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.

    In Memoriam Aaron Swartz 1986-2013

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    Today marks the tenth death anniversary of Aaron Swartz, who died far too young. The tragic event still casts a long shadow over MIT, the US government, and copyright extremists so hopelessly behind in time. When I feel stuck in my thoughts or when I struggle to find meaning with what I do, I go back to these words by Aaron Swartz:

    ”What is the most important thing you could be working on in the world right now? … And if you’re not working on that, why aren’t you?”

    Aaron Swartz. Sage Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Aaron Swartz advocated public access to information and was involved in the Open Library project, which recently has been under attack from publishers who claim that ”the Internet Archive is engaging in wilful mass copyright infringement” because of their National Emergency Library, where they made all their books more readily available ”to meet students’ and readers’ needs while schools and libraries are closed at global scale”. There are certainly different ways to tackle a global pandemic.

    Aaron Swartz mural in Brooklyn, December 2017. Photo taken by me, CC BY 4.0.

    Let us never forget Aaron Swartz. Let us continue to work for what he stood for and continue on the path he staked out. And if you haven’t seen the film about him, The Internet’s Own Boy, go watch it now, and then share it with everyone you know.

    ”I love libraries, you know. I’m the kind of person who goes to a new city and immediately seeks out the library.”

    Americanah och svart feminism

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    Jag har just läst två strålande böcker: Ain’t I a Woman? Black women and feminism (1981) av bell hooks och Americanah (2013) av Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Den förstnämnda var utvald till en feministisk bokcirkel där vi konstaterade att vi såsom vita var i ganska dåligt skick att uttala oss, vilket i och för sig också var en nyttig lärdom. Den andra var julläsning som jag lånade av min syster med stor entusiasm eftersom jag läste ”En halv gul sol” för några år sedan och tyckte mycket om den.

    ”Ain’t I a Woman” har lånat sin titel från Sojourner Truths tal (hon är för övrigt en great prophet som kan dyka upp senare i spelet Civilization IV) och citerar också ur detta i bokens sista kapitel, ”Black Women and Feminism”. hooks skriver:

    I became disillusioned as I saw various groups of women appropriating feminism to serve their own opportunistic ends. […] They were primarily interested in making feminism a forum for the expression of their own self-centered needs and desires. Not once did they entertain the possibility that their concerns might not represent the concerns of oppressed women.

    Jag har flera gånger fått intersektionalitet förklarat för mig, eller haft det invävt i politiskt arbete jag deltagit i, eller slagit upp det för att förstå något jag just då läst bättre. Ibland för att förstå varför kopplingen mellan identitetspolitik och intersektionalitet dragits (jag upplever ibland att begreppen används lite hipp som happ för att stärka den egna ståndpunkten). ”Ain’t I a Woman?” lyckas väldigt bra med att förklara varför ett intersektionellt perspektiv är nödvändigt; termen används inte i boken, men det blir ändå fullkomligt glasklart hur vita kvinnor positionerat sig mot svarta kvinnor inom feminismen och det är enkelt att förstå hur detta mönster reproducerar sig med olika grupperingar (som finns eller uppstår fastän de inte borde) som samtliga finner sig i och förhåller sig till patriarkatet (varför har vi det så här?)

    ”Americanah” kom precis i rätt tid för mig (visst är det lustigt att vissa läsupplevelser man liksom skjutit upp dyker upp igen i precis rätt tid? Dröjde till exempel i flera år med att läsa ”Lady Chatterleys älskare” trots att den lånade boken stod i hyllan men sedan när jag läste den var den precis rätt i mitt liv där och då) eftersom jag har funderat ganska mycket på hur det är att komma till USA och hur det är att leva i exil, både där och annorstädes. Mötet med den amerikanska kulturen, i synnerhet den akademiska amerikanska kulturen. En annan skildring på samma tema är ”Fältstudier i ukrainskt sex” av Oksana Zabuzjko som jag också rekommenderar varmt.

