Högskolebibliotekarier, öppen forskningsdata och yrkesidentitet : en kvalitativ intervjustudie

Sammanfattning: The aim of this master’s thesis is to create knowledge about the occupational identity of academic librarians in relation to their work with open research data. Interviews with six librarians from six different Swedish academic libraries were performed and analysed with the use of occupational identity-theory and sociocultural theory. It was found that the informants of the study had a difficult time separating their work with general research data management from open research data management, as in practice the two converge a lot. It was also found that the informants seem to value ethical and correct research data management over making all research data open. The informants express it as their duty to create a well-functioning support system for the researchers, regardless of their intentions to make the data open. While the specific tasks the informants perform when working with open research data are relatively new for the occupation, they bear resemblance to other, more traditional librarian tasks such as research support services, education, promoting openness, publishing, and metadata management. Some of the informants express a clear connection between librarianship and open research data work, while others place more emphasis on having specific, useful skills than on the occupation. A lot of similarities were found in the occupational identity of the informants, with an information management identity being the most prominent amongst all. Secondary identities were also found to varying extents amongst the informants, such as a pedagogical identity, a service identity, an advocating identity, and a data-oriented identity. The findings of this study shed a light on how librarians handle open research data in their day-to-day work, and their perceptions of this work. The findings can be useful for academic institutions and for librarians who are in the process of establishing research data services, as it outlines some of the work that can be expected. They can also be useful as a reference point for librarians and information scientists evaluating current trends within the occupation, and the way these trends integrate with the values and norms thereof.