about ChatGPT and DALL-E (or really mainly about challenges and opportunities in art and society brought on by AI) was published in Ny tid. It’s an interesting mix of our perspectives as researchers in information studies and literary studies respectively, and I’m very grateful to collaborate with such an astute and clever researcher who continuously changes and expands my train of thought every time we talk.

On May 25-26 I also attended a conference for doctoral researchers organised by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland that gave very useful insights in the doctoral research process and on what happens next. In some ways it provided me with a map confirming that I am, indeed, on the right path. A big thank you to the organisers and to Camilla Lindholm (TAU) and Åsa Burman (SU) for the lecture/workshop!

Can’t wait to see what June will bring!

This post was moved here from Linkedin on 31 May 2024.

Folkbokföringen: I

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Folkbokföringen – urgammal tradition och dagsaktuell politisk fråga

Mantalslängd Uppsala stad 1642

Mantalslängd Uppsala stad 1642. Bild från Riksarkivet (kulturell allmänning).

Folkbokföringen i Sverige skiljer sig från många andra länder. I en käck film beskriver Skatteverket folkbokföringen så här:

Folkbokföringen är den grundläggande registreringen av alla som bor i Sverige. Genom folkbokföringen får hela samhället tillgång till dina uppgifter. Bland annat står det var du bor och hur dina familjeförhållanden ser ut. Det här hjälper dig eftersom olika samhällsfunktioner får ett korrekt underlag för beslut och åtgärder till exempel om var dina barn ska gå i skolan. Därför är det viktigt att uppgifterna är korrekta. Om folkbokföringen stämmer är det lättare för samhället att planera till exempel skolor, bostäder sjukvård och vägar. Här är några exempel på uppgifter som finns i folkbokföringen: Namn och personnummer: när du blir folkbokförd i Sverige får du ett personnummer som du behåller hela livet. Familjemedlemmar: i folkbokföringen kan vi registrera vilka som är dina föräldrar, barn, man, fru eller registrerad partner. Adress: du ska vara folkbokförd där du sover; om du sover på olika adresser ska du vara folkbokförd på den adress där du tillbringar mest tid. Medborgarskap. Födelse: när ett barn föds anmäler sjukhuset födelsen till Skatteverket och barnet får ett personnummer direkt. Dödsfall: vi på Skatteverket registrerar dödsfall så fort dödsbevis har kommit in från läkaren. Om du flyttar utomlands eller ska vara borta ett år eller längre ska du anmäla utflyttning från Sverige till oss på Skatteverket.

”Det här hjälper dig” är en argumentation som använts tidigare vid upprättande av befolkningsregister och jag kommer att få anledning att återkomma till nederländaren Jacob Lentz längre fram. Men först vill jag stanna upp vid folkbokföringen som nätverk/objekt/aktör (jag måste få återkomma om terminologin då detta är på ett tankestadium) mellan staten och individen. Gunnar Olofsson [1] beskriver kort den begreppsliga traditionen om förhållandet mellan statens makt och individens frihet, gränsdragningen mellan offentligt och privat, statens roll visavi markanden, civilsamhället och staten som förtrycksmekanism. Det finns en gedigen grund att stå på inför beslut om lagar, regler och budgetar men denna stadiga mark är sällan grund för det politiska samhällsbygget. Ett exempel på detta är när den svenska regeringen i budgetpropositionen för 2023 [2] skriver:

För att få bättre kontroll över vilka som befinner sig i Sverige olovligt och för att bekämpa välfärdsbrottsligheten och den organiserade kriminaliteten är det viktigt att staten stärker kontrollen över folkbokföringen.

