Search results

The demand for learning is constantly increasing in transcultural knowledge societies. This paper aims to consider the impact of learning concepts, as developed by Danish libraries, and the way they relate to mutual recognition and social inclusion of ethnic minority groups.

Conducting research on open social spaces as libraries and learning labs in libraries implies a multiple research design along with a differentiated analytical framework.

Libraries in multicultural districts will be able to contribute to the fulfilment of integration purposes more effectively if they cease to be bound to the concept of information. In transformative and cross‐cultural learning contexts, the concept of knowledge should be employed.

Studying activities in libraries still need to be delimited from learning in schools. Enhancing multicultural learning with focus on learning styles, which permits a mutual reflection of significant symbol systems, will be desirable.

The paper shows, in the context of this study, knowledge emerged from the interaction of social and cultural capital.

This article discusses how integration processes in Denmark can be more efficiently supported by public libraries. The theoretical framework used in the research is connected to the notion of social capital and transnational spaces. From this point of departure, the authors do not view integration as a convergence of different value systems, but rather as an expansion and a diversification of the points of contact ethnic minority groups are developing within Danish society. The authors' basic conclusion is that public libraries will serve integration purposes more efficiently if they cease to be bound to integration concepts where the culture of countries of origin and that of an oversocialized actor are centrally placed.

Information seeking is often performed in collaborative contexts. The research into such collaborative information seeking (CIS) has been proceeding since the 1990s but lacks methodological discussions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss methodological issues in existing CIS studies.

The authors systematically review 69 empirical CIS studies.

The review shows that the most common methods of data collection are lab experiments (43 percent), observation (19 percent) and surveys (16 percent), that the most common methods of data analysis are description (33 percent), statistical testing (29 percent) and content analysis (19 percent) and that CIS studies involve a fairly even mix of novice, intermediate and specialist participants. However, the authors also find that CIS research is dominated by exploratory studies, leaves it largely unexplored in what ways the findings of a study may be specific to the particular study setting, appears to assign primacy to precision at the expense of generalizability, struggles with investigating how CIS activities extend over time and provides data about behavior to a larger extent than about reasons, experiences and especially outcomes.

The major implication of this review is its identification of the need for a shared model to which individual CIS studies can contribute in a cumulative manner. To support the development of such a model, the authors discuss a model of the core CIS process and a model of the factors that trigger CIS.

This study assesses the current state of CIS research, provides guidance for future CIS studies and aims to inspire further methodological discussion.