    Huvudpersonen Ifemelu reflekterar över skillnaden mellan att vara svart i Nigeria och svart i USA och hur hon måste förhålla sig närmast apologetiskt rörande detta i förhållande till både vita och svarta människor i USA. Ifemelus jämförelser av USA och Nigeria beskriver förmodligen ett USA jag aldrig kommer att uppleva eftersom jag inte är svart. Det är väl därför det är intressant att läsa om, man lär sig något nytt. Jag är också fascinerad av Nigeriaskildringen eftersom jag haft förmånen att träffa fantastiska bibliotekarier från Nigeria, till exempel Dr Nkem Osuigwe som är min bibliotekarieförebild (följ henne på twitter!) – de tycks outtröttligt arbeta för allmän tillgång till information och kunskap och har gjort ett fantastiskt arbete med Wikipedia (apropå: här finns en artikel om Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie på igbo).

    Nå, det blir väl till att läsa Adichies  ”Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions” och ”We Should All Be Feminists” härnäst. Eventuellt har jag redan läst sistnämnda utan att ha lagt den särskilt mycket på minnet. Jag minns sällan detaljer av det jag läst, tyvärr, men kan ofta komma ihåg dem om jag blir påmind om dem. Det är lustigt hur minnet fungerar. Jag önskar att jag hade fotografiskt minne.

    Här är några fler boktips på samma tema. Vi har läst samtliga titlar i den feministiska bokcirkeln, les Suffralettres, och jag tyckte om samtliga utom kanske Audre Lorde:

    • Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo
    • In the dream house Carmen Maria Machado 
    • The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemisin
    • Selected Works – Audre Lorde
    • The Girl with the Louding Voice – Abi Daré
    • The Color Purple – Alice Walker
    • Binti – Nnedi Okorafor

    Rolig kuriosa: Adichie tackar Aslak Sira Myhre (som sedan 2014 är Norges nationalbibliotekarie) i slutordet till ”Americanah”! Ifemelus Lagosblogg finns på Adichies webbsida! Läs mer om Yales första kvinnliga doktorer.

    Tillbaka till IFLA – WLIC i Dublin 2022

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    I år var det äntligen dags för Dublin och de irländska biblioteken att vara värdar för IFLA:s årliga konferens WLIC (/vlɪk/), World Library and Information Congress (det finns en dålig Wikipediasida om WLIC, varsågod för Wikipediaskrivstugetips!). Konferensen, som ägde rum första gången i Rom 1928, skulle ha ägt rum i Dublin 2020 men detta sköts på framtiden på grund av covid-19-pandemin. Efter en digital upplaga av konferensen 2021 (imponerande i sig med tanke på konferensens globala ansats) så fick nu världens bibliotekarier träffas igen på Smaragdön. Jag lyfter i den här rapporten upp några utvalda intressanta punkter och passar på att hänvisa till mitt twitterflöde från konferensdagarna för den som vill ha en kronologisk ögonblicksbild av konferensen.

    Hur globalt är IFLA?

    Med världens bibliotekarier menas alltså en förvisso bred representation av länder, men å andra sidan ser deltagandet ut så här fördelat på regioner (jag använder här samma regionindelning som IFLA):

    WLIC-deltagare 2022 i Dublin, uppdelade efter region
    Region Antal deltagare
    Asien-Oceanien 140
    Europa 635 (485 exkl. värdlandet Irland)
    Latinamerika och Karibien (LAC) 17
    Mellanöstern-Nordafrika (MENA) 44
    Nordamerika (USA och Kanada) 236
    Subsahariska Afrika 68

    Delvis orsakades denna uppdelning förstås av kvarvarande reserestriktioner relaterade till covid-19 så som jämförelse så sammanställde jag också deltagarna på WLIC i Aten 2019 nedan.

    WLIC-deltagare 2019 i Aten, uppdelade efter region
    Region Antal deltagare
    Asien-Oceanien 428
    Europa 1177 (876 exkl. värdlandet Grekland)
    Latinamerika och Karibien (LAC) 92
    Mellanöstern-Nordafrika (MENA) 91
    Nordamerika (USA och Kanada) 339
    Subsahariska Afrika 155

    Jag tycker att det är intressant att fundera på den globala representationen och vad eventuella skevheter i den innebär för IFLA som organisation. Det går att problematisera representationen på olika sätt beroende på om man främst ser IFLA som kompetensutveckling, en möjlighet för nätverkande eller som en informationspolitisk påverkansorganisation. Min åsikt är att det sistnämnda är IFLA:s absolut viktigaste roll – när IFLA proklamerar att de är ”the global voice of libraries” till FN-organ och andra internationella sammanslutningar så är det viktigt att det finns en bred och tydligt förankrad representation.

