Det andra rummet : Studenters syn på den fysiska boken i det akademiska biblioteksrummet

Sammanfattning: The aim of the thesis is to explore the relevance and the values related to physical books for students in the library room. The thesis addresses questions of how students use the physical books in the library room and if the physical books are perceived by the students as a source of formal and informal learning and serendipity. It will also try to find out what impact physical books have on students. Sweden wants to become the best nation in the world in digitalization. Could this be a threat for the university library collections? And what happens if we choose to have less printed books in the library room? Would students come to a library without any books and would they consider a library with no books as their working place? This study aims to look at what values could be lost if we don´t have physical books in the student’s learning environment. The theories and method used are Jochumsen, Hvenegaard-Rasmussen och Skot-Hansen’s (2012) four spaces model, Björneborn´s (2017) library didactic theory, Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs and Antonovsky´s (1991) Sense of Coherence Scale. The study is based on 25 qualitative interviews with students conducted in three libraries in Malmö: he Orkanen library and the Odontological library at Malmö university library, and the Dawit Isaak library. The study includes four walk-along interviews and observation studies. The results in the study convey that the students had a clear preference for physical books as practical tools for both formal and informal learning. The survey could assert that students preferred reading in physical books rather than having e-books. They appreciated both the materiality and the possibility of making notes by their own hand and considered physical books more effective for browsing. They viewed the library room, with the books they used, as their workplace. The workplace is often called the second room, while home is considered the first. While having a break, many students said that they would walk around the library making unexpected discoveries in bookshelves or watching exhibitions. The students expressed, while describing the library room, that they considered it as a calm, safe place and inspiring room. Some students also related the library room to their childhood memories, which evoked positive associations and emotions. They also emphasized that the physical books and the help from librarians were crucial to their experience of their library room. Most of the participants claimed that they would not come to the library if there were no books.