Varför detta är ett exempel på avvisande av århundraden av forskning, politisk teoribildning och även mänskliga rättigheter (som förekommit i olika former under mycket lång tid) är en ganska lång och komplicerad historia och jag skriver det här blogginlägget med intentionen att reda ut detta eftersom jag under lång tid samlat lösryckta referenser, hugskott och funderingar kring detta ämne. Jag har inte helt bestämt mig för hur jag ska disponera allt material (allt tankegods!), men här är en lista på några olikfärgade trådar jag likt en 2020-talets Ariadne skulle vilja att någon nystade upp och följde för att hitta ut ur befolkningsregistrens labyrint:

  • Den svenska folkbokföringen ur ett historiskt perspektiv
  • Folkbokföring i andra länder – tre eller fler finländska instanser
  • Folkräkningar i andra länder – t.ex. istället för folkbokföring
  • Jacob Lentz nederländska register från vaggan till graven (via Bergen-Belsen)
  • Utlänningars fasa för hitta.se
  • Digitaliseringen och tilliten till staten ur ett europeiskt perspektiv
  • Mänskliga rättigheter: privatliv och informationsfrihet
  • SPAR-registret!!!

Tankarna ovan grundar sig i mina erfarenheter av att ha bott utomlands (och därför behövt registrera mig på olika sätt i länderna), ett intresse för kunskapsorganisation och Paul Otlet (och därför funderat mycket över vilken information som ska organiseras och varför), ett intresse för digitaliseringen av samhället och vad det innebär för personlig integritet (både vad gäller lagstiftning och människors uppfattningar) och ett yrkesmässigt perspektiv eftersom bibliotekarier arbetar intensivt i skärningspunkten mellan människa, teknik och samhälle.

Fotnoter

    • [1] Olofsson, G. (1988). Den stränge fadern och den goda modern” : Sociologiska perspektiv på den moderna svenska staten. I Sverige – vardag och struktur : Sociologer beskriver det svenska samhället (1:a uppl., s. 585–615). Länk
      [2] Prop. 2022/23:1. Budgetpropositionen för 2023. Länk

    • When in Blackpool, don’t miss the public library

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    I was in Blackpool late September 2022 for a concert and I didn’t have a clue about the place. A Mancunian friend said it was one of those seaside resorts that had its heyday in the postwar decade (when it received 17 million visitors a year) but that it now was the perfect embodiment of Everyday Is Like Sunday’s line ”this is the coastal town that they forgot to close down”.

    A glance on the Blackpool Wikipedia article says the town grew into a popular destination for the working class in the mid-19th century when Lancashire cotton mill owners took turns to shut down their factories for maintenance one week per year which provided a steady stream of visitors to Blackpool. Famous for its promenade, piers and perhaps especially its electrical lights – it was the first municipality in the world (1879) to have electric street lighting and its electrical tramway (1885) is also one of the world’s first. The (according to British friends apparently very famous) Blackpool Tower, inspired by the Parisian Eiffel Tower, was opened in 1894 and was at the time the tallest man made structure in the British empire.

    The increased popularity of package holidays abroad meant Blackpool lost its traditional tourist crowd and as I understand it’s now mainly day tourists who go there, and not nearly as many as before. However, tourism remains a pillar in the town’s economy. A fun fact is that Blackpool shares its etymology with Dublin on the other side of the Irish sea: Dublin is derived from Irish Duibhlinn which means ”black pool” (though the common name for the city in modern Irish is Baile Átha Cliath, ”town of the hurdled ford”).

    Knowing a bit about Blackpool’s history, it’s not surprising that it’s also home to a Carnegie library which serves as the main public library of the town. The Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929 with money donated from the Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and of the 2509 libraries, 660 are located in the United Kingdom and Ireland. What makes the Blackpool Central Library unique among Carnegie libraries is that it has a portrait of the philanthropist. As you ascend the stairs and reach the upper floor (which hosts local history collections and the Brunswick room) the donor’s gaze meet you from a stained glass window. This part of the library was closed of for renovation when I visited but the lovely librarian Jools showed me the closed section and also told me the story about the rare Carnegie portrait.