    Naturligtvis är WLIC-deltagandet inte det enda sättet att delta i IFLA:s arbete, så att enkom utgå från det för att avgöra representation kan bli missvisande. Om man tittar på IFLA:s medlemmar (biblioteksföreningar och biblioteksinstitutioner) ser man också en viss snedfördelning mot globala nord. Man kan också titta på arbetet i IFLA:s sektioner. Ferreira och Toffoli gjorde en intressant granskning av LAC-regionens representation i IFLA-sektionernas kommittéer till WLIC 2019, How are the IFLA Sections Standing Committees Members geographically distributed?, som är läsvärd. Jag har tillsammans med Almuth Gastinger (NTNU, Trondheim) diskuterat att göra en liknande granskning för de nordiska länderna (min hypotes är att nordisk representation i IFLA är mycket stor i förhållande till de flesta andra länderna), men vi har inte kommit till skott än och jag tror kanske inte att jag kommer ta mig tid för att göra det framgent heller.

    Huvudprogram i tre dagar – postersessionerna höjdpunkt

    Konferensens huvudprogram pågick i tre dagar, 26-28 juli. Dagarna innan och efter konferensen innehöll bland annat möten med styrelsen och med sektioners (och andra arbetsgruppers) kommittéer. Jag var inte inblandad i något av detta. Min huvudpunkt var istället postersessionerna och jag bemannade min utställda poster två timmar på onsdagen och två timmar på torsdagen för att berätta mer om forskningsprojektet Astrid Lindgren-koden och hur bibliotek, forskare och medborgarforskare samarbetat för att knäcka ”Astrid Lindgren-koden”, det vill säga hennes svårlästa stenografimanus. Postern är uppladdad i IFLA:s arkiv och jag har bäddat in en tweet nedan för ett liveperspektiv (inklusive konferensbakgrundsbrus!) :)

    Digitalisering, tillgängliggörande och spridande av kulturarvssamlingar är frågor som engagerar många biblioteksinstitutioner och det märktes under postersessionerna. Jag hade många intressanta diskussioner med förbipasserande och det som verkade intressera mest var det innovativa sättet att interagera med medborgarforskare för att öka och bibehålla ett engagemang i projektet (i den nyss utkomna artikeln Secretaries at Work: Accessing Astrid Lindgren’s Stenographed Manuscripts through Expert Crowdsourcing beskriver jag och Malin Nauwerck bland annat hur många crowdsourcingprojekt, t.ex. storskaliga transkriberingsprojekt, stagnerar efter ett tag och hur social interaktion under processen kan förändra detta), att vi hade lyckats nå en grupp (äldre kvinnor) som är underrepresenterade inom medborgarforskning samt att vi kunnat bidra med en meningsfull och social aktivitet under covid-19 som gladde våra deltagare eftersom då på grund av restriktioner var väldigt isolerade. En av deltagarna beskrev våra hackathonträffar som ”en ljuspunkt i en annars dyster tid”. Det tycker jag är väldigt fint!

    ”Out in the Open”-sessionen – ett bra exempel på dålig organisationskultur

    Konferensprogrammet består huvudsakligen av olika sessioner som ordnas av IFLA-sektioner. Eftersom IFLA:s ledning har haft ett väldigt turbulent år så ordnade IFLA:s styrelse en session som hette Out in the Open: Recent Governance Developments at IFLA. Skärmdump av sessionens beskrivning och deltagare nedan.

    Beskrivning av och deltagare i IFLA WLIC-sessionen ” Session 141 Out in the Open: Recent Governance Developments at IFLA”

    Jag tog tillfället i akt att ställa två enkla frågor (jag tycker verkligen inte att frågorna är särskilt komplicerade):

    1. There seems to be a conflict of interest between IFLA and SIGL since the former Secretary General of IFLA is still Secretary General of SIGL. How would IFLA deal financially with a separation from SIGL?

