Andreas Vårheim | University of Tromsø (original) (raw)

Papers by Andreas Vårheim

Routledge eBooks, Oct 26, 2022

Information Research: an international electronic journal

This paper presents research on how public librarians in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden view... more This paper presents research on how public librarians in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden view the importance of social reading and related professional roles. Previous research findings from a questionnaire administered to public librarians are analysed in depth in order to identify trends that can be further investigated in a subsequent qualitative study. The previous findings broadly show variation in the importance of social reading activities and related professional roles at the country level. A detailed understanding of the variations is elicited through a more comprehensive analysis at the country and community levels. Social reading plays a more important role in Danish and Icelandic libraries than in Norwegian and Swedish libraries, however it is more important in larger communities in Iceland and Sweden and smaller communities in Denmark and Norway. The role of literary mediator appears to correspond highly to librarians’ professional role across all countries and comm...

Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 2005

Routledge eBooks, Oct 26, 2022

Journal of Documentation, 2021

PurposeIn museum research, museums are held as vital in maintaining the public sphere. This scopi... more PurposeIn museum research, museums are held as vital in maintaining the public sphere. This scoping review takes stock of the present status of museum–public sphere research by providing an overview of the existing literature as a point of departure for future research. In short, it maps the research aims, theoretical concepts, research methods and findings within the field and identifies research gaps.Design/methodology/approachA scoping review methodology is used to provide a knowledge synthesis of the museum–public sphere literature. This approach is instrumental for researching multi-disciplinary, fragmented or underdeveloped research fields. Reviews can help identify otherwise easily overlooked gaps in the research literature and are an essential tool.FindingsOverwhelmingly, the published literature consists of case studies, some of which are theoretically ambitious. Still, cases are selected without explicit goals regarding analytical or theoretical generalization, and the stu...

Journal of documentation, 2022

Purpose-In museum research, museums are held as vital in maintaining the public sphere. This scop... more Purpose-In museum research, museums are held as vital in maintaining the public sphere. This scoping review takes stock of the present status of museum-public sphere research by providing an overview of the existing literature as a point of departure for future research. In short, it maps the research aims, theoretical concepts, research methods and findings within the field and identifies research gaps. Design/methodology/approach-A scoping review methodology is used to provide a knowledge synthesis of the museum-public sphere literature. This approach is instrumental for researching multidisciplinary , fragmented or underdeveloped research fields. Reviews can help identify otherwise easily overlooked gaps in the research literature and are an essential tool. Findings-Overwhelmingly, the published literature consists of case studies, some of which are theoretically ambitious. Still, cases are selected without explicit goals regarding analytical or theoretical generalization, and the studies are not placed within a theory-building framework. Moreover, the museumpublic sphere research primarily focuses on museums in the core Anglosphere countries and is conducted by researchers affiliated with institutions in those countries. The museum-community relationship is a common research theme addressing engagement with the public through either visitor participation or community participation. Originality/value-This is the first published scoping review or systematically conducted review and knowledge synthesis of the museum-public sphere research literature to our knowledge. The article finds and discusses a range of research gaps that need to be addressed theoretically and empirically.

Journal of documentation, 2022

Purpose-Libraries, museums and cultural centers have long served as cultural ambassadors and fore... more Purpose-Libraries, museums and cultural centers have long served as cultural ambassadors and foreign policy instruments, bridging diplomatic relationships among nation-states and institutions. The purpose of this scoping review is to ascertain and understand the emerging areas of research on libraries, museums and cultural centers in foreign policy and cultural diplomacy within broader research paradigms of international relations, social sciences, education and library and information studies by systematically mapping key concepts and identifying the types of studies and knowledge gaps. Design/methodology/approach-Using the Joanna Briggs Institute's (JBI) Manual for Evidence Synthesis, relevant peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters that were published over a wide time period in any language from various databases were systematically examined. Two reviewers worked independently to extract the data and reached a consensus regarding the inclusion criteria using the JBI's data charting template. Findings-In total, 6,436 citations were screened, and 57 documents were identified as eligible for inclusion. The following sequences were reviewed and explored: study characteristics, theoretical approaches and research themes. The research themes were grouped into broader ones that included goals, actors, strategies and instruments. Finally, the concentration and clusters of ideas and gaps that emerged in the identified studies were investigated, resulting in a discussion of the recommendations and directions for future research. Originality/value-This first scoping review is a useful tool for investigating the changing and novel roles of libraries, museums and cultural centers in cultural diplomacy and foreign policy. Although substantial work exists on the topic, the potential remains for interdisciplinary research to challenge and extend the current knowledge about cultural diplomacy practices in libraries, museums and cultural centers.

Proceedings from the Document Academy, 2018

Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios, 2008

Resumen: La investigación empírica sobre las bibliotecas públicas y el capital social se ha centr... more Resumen: La investigación empírica sobre las bibliotecas públicas y el capital social se ha centrado principalmente en descubrir cómo las bibliotecas contribuyen al capital social en el contexto local, más que en ayudar a resolver los interrogantes teóricos planteados por la literatura sobre el capital social. A pesar de esto, se han producido resultados interesantes que están en consonancia con los nuevos avances sobre la investigación del capital social. Estos resultados resaltan la importancia de las instituciones como generadoras de capital ...

