Outsourcing av urval och inköp : En studie av hur bibliotekariens kompetens och yrkesroll påverkas av Bibliotekstjänsts profiltjänster

Sammanfattning: Traditionally, the majority of Swedish public libraries have carried out most of their acquisitions through Bibliotekstjänst's binding booklets. In recent years, however, many libraries have complemented the binding booklets and other services from Bibliotekstjänst by other ways of acquiring books, such as Internet bookshops, while other libraries have stopped using the binding booklets altogether. There are various reasons for this development, such as Information Technology making it possible for librarians to compare prizes and services from different retailers. Another important reason is the need for public libraries to meet new needs from their patrons, while remaining on a restrained budget, which often causes a need for reorganization of staff and resources. As a way of meeting the new needs for libraries, Bibliotekstjänst has created Profile Services (profiltjänster), a service in which a library outsources its acquisitions to Bibliotekstjänst. The staff of the library, in dialogue with Bibliotekstjänst, design a profile for the acquisitions for the library in question, in order to determinate which types and genres of literature the library and its patrons are requesting. Bibliotekstjänst, using statistics for the library and the community, then selects, prepares and delivers the books continually to the library. One of the main purposes of the Profile Services is to make it possible for the librarians to make time for other, more important or prioritized, tasks, such as interacting with and guiding the patrons. A project where the profile services were tested was carried out during 2004 in three libraries within Stockholm Public Library. After this initial testing project, the services have been offered to all public libraries in Sweden. The initial testing project within Stockholm Public Library has met mixed reactions from the staff from the libraries in question and in the public debate within the field of Library and Information Science. The opinions that have been brought up have dealt with questions concerning the importance of acquisitions when defining a librarians' professional competence, if librarians can hand over acquisitions to an outside retailer without losing part of what makes them librarians, if acquisitions are part of the librarians' core competency, and whether, if that is the case, that means that the librarians and the libraries will change if they do not handle the acquisitions themselves. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate what effects outsourcing acquisitions has on librarians and librarianship. To do this, we examine the professional identity and competency of the librarian, as well as acquisitions and what part acquisitions play in the librarians' profession and identity. By demonstrating the relations between these factors, we investigate how an outsourcing service such as the Profile Services affect the role and identity of the librarians, without making a statement for or against this specific service. We do this by using examples of previous projects where acquisitions have been outsourced to independent retailers, and also include opinions and experiences from the initial Profile Services Project in Stockholm. Our conclusion is that acquisitions play an important role in the professional identity, in many cases because it gives the librarians the ability to influence the collection of the library and thereby have control over their working situation. However, the field of acquisitions is dynamic and Profile Services can be a way to meet some of the changes and challenges that the libraries are facing today. It is, however, important for libraries to remain in control of acquisitions regardless of whether they are carried out through Profile Services, Bibliotekstjänst's buying booklets or from other retailers. To preserve this control, it is of great importance to have a structured and thorough plan for collection development.