    Som sakupplysning hade vi alltså fått veta att SIGL står för c:a 66% av kostnaderna för IFLA:s HQ i Haag. Vidare hade generalsekreteraren för IFLA alltså blivit sparkad från sitt jobb. Barbara Lisons svar på den här frågan var att det inte finns en intressekonflikt.

    2. Do you think IFLA’s lack of internal transparency could be a threat to IFLA’s credibility in our advocacy for freedom of expression, freedom of information and transparency?

    Som ni minns från inledningen i denna rapport så anser jag att IFLA:s roll som internationell informationspolitisk påverkansorganisation är den absolut viktigaste rollen IFLA spelar. Därför kan det vara ett problem för IFLA:s trovärdighet i frågor som handlar om ökad transparens och ansvarsutkrävande om det finns en spridd uppfattning om att IFLA är en icketransparent organisation (oavsett om man håller med om detta eller ej). Barbara Lisons svar på den här frågan var att IFLA inte hade ett problem med transparens.

    Det ställdes många fler intressanta frågor och alla bemöttes med ett ickesvar eller med ett ”på grund av pågående rättssak så kan vi inte säga något”. Out in the open, indeed. Tyvärr fanns det också en förvillande diskurs om att kravet på transparens hade att göra med tillfredsställande av folks nyfikenhet, vilket naturligtvis är falskt. Poängen med transparens är inte att möjliggöra skvaller, utan att möjliggöra ansvarsutkrävande.

    Jag har fått ganska många kommentarer efteråt, bland annat om att Barbara Lison och Winston Tabb var väldigt otrevliga mot (och rentav mobbade) mig. Eftersom det här inte är min första rodeo (när jag som student var ordförande i en studentorganisation så satt jag i en styrelse där en gubbe brukade ta ur sin hörapparat när jag pratade) så lade jag inte märke till det här under själva frågestunden.* Möjligen tyckte jag att det var konstigt att moderatorn Tabb inte avbröt alla andra som ställde frågor efter mig i samma utsträckning som han avbröt mig (eftersom jag var först ut med att ställa frågor så trodde jag bara att Tabb och Lison kommit överens om mötesstrategin att avbryta samtliga frågeställare men det visade sig framför allt vara mig de avbröt – ganska oförskämt faktiskt!) Om man vill titta på haveriet till frågestund så finns det tillgängligt på IFLA:s YouTube-kanal.

    * Jag låter kanske lite blasé när jag pratar om detta, och det är mycket riktigt så att jag är för trött och luttrad för att bli upprörd när denna typ av härskartekniker drabbar mig. Men på det stora hela är det naturligtvis en stor sorg för det öppna, demokratiska samtalet att jag har vant mig vid detta och knappt ids rycka på axlarna. Jag vill verkligen betona att det aldrig under några omständigheter är okej att bete sig om Lison, Tabb eller studentorganisationsgubben på ett möte och om du ser detta hända så bör du genast ingripa och säga ifrån. Jag vill också uttrycka tacksamhet för att Ingrid Bon gjorde just detta under Out in the open-sessionen – en omedelbar reaktion värdesätter jag mycket högre än beklagande kommentarer i efterhand. 

    Tack till det fantastiska Eire!

    Jag vill till sist tacka den irländska nationella organisationskommittén (läs deras välkomstmeddelande här) för en fantastisk konferens och alla kringprogram. Irland är kanske det bokligaste landet i världen, alla irländska bibliotekarier jag träffade var briljanta och generösa och jag är särskilt tacksam att jag fick fråga ut en grupp unga bibliotekarier om irländsk politik och kulturhistoria. Superintressant! Jag skulle naturligtvis kunna skriva en hel roman om detta (”visste ni att Sinn Féin nuförtiden…?”) men jag avslutar i stället min IFLA-rapport här med en bild på mig och my one true love.

    Karolina och Oscar

    Karolina vid Oscar Wilde-statyn i Dublin.

    Inställning – omställning – utställning!

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    För ett par veckor sedan var jag i Norrköping för att föreläsa på och moderera en open space-konferens (Inställning – omställning – utställning) om bibliotek och Agenda 2030. Konferensen var Föreningens för regional biblioteksverksamhet höstkonferens och den gick ut på att deltagarna skulle lära sig mer om vad Agenda 2030, de globala målen och hållbar utveckling kan innebära för biblioteksverksamhet både globalt och lokalt och därtill fundera på hur de kunde arbeta med globala målen i sin egen verksamhet.

