Biblioteksverksamhet som distansverksamhet : En analys av UH-bibliotekens roll för distansstudenter

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to gainknowledge in how some Swedish university librariesexpresses their work regarding web based servicesfor distance learners via activity documents andwebb pages. A qualitative content analysis isconducted to investigate this. The empirical materialconsists of nineteen different documents and elevenselected parts of websites related to eleven differentuniversity libraries. The results show that there is avariation in how and to what degree differentuniversity libraries expresses their services todistance learners. Three main themes emerge fromthe content: ”the electronic library resources”, ”thevirtual library room” and ”the librarian's pedagogicalrole”, all in different ways connected to distancelearners. The results is discussed based on “thetheory of transactional distance”. The principalfindings is that the libraries expresses greatenthusiasm for digital development and web basedservices. Some in more explicit ways and some inmore implicit ways. Based on the findings from thisstudy and from the previous research and literatureon the subject, the conclusion is that it is notpossible to completely distinguish the distancestudents' needs from other students and it is notentirely possible to distinguish the role of theuniversity library in a psysical or a virtualenvironment.