    The public libraries of Blackpool have seven other branches that together with the Central Library serves the town’s population (~141,000 people). What really struck me with the Central Library was that it was so colourful. Many Carnegie libraries (and other libraries from the same era) I’ve visited look very similar, with white walls and an old fashioned sense of a library space trying to fit in with modern services. It’s hard to put my finger on it but I think it has something to do with only shelves, furniture, and signage dividing the space into different sections, whereas in Blackpool painted walls and decorations are used to create spaces (for example the children’s section). Then again, perhaps this only reflects my personal opinion about white walls being inherently uncosy, it seems to be a ”neutral” standard in apartments as well and I’ve rented plenty of places where the walls had to be covered in posters and photos to combat the eerie feeling of being lost in a desolate snowstorm. Either way, the colours of Blackpool were wondrous and if I remember correctly the decorations had been made by a local artist (maybe even a former staff member?) and the imaginative bookcase seems to have been built by local dads.

    Supporting dads through collaboration with the charity Dads Matter UK was an interesting focus that I haven’t really noticed in libraries before (maybe I’m just unobservant) and it made me think about libraries as an important place for such activities. Libraries are neutral and open spaces and even if you go their for peer support groups to help with your anxiety etc. no one seeing you at the library would immediately know the purpose for your visit – you might just as well be there to print documents, get books with your children, or use the bathroom. The broad scope of library activities (and activities taking place in the library) by design helps protect the privacy of the individual who participates.

    My usual library tourism is just popping in at the public library in the place I’m visiting and have a look around. If no people are around I might take some pictures and I’m a fan of studying the event boards to see what kind of activities libraries and their partners (for example local organisations) arrange. Sometimes friendly library staff ask if I want any help and sometimes this will lead to a short conversation about me being a librarian and that I like visiting libraries whenever I travel somewhere. In Blackpool I started talking to librarian Jools who prompted by my story started sharing facts about the library and the town. Unfortunately, I got to the library just 15 minutes before closing time on September 28 so we didn’t have much time, but Jools kindly invited me back the next day to see the upper floor and to hear more about the library’s activities.

    One remarkable feature of the library is the stained glass windows that were made for the library’s centenary in 2011. They were created through consultation with community and staff members and the themes of the windows reflects Blackpool’s history, present, and future. By each window there was a sign explaining the window and I’ve included an image of the Freedom window explanation in this post (the text: FREEDOM: Words, knowledge, ideas all create new ways of thinking and ways of living. This window celebrates freedom of thought and speech.) I’m sure anyone familiar with me or my research can imagine how much this resonates with me. You can read more about the centenary redesign of the library here, or the making of the stained glass windows here.

    The library also offers a lot of activities to support its community’s social, reading, and IT skills needs – among other things (see image of the event board to explore further). When I met Jools the next morning she had just broadcasted a digital story event through the library’s social media. Here’s an example of a digital story session on Blackpool Libraries’ facebook page, and below is an image of the studio which was a corner of her office. I’ve understood (not just based on Blackpool) that in many public libraries digital events have started and/or expanded during the pandemic, and they continue to be a vital part of post-pandemic library services to make sure the library can reach all of its users.

    There always more to say and write and tell, but I’m wrapping up this post and I hope your curiosity will lead you to this amazing library one day. Going back to my British friends who said Blackpool was a rundown resort that had seen its best days I’d have to say that whatever else in the city may lead to this impression the library certainly doesn’t. It is such an imaginative, beautiful, and friendly space and I hope and assume that Blackpool citizens share my sentiment about the library.

    What on Earth Happened with the IFLA Trend Report?

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    IFLA’s 2013 Trend Report is a highly insightful and useful document which in retrospect seems to be well ahead of its time. Looking back at the information landscape that year, the SDGs, the AI boom, the pandemic shift to digital education and communication, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal were yet to come. Edward Snowden’s leaked classified NSA documentation the same year, and Dr Olivier Crepin-Leblond’s leading statement (see below) in the insights document was not common knowledge, I think, among librarians:

    Data collection today is not constrained to the Internet: it is present in every action in the “real” world too, from shopping to travelling, working, etc…if this is left to Technology, we have passed the point of no return: today it is technically possible to follow someone in their daily life simply with image recognition, their mobile phone, their credit card and their Internet use.