    Karolina och Agenda 2030. Fotograf: Lovisa Sundin/Region Örebro län

    Jag har ju föreläst om detta tidigare och nyligen har jag börjat använda mig mer av delmålen och indikatorerna för att hitta möjligheter och verktyg för att genomföra hållbar biblioteksverksamhet – eller för den delen lyfta upp redan befintlig verksamhet i en Agenda 2030-kontext. En intressant sak med delmål och indikatorer är att det också går att hitta tydliga kopplingar mellan mål som annars kan tyckas ganska disparata.

    Jag har också brukat säga att de globala indikatorerna är svåra att tillämpa i Sverige eftersom vi redan har kommit ganska långt i genomförandet av Agenda 2030 (observera dock att detta inte beror på idogt politiskt arbete med målen utan på de reformer vi genomfört på t ex 1990-talet, regeringens Agenda 2030-samordnare Gabriel Wikström beskriver detta förtjänstfullt i den här rapporten från mars 2022). Men jag fick ändå anledning att under dag två backa på denna punkt, delvis på grund av föregående dagars kommentarer om ”journalistrugby” och i synnerhet Journalistförbundets uttalanden om hat och hot mot journalister i samband med detta (se bilder från presentationen nedan). Vi lever i oroliga tider.

    Jag var otroligt imponerad av arrangörsgruppen som vågade prova detta för höstkonferensen helt nya format. Det är ganska omvälvande att gå från ett traditionellt konferensformat till ett som kräver aktivt deltagande, även kring formande av agendan. Dessutom fanns en strävan efter hållbarhet, både i genomförande (t ex vegetarisk mat, tågresevänligt och smörgåsbord av medhavt kontorsmaterial) och i ett starkt fokus på ”vad händer efter konferensen? Vad gör vi med detta?” Hållbara resultat av konferensdiskussioner är sådana man kan fortsätta använda och arbeta med även efter konferensen.

    Skojfrisk som jag är utlyste jag även en sångtävling i inledningen på min föreläsning. Det var inte planerat och jag exemplifierade med en sång om Norrköping som jag kom på på stående fot. Kanske var det till melodin Blinka lilla stjärna? Hur som helst kom det faktiskt in ett bidrag så jag var tvungen att framställa ett pris. Det blev bilden nedan, en samtidskommentar som tar upp biblioteken och Agenda 2030.

    Pris i sångtävlingen. Delacroix, de Geer och Braille i ett.

    Pris i sångtävlingen. Delacroix, de Geer och Braille i ett. (Gjord i GIMP!)

    Jag tvivlar inte ett ögonblick på att Sveriges samlade regionbibliotekskrafter kommer att ta detta vidare och göra bra saker. Jag hoppas och tror också att de precis som jag fått syn på ett område inom det svenska Agenda 2030-genomförandet där det för närvarande saknas tydlig ledning, samt att de går in och tar det ledarskapet.

    True North? Yes, All Library Compasses Point at Lancaster University Library

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    Whenever I’ve heard Lancaster I’ve thought about Safe Warm Lancashire Home. This all changed the past summer when I went to the LIBER conference in Odense to give a presentation on cultural heritage hackathons and met Andrew Barker, university librarian at Lancaster University, who spoke about enhancing digital discoverability of special collections in the same conference session. The thing that really got my attention in their presentation was when Andrew presented Lancaster University as small enough to innovate and build community, putting them in a great position to explore new practices – ”Through disruptive innovation, we will build lasting change” I quoted in my tweet from the event (here are some of my other LIBER tweets, in case anyone’s interested).  Being ”small enough” means the university is not so big that any innovation gets immediately drowned in bureaucracy and conflicting interests, and still not so small that the organisation has too few resources to be able to innovate. It seems to me to be a sweet spot for library innovation, and the approach (disruptive innovation! lasting change!) really speaks to me. I would’ve applied for a job on the spot if I wasn’t already so pleased with where I am right now (and also because of Brexit).

