1st Edition
Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Transition Changes, Challenges, and Convergence in a Scandinavian Perspective
In this anthology, top scholars researching libraries, archives, and museums (LAM) issues in Scandinavia explore pressing issues for contemporary LAMs.
In recent decades, relations between libraries, archives, and museums have changed rapidly: collections have been digitized; books, documents, and objects have been mixed in new ways; and LAMs have picked up new tasks in response to external changes. Libraries now host makerspaces and literary workshops, archives fight climate change and support indigenous people, and museums are used as instruments for economic growth and urban planning. At first glance, the described changes may appear as a divergent development, where the LAMs are growing apart. However, this book demonstrates that the present transformation of LAMs is primarily a convergent development.
Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Transition will be essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners seeking to get on top of the LAM literature or the particularities of Scandinavian LAMs.
1. Introduction: libraries, archives, and museums in transition
Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen, Kerstin Rydbeck, and Håkon Larsen
Part I: Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Scandinavia: History and Policy
2. Library history of the Scandinavian countries
Ragnar Audunson, Henrik Jochumsen, and Kerstin Rydbeck
3. The history of archives in Scandinavia
Samuel Edquist, Leiv Bjelland, and Lars-Erik Hansen
4. A concise history of museums in Scandinavia
Hans Dam Christensen, Brita Brenna, and Björn Magnusson Staaf
5. LAMs as objects of knowledge and cultural policy: developing synergies
Ole Marius Hylland, Nanna Kann-Rasmussen, and Andreas Vårheim
Part II: LAMs and Collections
6. Do collections still constitute libraries, archives, and museums?
Samuel Edquist, Ragnar Audunson, and Isto Huvila
7. Curating collections in LAMs
Terje Colbjørnsen, Brita Brenna, and Samuel Edquist
8. Knowledge organization in LAMs
Ulrika Kjellman, Hans Dam Christensen, and Johanna Rivano Eckerdal
Part III: Challenges for LAMs in the 21st Century
9. The impact of digitalization on LAMs
Bjarki Valtysson, Ulrika Kjellman, and Ragnar Audunson
10. Digital communication in LAMs
Henriette Roued-Cunliffe, Bjarki Valtysson, and Terje Colbjørnsen
11. Learning, literacy, and education in LAMs
Johanna Rivano Eckerdal, Henriette Roued-Cunliffe, and Isto Huvila
12. LAMs and the participatory turn
Isto Huvila, Jamie Johnston, and Henriette Roued-Cunliffe
13. Contemporary Scandinavian LAMs and legitimacy
Håkon Larsen, Nanna Kann-Rasmussen, and Johanna Rivano Eckerdal
14. LAMs and community: deepening connections
Jamie Johnston, Henrik Jochumsen, and Samuel Edquist
15. LAMs as activists? Dilemmas between neutrality and taking a stand
Nanna Kann-Rasmussen, Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen, and Roger Blomgren
16. Pursuing sustainable futures through LAMs
Henrik Jochumsen, Jamie Johnston, and Andreas Vårheim
Part IV: Conclusion
17. Differences and similarities between LAMs, and their pursuit of commons challenges
Kerstin Rydbeck, Håkon Larsen, and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen
Biography
Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Section for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) at the University of Copenhagen. His long-term research interest involves library studies and cultural policy studies. Currently his research is focusing on the relations between libraries, archives, and museums.
Kerstin Rydbeck is Professor of Information Studies at Uppsala University and holds a doctoral degree in literature. Her research has focused on the sociology of literature – particularly on readers, reading patterns and social reading activities, and on the history of popular education and public libraries.
Håkon Larsen is Professor of Library and Information Science at Oslo Metropolitan University. His main areas of interest are cultural sociology, cultural policy studies, and library studies. He has published extensively on the topic of cultural organizations and legitimacy. He holds a PhD in sociology.
