Folkbibliotekarier : Kompetens, identitet och status

Sammanfattning: The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to develop knowledge about how librarians experience their professional identity, argue for their competence and describe their profession based on their professional skills, tasks, and status. The method that is used to answer the questions of the study is semi-structured interviews with five public librarians. The theory used in this essay is Ørom’s six librarian identities plus Schreiber’s experience intermediate identity. Conclusions drawn by the study is that the library profession is multifaceted as the study’s informants showed expressions of several professional identities simultaneously. The width of different work tasks that emerged in the study also shows that the profession is diverse. Social skills and an ability to stay updated on new media and follow the news development are regarded as key skills. The profession's relatively low status is linked to perceptions of the society about the library profession. The informants in the study feel that it is important to encounter decision makers’/politicians’ perceptions of the library profession as they are the ones who have the power to influence the library organization.