    As I had already planned to spend a few days in Manchester after my conference marathon in Ireland I asked Andrew if I could stop by for a visit in early August and to my utter delight he said yes, so on August 3 I took the northbound from Oxford Road towards Windermere, passing old cotton mills and the stations of Wigan and Preston before arriving in Lancaster, a city built of yellowy gray stones rather than the Mancunian red brick buildings I had just left. I walked into town and switched to a city bus taking me to the campus of Lancaster University, situated south of the city centre and built in the 1960s. The buses normally stop in the Underpass (oh stop it with the Morrissey references!) which would immediately take you to Alexandra Square, the university’s main plaza, but during my visit there were some Underpass and road closures around campus (makes sense do to the traffic work during the summer holidays) so I arrived at the library gates from another direction, after having stealthily followed some other bus passengers who didn’t seem as lost as I did, hehe.

    Alexandra Square at Lancaster University

    Alexandra Square at the centre of Lancaster University. Library entrance to the left in the inner corner.

    Because of the summer holidays a lot of my pictures will look quite empty. However, walking around the campus it was really easy to imagine how vibrant and welcoming it would be during the year, buzzing with students and staff on their way to lectures, people, and places, enjoying their coffee and their discussions in one of the campus cafés (I had one of the best coffees I’ve ever had when I was there so the coffee really is worth mentioning – that was some proper intellectual fuel!)

    I entered the library and was welcomed by Andrew who gave me a splendid tour. The library is still located in the same place as when it was opened by Philip Larkin in January 1967, and it has since been extended twice, I think, with the most recent extension being opened in 2021. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, these extensions are quite hard to notice in the library. The spaces flow seamlessly into one another, very clearly giving the impression of one library (rather than spaces being divided into the old part and the new part, which is quite common in libraries with extensions, cf. Carolina Rediviva and Turku City Library).

    In the newest extension, which is built to reflect the new vision of the library, there are 450 new study spaces (that’s a lot! as a comparison reading room A at Carolina Rediviva has 82 study spaces). The spaces are divided into different areas, taking into account sound levels, types of furniture, open spaces and smaller nooks, computer equipment… all to cater to different needs and wants of the library users. This is obviously quite common when building or remodeling library spaces, but nevertheless exciting to see because of the level of ambition and the success of it in the Lancaster library. I was overwhelmed by a sudden need to sit down and study in at least five spaces we passed because they looked so inviting and pleasant, it was like balm for the mind.

    All floors of the building had been gifted with green walls. They’re described in the press release as ”[l]iving walls of expertly selected, glossy, vibrant plants, intermittent trickling watering systems and an array of tastefully chosen, stylish furniture all add to the calm, relaxing environment” and I think that sums it up quite well. Why we don’t make these everywhere? It seems like the kind of thing that could be easily incorporated into older buildings as well? I felt like Alice in Wonderland when I took the spray bottle and followed the ”please mist me” instruction. I’m sure it was more therapeutic for me than the plants – I just had to take a five minute break in writing this to reminisce about this moment.

    While on the topic of green in the library, I also got to meet the library tree Norma! The tree was named through a vote where 41,5 % of the 1330 votes were cast on Norma (I’ll just assume Tree McTreeface was a close second).  The tree grows in an inside courtyard which is also a space for events in the library (such as the university librarian DJ’ing to welcome new students or library festivals!). Since the study spaces on the floors above this courtyard are silent reading spaces there has to be a careful balance between events and study spaces so as not to disrupt too much. However, there is quite a large amount of silent study spaces elsewhere in the library, so when events do take place it’s quite easy to temporarily redirect users in need of quiet spaces to other parts of the library.

    Another place for silent studies is the main reading room, a room I really enjoyed because of the different type of desks and because of the amazing light in that room. It had a temple-like feel to it. To give you an impression of the library as a whole I also added some images from the third floor bridge below. The library is generally very spacious and very bright. I like that. It’s a bit like being in a Star Trek city in the future, you know the ones from TNG when it was still very utopian.

