Artikler skrevet på norsk har engelsk sammendrag og omvendt/Articles written in english have norwegian summaries and vice versa 

Nr 10b    Tema: Folkebibliotek, lokalsamfund og hverdagsliv
Har ikke sammendrag.

Nr 10      Tema: IT og Internett    

Nils Ole Finnemann   
The Computer  - Being a Research Topic for the Humanities 
The computer can be studied from various perspectives within the humanities. One can focus on the computer as phenomenon in itself, on the consequences of the computer for different humanistic disciplines, on the computer as a tool in research offering new possibilities for scientific observation and description and the importance of humanistic knowledge in the development of the computer. The historical development of the computer  is described as a part of a broader revolution concerning technology as a whole, especially since World War 2, giving a radical new kind of technology, in which form and substance is inseparable. One very important characteristic of the computer is that you cannot separate the data from the program, the software from the hardware and the knowledge will always be represented in one principally changeable, physically non definite,  invariant form.  The very nature of the computer gives a lot of possibibilities of producing and dissemination of knowledge produced and storied in various media worldwide, but it also makes validation of knowledge very difficult and demands a new concept of knowledge and a new horizone for validating the knowledge. 

Nils Pharo  
Information overload og verdensveven
I artikkelen gjennomgås bruken av termen “information overload” (IO) i litteratur hentet fra bibliotek- og informasjonsvitenskapen. To former for IO blir definert, på makroplanet for å beskrive den enormt store forekomsten av potensiell informasjon, mikroplan-IO beskriver et menneskes manglende evne til å konsumere mer enn en liten andel av den potensielle informasjonen som stilles til rådighet for ham/henne.
Det hevdes at begge formene for IO utgjør uløseslige «problemer», men at de kan fokuseres på som viktige problemstillinger for to såkalte paradigmer innen gjennfinningen (eller IR); det systemsentrerte og det brukersentrerte synet på gjenfinning.
Metaforer brukt for World Wide Web diskuterer, og det settes fokus på at gjenfinningsverktøy for WWW bør utvikles på mediets egne premisser. Noen tanker vedrørende gjenfinningsverktøy på WWW settes fram.

Bertil Jansson 
The computerbased Information Systems  of College Libraries being a part of a larger Information Strategy or viewed for itself 
There are in Sweden  some small and  middle-sized rather young universities still developing. All of them have their own libraries, very early computerized, partly of administrative reasons and partly for the public accessibility to the catalogue. The absence of planning and strategy for the use of the tecnology, means that the computerized library systems are mostly used in-house the library, locally but not campuswide networked . Within the organization various platforms have been established often without compatibility, and with very small possibilities to communicate. The explanation often given is that the organization is growing and every small part of it wants its own development. Theoretically, platforms with mutual communication  can coexiste,  but to a small organization the economic desadvantages are so obvious that it really shouldn’t happen. Big international companies are forced to strategic planning and they do make choices when they are looking for efficacious and financial aspects. Not to plan and not to build strategies for the use and compatibities of systems within an organization is most threatening to the health, the progression and the development.

Tore Brattli
The use of local databases for distributing library information and doing library research 
The World Wide Web has provided new information tools which make it easy for librarians to make local databases with online user access. By making them as shells on top of OPACs, they can become powerful information services. A database covering new books is used as an example to show how it is possible to combine local information with bibliographic records and services from the OPAC, to make a current awareness service for the users. This local database has also been used as a research tool and results from a study of processing time, circulation and the effect of displaying new books are presented.

Joan C. Nordbotten og Svein Nordbotten
Evaluering af informationsformidling ved hjælp af  hypertext udstillinger 
Effektiv informationsformidling bliver stadig mere vigtig i takt med at elektroniske dokumenter bliver gjort direkte tilgængelige fra biblioteker, museer, skoler, arbejdspladser og private hjem. Museer gør i stigende grad brug af hypertekst dokumenter til at skabe virtuelle udstillinger, enten på selve museet eller på verdens-veven, World Wide Web (WWW). Hypertekst-formatet understøtter personlig, non-liniær emne udvælgelse og antages at være i stand til at stimulere bruger interesse og indsamling af viden. 
Effektiv informationsformidling til den almene offentlighed kræver forståelse af hvordan folk søger og tilegner sig information. Vi har studeret brugen af en lille hyper tekst udstilling på Bergen Museum for at vurdere disse systemers effektivitet.  Vores analyse tyder på at museums-besøgende ikke gør brug af de nonliniære udvælgelses-procedurer, der tilbydes, men i stedet vælger serielt gennem index og "næste side nøgle" forløb. Endvidere bruger man kort tid på at prøve systemerne og ser blot på nogle få dokumenter, alt i alt tydende på en lille interesse i at "udforske" udstillingen. 

