Att navigera ett högskolebibliotek i samtiden : En fallstudie av Chalmers biblioteks lärandetorg och dess placering i bibliotekets organisationsutveckling

Sammanfattning: As information becomes more widely available, the library finds itself in a position where new paths need to be explored on which to reach out to users. Learning Commons have developed internationally as a way to stimulate active learning and to prioritise social interaction over the material collection. By using Chalmers University of Technology as a case study, the aim of this study has been to clarify the concept of Learning Commons from a Swedish perspective and to contribute to the representation of diverse interpretations worldwide by so doing. Chalmers was the first Swedish library to institute a Learning Commons in 2016 and so the study has come to focus on organizational factors driving its establishment and on how the term is used locally. The library’s perspective has been point of departure with a rich material found in business plans, project plans and other officially drafted documents concerning its coming into existence and evaluation thereof. Complementary information was gathered from e-mail conversations with the prefect and a more informal perspective added through the library’s blog and some newspaper articles on the topic. All documents have been studied using a qualitative content-based analysis with a concept analytical angle. Theoretical premises were found in materiality and constructivism as concepts, in combination with an overarching starting point in organization theory. The analysis showed that the library and the Learning Commons were seen as two distinct concepts, where the main distinguishing characteristic was found in the focus on the collection and user respectively. The Learning Commons further functions as a testing ground for new ideas, which fit more easily in a new context. Related to these questions of organizational development, the physical structure has shown to be an efficient mediator of change, imprinted as it is with symbolism prompting certain behaviour. A closer collaboration with Chalmers University and a more perceptive way in relation to users has, together with adjustments to prevalent pedagogy, environmental thinking and strengthening of the profile internationally as well as socially formed the Learning Commons of Chalmers. It has shown to be an appreciated part of the present and future library.