    We also looked at the space for postgraduates in the library which was currently being refurbished to better suit the needs and wants of the postgraduate students. It took me back to the time when I was active in the student union at Uppsala University and advocated for specific reading rooms and/or spaces for master students at the university library. There had been a decrease in the use of reading rooms at the library, partly because doctoral researchers over time had gotten better working conditions (such as salaries and offices), so one way to repurpose this reading rooms would’ve been to dedicate some spaces to students. However, specific spaces for master students were instead organised by the faculties and usually in leftover rooms in the campus buildings (mine was in a basement and we rarely went there), completely disregarding the potential synergies of an interdisciplinary research environment. I still don’t know why but I assume this was related to either money, prestige, or a siloed organisational structure (or possible all three). Either way, things hadn’t changed much when I came back to work as a librarian at the same university a few years later.

    Looking at Swedish higher education statistics we do have steady increase of international students who come to Sweden to study at master programmes (97 % of the incoming freemovers were studying at a programme in 2020/21 – most of them at a master programme – compared to 80 % in 2013/14, and most students who pay tuition fees are in master programmes as well) so in one way it’s baffling that we’re not better at adapting our higher ed infrastructure (including libraries) to accommodate for this group. The post-Bologna master’s craze led to many new programmes but I feel we’ve missed something crucial in creating the best study environment for this group – both regarding spaces and events. This group would also be less involved in student politics, for several reasons, so it’s hard for (especially international) master students to efficiently advocate their interests.

    Anyway, comparing those experiences with the development of the postgrad spaces in Lancaster shows what a university and university library could be like, and how they could work with their users to make the best out of everything for everyone. However, the last I heard from my library (I’m on leave until 2024 for my doctoral research) didn’t make me super hopeful about a positive, student-friendly development during the next 10 years… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe the student union needs another library focused student union party? (Yes, I was in one of those. It was started by the magnificent Moa Ekbom.)

    Last but not least (there is really so much more to say about my visit to Lancaster University Library, so maybe I’ll add more to this post later on), a thing that really impressed me was the fiction collection which aimed to function a bit like a public library, a cultural living room, for the university students. Since the university is situated on a campus a bit out of town, and students tend to live on campus and spend a lot of time at the campus, it becomes a sort of small society in itself. It is therefore natural and necessary that the university library takes on a wider role for its community than, say, a university library within 10 minutes walking distance from a public library would do. The collection on the photo is meant to provide leisure reading for the students, and other activities and events at the library (such as the festival mentioned above) also bear witness to how the library consciously takes on this pivotal role. When Andrew explained this mindset I was very impressed by the fact that university library management could so astutely observe and act on their role in the wider scheme of things. Well done!

    Leisure reading in the fiction collection and the library as a campus living room.

    Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 in Maynooth

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    I had the pleasure of attending Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 in Maynooth just outside of Dublin on July 23-24. I got roped into the convention through librarian extraordinaire Laurie Bridges, and they suggested I join the scholarship committee to help assess applications from scholarship applicants. It was interesting work and I noticed it was quite similar to assessing scholarship applications for my student organisation V-Dala Nation where I once served as scholarship secretary (although in this case much less financial data and less extensive spread sheets – thankfully!)

    The library, Maynooth University – Leabharlann, Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. Photo by me, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    The setting for the convention was the beautiful library of Maynooth University. I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the library, but it was a beautiful, bright building with great spaces for studying, teaching. and meeting people and I could really picture myself as a student enjoying spending time at the library.

    The conference started of with an excellent keynote by Dr Nkem Osuigwe, one of my library role models. Their talk was titled Wikimedia through the Prisms of Critical Librarianship, and I really appreciated the critical take on librarianship which I feel is sometimes lacking in the Nordic LIS field. According to Osuigwe, critical theory

    examines what exists in society/particular field and,
    challenges assumptions and practices,
    asks questions about historical, economic, social and cultural issues underpinning practice,
    interrogates whose perspective is being heard/seen and promoted in existing structures and systems,
    views how the frameworks and standards of existing structures and systems came to be, and
    configures in social justice

    and it’s employed to

    – explain what is wrong with current realities of praxis
    – identify those who can think through critically to suggest and drive change, and
    – provide practical pathways for social transformation as well as more criticism.

