Muntligt och audiellt möter skriftligt: en studie av musikers informationspraktik i relation till romsk folkmusik

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to develop knowledge about how the divide of a written versus an oral and audial information tradition influences the knowledge organization of Roma folk music in Sweden. In addition, the thesis aims to develop knowledge about musicians' information practices and about information practices linked to Roma folk music. The research adopts a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews and observations of musicians active in Sweden who play Roma folk music professionally. The interviews and observations were thematically analyzed from the theoretical perspective of information practice theory, in particular from Pamela McKenzie’s information search model and Reijo Savolainen’s concept of information horizons. The study shows that the musicians experience an array of challenges when it comes to finding information about Roma folk music. Many of the informants are missing a systematic knowledge organization of Roma folk music in Sweden. At present, the informants never use libraries when seeking information about Roma folk music, but they claim they would if the library was developed to include more sources of information that are not based in writing. This indicates that the public library system needs to supplement its written sources of information with oral and audial ones, to increase the availability and preservation of information about Roma folk music.