WORLD LIBRARY AND INFORMATION CONGRESS: 74TH IFLA GENERAL CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL, 2008

According to librarians, public libraries create social capital and trust in most people. Accord... more According to librarians, public libraries create social capital and trust in most
people. According to theories on the creation of social capital, this might well be
true. However, there is little research confirming this. Overall, social capital
theory is at an impasse regarding what factors generate social capital or
generalized trust. Is it universalistic public institutions, voluntary associations, or
interaction between people? From the point of view of social capital theory,
public libraries are interesting cases because libraries are both universalistic
institutions and social meeting places. In libraries, both mechanisms can be
studied. Preliminary findings support that the library creates social capital both
ways. The specific ways that the library creates social capital have implications for
social capital theory as well as library practice.

Introduction. The role of public libraries in contributing to the resilience of their local commu... more Introduction. The role of public libraries in contributing to the resilience of their local communities is an underdeveloped area of research. This paper introduces, explores and develops the concept of community resilience in a public library setting. Analysis. The paper opens the broader literature on community resilience and analyses the specific theme of public libraries and community resilience, focusing on examining social capital as an adaptive mechanism for community resilience and the role of public libraries in generating social capital. Results. The contribution of public libraries to specified community resilience and adaptive capacities in disaster recovery is documented in a small body of research. Social capital is an adaptive capacity that is applicable for engaging with endogenous disruptive events or exogenous shocks and are as such a general resilience adaptive capacity while also important for specified resilience adaptations pertaining to predictable disruptions...

A Document (Re)turn: Contributions from a Research Field in Transition, 2007

In: Roswitha Skare, Niels Windfeld Lund, Andreas Varheim (eds.) (2007) ; A Document (Re)turn. Fra... more In: Roswitha Skare, Niels Windfeld Lund, Andreas Varheim (eds.) (2007) ; A Document (Re)turn. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang,pp. 299-309. Reprinted with permission.

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Journal of Documentation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of public libraries as institutions unde... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of public libraries as institutions underpinning a democratic public sphere as reasons legitimizing libraries compared to reasons that are more traditional and the actual use of libraries as public sphere arenas. Design/methodology/approach A survey of representative samples of the adult population in six countries – Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland – was undertaken. Findings Legitimations related to the libraries role as a meeting place and arena for public debate are ranked as the 3 least important out of 12 possible legitimations for upholding a public library service. Libraries are, however, used extensively by the users to access citizenship information and to participate in public sphere relevant meetings. Originality/value Few studies have empirically analyzed the role of libraries in upholding a democratic and sustainable public sphere. This study contributes in filling that gap.

Journal of Documentation, 2019

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Public libraries play important roles during disaster recovery, even when other government actors... more Public libraries play important roles during disaster recovery, even when other government actors fail. Libraries are centers of local information and have local knowledge. Patrons, as well as government agencies and NGOs, benefit from public libraries’ local grounding. Along with their local communities, many public libraries in the Tohoku region of Japan were severely damaged in the earthquake and tsunami of 3.11.2011. The nuclear accident in Fukushima following the tsunami meant that libraries in the evacuated zone were abandoned. Disaster recovery is difficult to handle and few success stories are found. Studies show that where other public services have failed, public libraries have been successful in disaster recovery. The literature on the role of libraries in disaster recovery is scant and only a few cases have been studied, all in the USA. This three-case study shows that libraries worked, that is, library services were offered and were helpful in areas where libraries had ...

Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 2005

«Varieties of Capitalism» and Policy Change-the Impact of Political Institutions in Ireland and N... more «Varieties of Capitalism» and Policy Change-the Impact of Political Institutions in Ireland and Norway 1987-2000. The article describes how Irish economic institutions began to move from a liberal towards a coordinated market economy at the end of the 1980s and how this contributed to a period of unparalleled economic growth in the 1990s. According to the literature on «Varieties of Capitalism», this type of transformation is virtually impossible. The Irish case raises crucial theoretical questions regarding the «Varieties of Capitalism» approach and institutional change, and may contribute to Norway finding a way out of its dependency on oil. Being one of the poorest economies inside the OECD area in 1986, Ireland, with Norway, is among the wealthiest today. Irish political institutions have been instrumental in the process of economic change: New economic policies and change