    These extracts are verbatim from a couple of slides in Osuigwe’s presentation and I find them very relevant. For me, being critical of something is not negative criticism (which I think it’s often interpreted as!) but rather something that drives positive change in an organisation. The last four years I’ve worked at a university library and I think there has been a shift towards being an isolate service provider rather than being an intellectually driven integrated part of the university driving change through its activities. It’s both the activities the library does as much as the general mindset that cause this. For example, the shift to open science (a value libraries typically advocate) is hindered by bureaucratic obstacles and complacency. It sometimes seems as critical theory is left at the door when one moves from library education to the library profession. I have never been able to accept this since I believe critical thinking is a skill you acquire for life, not for education. This has put me in a tight spot several times in my professional career!

    As you can see, Osuigwe’s talk helped me critically assess my own professional situation, which is very valuable to me. But of course the talk had a broader impact as well and I appreciate how they placed Wikimedia as an emancipatory tool to support fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression and access to information. According to Osuigwe (and I agree!) ”a core aspect of critical librarianship is that librarians are activists by calling as they defend intellectual freedom and promote cultural resistance irrespective of prevailing political, economic and social attitudes that promote the ’caging of knowledge’.” They also mentioned that the default setting of a library is open, and this is worth mentioning because I think there is an idea that libraries are neutral, which is all good in one sense, but what happens when neutral is in conflict with open?

    Libraries, politics and activism is something I briefly mention in this article in Biblioteksbladet (in Swedish), regarding climate action in libraries. The shortened quote makes me sound very harsh, but I do think there is a certain anxiety in Swedish libraries regarding anything that might be considered ”political”. In this column on Wikipedia in Bibliotekbladet (in Swedish) I theorise that our perceptions of power is at the core of how Swedish librarians act and think about Wikimedia, activism and other issues – there seems to be preference for hierarchical structures rather than a flat power distribution. I wonder if responsibility is at the core of this (i.e. when do want to assume responsibility, and when do we prefer to be indifferent and unconcerned) and if it is connected to the move from critical librarianship in library education to the neutral public servant in the library profession.

    Osuigwe also underlined how Wikimedia encourages the plurality of voices, for instance through linguistic availability, and this theme was also something that came up in Michael David Miller’s presentation in the session A Booktalk: Wikipedia and Academic Libraries, A Global Project (presentation available here) where they talked about the LGBTQ+ content of francophone Wikipedia and how they had discovered it wasn’t really representative of the francophone communities, but mainly consisted of articles on events in the United States (see image from presentation below).

    LGBTQ+ Content in Francophone Wikipedia, presentation by Michael David Miller (page 16 in this presentation, CC BY-SA 4.0)

    This highlights that even though translation of articles about important people and events are prevalent, the Wikipedia content might not be representative of the community that is reading the encyclopædia and this is an issue that must be dealt with, since it creates a sense of invisibility. As Miller quoted Kelly Doyle:

    “The cultural capital of Wikipedia is such that existence within it denotes a level of power and importance. The phenomenon of considering something or someone truly significant or insignificant, through its presence or absence on Wikipedia, can be a damaging one.

    Or in their own words: Ultimately, I want to exist. Of course a large part of the presentation was focused on how they had attempted to solve this issue: McGill University Library (where Miller works) had in partnership with Bibliothèque du Centre communautaire LGBTQ+ de Montréal and the Café des savoirs libre organised LGBTQ+ contribution events, which had resulted in new articles being created on historical LGBTQ+ events and spaces in Montréal, Montréal drag queens Rita Baga and Barbada de Barbades, and queer Quebecois authors Kevin Lambert and Antoine Charbonneau-Demers.

    Miller’s presentation was very inspiring and it gave me the idea to try to organise a similar editing event focusing on LGBTQ+ articles in Swedish Finland, perhaps in collaboration with the organisation Projekt Fredrika r.f., which aims to increase access to information about Swedish Finland on Wikipedia (mainly on Swedish Wikipedia, but also in other languages). We’ll see how that goes! Anyway, if you want to read more about Miller’s (and other cool people’s) projects the book Wikipedia and Academic Libraries can be found here.

    Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 – Group photo. Photographer: B20180, CC BY-SA 4.0

    There so many more things to mention from WikiLibCon (so many great people! so many awesome ideas! and I chaired a session for the first time in my life!) so maybe there’ll be a part two to this post, we’ll see! In the meantime, you can check out my tweet feed for those days which lists the highlights as they happened!