    There was an extensive literature review, expert submissions representing a broad range of experts (a wide variety of NGOs, academia, industry…), and a thorough process of meetings and debates to discuss and develop approaches to the trends. I attended a workshop about the trend report at the BOBCATSSS student conference in Lyon in 2016, which I apparently also wrote about (I honestly have no memory of this, but it was two weeks before I moved from being an MA student in London to become a policy and advocacy assistant in The Hague, so maybe I offered? I was looking for the original BOBCATSSS 2016 web page but the domain seems to have been overtaken by some marketing business bent on preying on library nostalgists like me). Btw I was attending the conference to give a badass workshop on EU copyright reform. B) Light blue colour on text to make me seem more humble, hehe…

    ”Who’s profiting from your personal data?”, CC BY 4.0 IFLA

    In short, it was good work. Built on facts and dialogue. The insights document is still used in information studies courses to teach future librarians. It was part of the curriculum in a course I taught at Åbo Akademi University in the autumn 2021 and it gave me many ideas on how to take the discussion further. One of the course assignments was to discover and present new trends – or rather updated trends with a national policy twist – relating to the original document. This inspired great ideas and discussions in the class room and I got a really positive vibe about the future of librarianship (to be fair, interacting with students will almost always spark joy as they have not yet found themselves locked in the working adult’s mantra of ”avoiding and accepting things” (sv. förhålla sig till och finna sig i saker) but continuously question the order of the world and take innovative approaches to solving its problems).

    While the original document was built on facts and dialogue, the 2022 update (subtitled A call for radical hope across our field) seems to build its narrative on emotions and anecdotal evidence.  Shying away from the broader perspective of a global information society it seeks to present ”ideas for how we – as a field and as a federation – can make ourselves ready not just to face, but to make the best of the future”. A pep talk document? The document has been co-written by IFLA’s emerging global leaders, i.e. a group of young library professionals who (as far as I understand) were appointed leaders by receiving WLIC conference grants in 2022.

    Who are and who were the international library leaders?

    I think this new IFLA approach to international library leadership is quite interesting. Some might remember the IFLA International Leadership Programme, ILP, (you might notice I’m using an Internet Archive Wayback Machine link – it’s surprisingly difficult to find any information about ILP on the new IFLA website – the old links are dead and if something still can be found on the webpage it’s not through the site’s search function which clearly was not made by a librarian), which was a ”two-year Programme designed to increase the cohort of leaders who can effectively represent the wider library sector in the international arena, and to develop leaders within IFLA.” This programme was developed and initially led by the amazing Fiona Bradley, with the second round skilfully led by the current acting secretary general Helen Mandl, and its

    ”activities may require the participant to undertake a number of tasks including: evidence-based/secondary/comparative research; writing documents such as policies, submissions, interventions, statements, speeches; liaison with other bodies at national, regional or international levels; representing IFLA at international or regional forums…”

    The associates for the programme were required to have some seniority in their leadership experience (”It is expected that participants will already have demonstrated their leadership within IFLA and/or a national or regional association that is a member of IFLA”). I’m not sure why this programme was discontinued and why international library leadership now seems to focus on new talents who will be ”the leaders of tomorrow”, but I do think it has an impact of what you can bring to the table when updating one of the most visionary and insightful documents IFLA has produced. I mean, I am young (34 thanks for asking) and quite brilliant, but I’m no Divina Frau-Meigs (… and that’s about as humble as I’ll get).

    Self-agency and global action – important building stone or distraction from target?

    I think the lack of experience and inspirational aspiration might be the explanations for the content of the 2022 update. Obviously, I do not take issue with the thoughts of the emerging leaders – my criticism is toward the decision to use this particular publication as a feel-good pamphlet for IFLA’s bizarrely abstract strategy (we all have different interests and I happen to think that a library related strategy document in the 2020s that mentions neither ”information society”, ”copyright”, ”AI”, ”privacy”, nor ”open science”  is a bit removed from reality).