Routledge eBooks, Oct 26, 2022

Information Research: an international electronic journal

Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 2005

Routledge eBooks, Oct 26, 2022

Journal of Documentation, 2021

Journal of documentation, 2022

Proceedings from the Document Academy, 2018

Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios, 2008

WORLD LIBRARY AND INFORMATION CONGRESS: 74TH IFLA GENERAL CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL, 2008

A Document (Re)turn: Contributions from a Research Field in Transition, 2007

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Journal of Documentation

Journal of Documentation, 2019

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 2005

Libraries, Archives and Museums as Democratic Spaces in a Digital Age, 2020

In 2007, ABM-u was reorganized based on an evaluation carried out by Statskonsult.² The evaluatio... more In 2007, ABM-u was reorganized based on an evaluation carried out by
Statskonsult.² The evaluation was to “assess the appropriateness of the current
organization of ABM–u and outline possible alternatives” (Statskonsult 2006,
foreword). In 2010, the central government administration of the LAM (libraries,
archives, and museums) sector was reorganized and ABM–u was discontinued
(St.meld. nr. 20 (2009–2010)). This should lead to “a better and more focused work
on the digital challenges of the future in the archives, libraries and museums”
(St.meld. nr. 20 (2009–2010), 3).
ABM–u’s short-lived existence appears as a long-drawn-out reorganization
process. In short, ABM–u was created, evaluated, reorganized, re-evaluated, reorganized,
and discontinued within seven years. In the years before, during, and
after ABM–u, the LAMtask portfolio was distributed within different institutional
frameworks. It is noteworthy that a central governmental agency was closed seemingly
painlessly in just under eleven months.
This article raises the question of why ABM–u was not continued as a cultural
policy instrument for theLAMsector. The question provides a basis for elucidating
conditions for state governance in the cultural heritage area, contributing to the
academic and professional discussion of organizational and governance models
in the public sector and reorganization processes in Norwegian public administration.
Also, the chapter is a contribution to the international literature on institutional
convergence in the LAM field. Convergence in the LAM sector concerns
co-location, forms of collaboration, and digitalization. The article describes the
process from the establishment of ABM–u in 2003 to reorganization and closure
in 2010. An underlying and central issue in the process was the importance of
digitizing cultural heritage and whether a separate coordination body was appropriate
to achieve this.
The concepts of digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation are
often confused. Warner and Wäger (2019, 328) provide an overview of definitions
of the three concepts ranging from the change in technology and changing
socio-technical systems to the transformation of the business models and institutions.
Digitization means “[t] he encoding of analog information into digital
format. Digitization makes physical products [e.g., artifacts] programmable, addressable,
sensible, communicable, memorable, traceable and associable” (Yoo,
Henfridsson, and Lyytinen 2010, 725). Digitalization is defined as “[a] sociotechnical
process of applying digitizing techniques to broader social and institutional
contexts that render digital technologies infrastructural” (Tilson, Lyytinen, and
2 Statskonsult was until 2008 the Norwegian government directorate for administrative development,
and then merged into a larger agency; see note 5.
7 Institutional Convergence and Divergence in Norwegian Cultural Policy | 135
Sørensen 2010, 749). Digital transformation involves “the changes digital technologies
can bring about in a company’s business model, which result in changed
products or organizational structures or in the automation of processes” (Hess,
Matt, Benlian, and Wiesböck 2016, 124).
We analyze and discuss the change processes in the central government LAM
organization engaging historical institutional theory and a policy studies approach
and primarily examine public documents such as annual reports, White
Papers, consultation statements, budget proposals, letters of assignment, and
evaluation reports. The 20 years of digital and institutional development since
1999 is in focus.

Libraries, Archives and Museums as Democratic Spaces in a Digital Age, 2020

Amidst much speculation on the impact of digitalization, there has been no lack of visions for th... more Amidst much speculation on the impact of digitalization, there has been no lack
of visions for the future of libraries, archives, and museums (LAM institutions).
Sometimes digitalization has been perceived as a useful tool for fulfilling enlightenment and free access to information and cultural heritage. Other
times, the digital development has been framed as a threat or game-changer for
the LAM institutions. In this chapter, we present empirical data on the use of digital
LAM services, and we elucidate how users relate to digital LAM services and
LAM services in general. We think the present-day use of digital LAM services is a
good indicator of where LAM institutions are heading in the coming years and relevant
for LAM-policy development in government and the institutions. This way,
we bring data on digital use and perhaps some realism to the never-ending debate
on the future of LAMinstitutions. Important questions are: what does digitalization
of user services in libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) mean for patrons
– do patrons use the digital services offered by the LAM-institutions? Which
digital services are used? What are they used for?
We analyze how users characteristics, such as country, gender, age, education,
income, urban/rural, immigration status, and home Internet access correlate with
the digital service usage in LAM institutions. By comparing patterns of use reported
by users in six European countries, we examine variation in digital use patterns between the countries. Do differences indicate different development trajectories towards multiple LAM futures or indicate national LAM systems
on different development stages towards a shared future of LAM use? The
lack of time-series data makes it difficult to conclude whether national systems
have changed and how they have changed and calls for future data collection,
preferably at five-year intervals. At this point, we present data from a survey of representative
samples of the Hungarian, Swiss, German, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian
populations conducted in June 2017. The national samples vary from1,002
respondents up to 1,021. Altogether, we have 6,050 respondents (see Audunson et
al. (2019) for more information about the data collection process). This analysis is
based on quantitative and qualitative data on digital use from the survey.
First, the chapter contains a review of professional and scholarly debates on
LAM institutions and digital development; second, a presentation of the findings
from the survey on the use of digital services in LAM institutions; third, a presentation
of free-text analysis of the user responses on content accessed and activities
engaged through digital LAM services; fourth, based on the findings we discuss
the relevance of the LAMs as digital public sphere institutions today and implications
for future LAM adaptation in the digital age.