Inger Heyerdahl-Jensen
How does salt react to sulphur?", a survey-based report on user satisfaction and quality of reference services in public libraries
According to the authors user satisfaction is high in spite of the survey's deficient methods and few respondents. Only among students do 27% find that librarians do not show genuine interest in solving their questions. Quality of reference services may be improved through better communica-tion with users. Future surveys  should take a closer look at contents of reference questions. The suggestions are generally approved by the reviewer.

Nr 9 

Nils Pharo
Information Search Behaviour on the WWW
The article presents the project ”The use of World Wide Web as a tool for information search”. The theoretical foundations for the project are described. The library is seen as a metaphor for the World Wide Web, and the researcher presents his point of departure; the so-called ”cognitive viewpoint” in library and information science. The project aims at studying information seekers experiencing problematic situation and to examine what properties of information seekers constitute different choices of search strategies. Different methods of study are then discussed, among them the ”think-aloud”-technique.

Louise Forsetlund og Arild Bjørndal
Knowledge Acquisition and Use in Applied Social Medicine - A Intervention Study
It is necessary for public health doctors to have access to appropriate information sources and information services in order to give a public health counselling service based on the best evidence. A prerequisite is also the ability to do a critical reading of research literature. A completed survey indicates that this target group are in need of library services. The purpose of this experimental study is to examine whether a particular intervention will give better quality in the solving of a case and eventually lead to greater influence on the decision process in the community. The intervention consists of  giving better access to relevant evidence and some help on how to utilize this evidence. Methods: focus groups, observation combined with interviews, a survey, and randomization. Public health doctors practising more than 5 hours a week will be randomized into two groups. Outcome measures: a) For a randomized sample of cases handled in the period, searches done for evidence, for each case, will be counted. How this evidence is used and utilized for discussion and conclusion will be assessed according to certain criteria. b) Which results this cases have lead to in the community during the intervention period, i.e. number of cases and whether they were approved of or not by the local authorities.

Elisabeth Rafste
The Information Search Process as a Process of Learning and Knowledge Development in a School Environment
As a consequence of the new curriculum plans of the 1990ies in Norwegian schools, school library as communication-center and information-center has taken on an increased actuality. Key concepts are active study methods and developing of new knowledge. In this context the information-seeking-process becomes important. This article examines where a theoretical fundament for the importance of this  way of learning may be found. Theories developed by the three information scientists C.C. Kuhlthau, B.Dervin and T.D.Wilson are presented. But primarily the emphasis is on the following four learning theories: dialogism, constructivism, cognitive information-processing and situated learning. The importance of the information-seeking-process is discussed on the basis of the presented theories and from a didactical viewpoint. The conclusion holds that a theoretical basis for the information-seeking-process may build on three categories: the dialogue between persons and persons and texts is one. The second is the importance of strategies. The third category is the school as an organic institution.

Svein Parnas
Transforms in Automatic Retrieval
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) has been tried out on a norwegian test collection. The method outperformed ordinary vector-based retrieval.  An improvement of LSI is introduced. By removing the highest singular value, almost half of the noise was removed. A PhD project is described, in which transforms with far less computing complexity than the Singular Value Decomposition will be seeked.

Svanhild Aabøe
Folkebibliotekets verdi i samfunnet
Samfunnet bruker ressurser til folkebibliotek. Fra et velferdsøkonomisk synspunkt reises spørsmålet om det er et økonomisk rasjonale for å bruke offentlige midler til bibliotek. Markedet svikter som allokeringsmekanisme for  bibliotekvirksomhet, som bør behandles over offentlige budsjett. Å undersøke hvilken verdi folkebibliotek har, blir derfor sentralt. Begrepet `bibliotekverdi' fokuseres, og termen drøftes fra fire synsvinkler: 1)skillet mellom de enkelte bibliotektjenester og bibliotekvesenet sett som helhet og nettverk, 2)generelle attributter som er allment akseptert som verdier ved bibliotek, 3)ulike bibliotekroller og 4)folkebiblioteks innvirkning på noen hovedområder i samfunnet. Hvordan bibliotek har nytteverdi for samfunnet på ulike nivåer blir illustrert ved eksempler fra a)enkeltpersoner, b)grupper som barn, eldre osv. og c)lokalsamfunnet, enkelte samfunnsektorer og samfunnet som helhet. Tre metoder for å verdsette ikke-markedsgoder, som kan være relevant for å måle bibliotekverdi, blir presentert - betinget verdsetting, ekspertpanel og samvalgsanalyse. Disse tre metodene kan komplementere hverandre og potensielt øke reliabiliteten ved verdiestimatene.