    In the 2022 update ”the ideas shared have been structured according to the four pillars of IFLA’s mission – to inspire, engage, enable and connect the global library field.” Building on these pillars, the update presents ”our own to-do list in the coming years if we are to be ready to seize the opportunities and face down the threats that lie out there for us.” Here is a summary for The recommendations for our field, and I have taken the liberty of emphasising some of the words:

    1. We need to see libraries as players in a wide variety of policy areas
    2. We should be more open in where and how we engage in     advocacy, making a wider variety of issues our own
    3. We should intensify and improve our own advocacy
    4. We need to adopt a broad definition of our field, and ensure that     being part of it is synonymous with action
    5. We must see outreach as key to achieving our missions
    6. We need to feel a sense of agency in the face of the future
    7. We need to embrace and share innovation
    8. We need to see ourselves as a core part of the education     infrastructure
    9. We need to support emerging leaders as     a core plank of sustainability, while also seeing that we all have potential to develop
    10. We must make connecting with others     in our field an integral part of our practice
    11. We should invest seriously in our     connections with partners and supporters

    What I’ve emphasised are wordings that I interpret as related to some kind of inner development for the individual librarian (maybe also the organisation). To take action in the world, we need to take action with ourselves first. This is a very interesting rhetoric that I also recognise in the Inner Development Goals, a set of goals created because someone realised that the reason the progress of the SDGs is so slow is because ”we lack the inner capacity to deal with our increasingly complex environment and challenges. Fortunately, modern research shows that the inner abilities we now all need can be developed.” The IDGs lists skills we need to drive this change, for example ”a commitment and ability to act with sincerity, honesty and integrity”, ”skills in inspiring and mobilizing others to engage in shared purposes”, and ”willingness and competence to embrace diversity and include people and collectives with different views and backgrounds”.

    Why are strategy documents moving in this emotive direction? Is it related to the post-truth society, misinformation, and lack of trust, meaning that the ground for trust and collaboration we now have to build on is not a common mission (e.g. ”reform copyright!”, ”literacy for all!”) but a common sentiment (e.g. ”we feel knowledge should be accessible to all”, ”we feel we should be open to new innovations”)? Either way I think it’s safe to say the set of recommendations are far removed from the questions asked in the initial trend report, compare for instance ”We need to embrace and share innovation”, ”We need to feel a sense of agency in the face of the future” with ”Who will benefit most from the changing information chain? And how will our regulatory frameworks adapt to support an evolving information chain in the new global economy?”

    Quo vadis, IFLA?

    There is also a list with recommendations for the federation. A main problem for me is that many of these recommendations are so vague that they are hopeless to take action on (” We need to make links between global issues and individual experience”; ”We should understand our field and its needs and how to support it most effectively”).

    I had originally copied and commented a lot of text from the 2022 update because there is a lot to comment on. I even made a new subheading: ”An idea store for the Newcomers Session”. But I felt it was a bit useless to comment on specific paragraphs because I do see what this document (as a whole) is trying to do. I don’t fully understand its purpose but I do see how some people could be inspired by it.

    What I don’t see is how it can be so far from the original document, and how it doesn’t relate to trends and the trend report at all (unless we count inner development or being inspired as trends). Only if you squint you can see some relevant highlights in the 41 pages long text. For example on pages 25 and 34, where the open movement, urban development and public health are discussed in some (small) detail. The original trend report is not referred to but one could make the connection.

    Interestingly the document ends with ”this report is all about the steps we can take in order to build a sustainable future for our field”, cementing that this trend report and maybe even IFLA’s work in general, is mainly about our field. Ironically it then ”calls on readers to think outside of the box” – I suppose it means outside the box, but not outside the books? Pun intended.

    The end

    Actually, it doesn’t end there. The last few paragraphs are inexplicably dedicated to an assessment model you can apply to your national library field: ”You could start by looking at them individually and assigning a score, before having a group discussion where you compare assessments…”  I wouldn’t say such evaluation methodologies are a particularly good example of out-of-the-box thinking, but sure, I guess it is a way to put numbers on a text that has been heavily dependent on feelings and impressions.

    ”Multiplying the scores by the weightings would make it possible to come up with an index of sustainability, which in turn would make it possible to identify in which areas you could be focusing effort in order to boost your overall performance.”

    An index of sustainability.

    At this point I’m just speechless.