Svanhild Aabo – Upplýsing

Svanhild, Aabø

Dr. Svanhild Aabø is Associate Professor at Oslo University College, Faculty of Journalism, Library and Information Science. She is part of the research project PLACE, Public Libraries for Citizenship, financed by the Norwegian Research Council .(http://www.hio.no/enheter/avdeling_for_journalistikk_bibliotek_og_informasjonsfag/place). Valuation of libraries is an area of special interest in her research. She teaches in information economics and cultural economics at the Master study in Library and Information Science.

Multiculturalism, digitization and the need for crosswise meeting places. Do we see ?the other? in the local library? The variety of meeting types taking place in the library

In a society becoming more heterogeneous, establishing that minimum of common norms and values that is necessary for being a community is not a trivial task. As both a public space and a centre of knowledge and culture, the public library has a potential for being a vital part of a local community. It is used by most segments of society and it is a junction where different cultures as well as different spheres of life – education, leisure, work and business ? meet. A Norwegian study tries to elicit what kinds of meetings that really take place in the library and finds that the physical library is used as a square, a part of the public sphere, a channel to other meeting places in the community, a digital meeting place, a place where one goes with friends or colleagues to perform joint activities, and a place where one is exposed to otherness.