Helge Høivik
Utdanningsperspektiv på digitale tekster med noen konsekvenser for biblioteksprofesjonen - Et introduserende case study
Artikkelen baserer seg på åpningskapitlet i en avhandling om digitale læringsdokumenter og nye, relaterte arbeidsoppgaver for dokumentalister. I dette case study refereres det til - og reflekteres det over - struktur og innhold i et læringsdokument som ble laget for et seminar om dagens og morgendagens universitetsbibliotek. Bibliotek- og andre dokument-orienterte funksjoner er i dyp endring. Termer som bok og digitalt verktøy har ingen transendental betydning, men må forstås som historiske praksiser. Ved å navnsette ny praksis på en fornuftig måte kan en lettere identifisere nye arbeidsoppgaver og det felt av konkurranse og samarbeid som dokumentalistene arbeider innenfor.  Med dette siktemål blir organiserte læringssituasjoner definert som komplekse retoriske systemer der deltakernes oppmerksomhet blir ledet eller administrert. Digitale læringsdokumenter er viktige elementer her. Kompleksitet er, med henvisning til Heideggers begrep om sammenbrudd, definert som et samspill av faktorer der ”mye kan gå galt”. Dette gjelder de enkelte komponentene i systemet, men i særlig grad infrastruktur med vekt både på både tekniske og sosiale aspekter. Det digitale dokumentet representerer konvergens mellom ulike former for uttrykk ? derved også ulike former for retorikk - i skrift, lyd og bilde innenfor ett og samme medium. Det kan ekspanderes til å favne store tekstmasser, men kan likevel framstå i oversiktlig form når tekstbrokker representeres på flere eksformasjonsnivåer (der eksformasjon er definert som bortkasting av data og omtalt som folding). Det digitale dokumentet representerer en forenkling av - og tydeligggjør dermed - den allmenne tekstlige produksjonsprosessen, som består av kopiering og omforming (copy-transformation) av andre tekster. Dette representeres primært ved rask utvikling av verktøy for publikasjon. Veksten i det digitale felt faller sammen med veksten i antall intellektuelle. Kombinasjonen av slik intellektuelle massifisering med ny teknologi for publikasjon, skaper endrede arbeidsvilkår, arbeidsoppgaver og et endret selvbilde hos den intellektuelle. Dette gjelder også bibliotekarer og andre dokumentalister.

Jofrid Karner Smith
Between Elite and Public: Librarians´ Literary Preferences 
The aim of my project is to study the literary taste of librarians in Norwegian public libraries. My work is mainly based on Pierre Bourdieus theories of the position and structure of the literary field, and the struggles within the field, determining the dominating aesthetic norms and values. In order to describe the literary taste of a specific group in the field, I must analyse both the genesis of the habitus of the group members, and find dimensions and concepts which can define the literary universe in question.
     This spring I have done a survey of the total population of librarians in public libraries, making it possible to describe the respondents in terms of age, gender, social and geographic background and interest in the reading of fiction. A first, coarse analysis of my data shows that more than half of the respondents come from social groups with relatively high either economic or cultural capital, that only 10,8% are men, that the age average is 44 years, and that approximatly a third grew up in rural or sparsely populatet aereas.
     In my analysis of the literary preferences of the respondents, I have concentrated on two different dimensions: the high-low dimension, and the experimental-traditional dimension. In my article I discuss both the everyday usage of these and related terms in the Norwegian literary field, and how Bourdieu defines these dimensions. Using these terms in the analysis of my survey-data, I find that a majority of the librarians have a "middelbrow" taste, with a slight bias towards the pole of large-scale production and traditional literature. One of the findings which I will want to investigate more closely through qualitative interviews, is the importance of entertainment in reading, combined with the emotionally stirring and thought-provoking, possibly confirming the hypothesis that melodrama has a very strong position in Norway today, also among the libarians.