Libraries and intranets : a case study of the intranet usage in a library organisation

This master’s thesis seeks to examine how a public library use the intranet with regards to the possibilities that today’s intranet technology offer – especially concerning functionalities that support information, communication and knowledge exchange in the organization. The purpose of the study is to investigate how employees in one specific public library perceive and use the intranet in their daily work. The theoretical framework takes its point of departure in two complementing models regarding the implementation, development and management of intranets and a model of a multi perspective view of the intranet as a shared information space for content, communication and collaboration. The study is based on interviews with eleven of the intranet users, whom with the aid of an interview guide have been asked questions regarding goals, implementation, content, design, applications and advantages/disadvantages with the intranet. The result shows that the intranet in question neither has articulated purposes or goals, nor was a user analysis made before the implementation. The organization also lacks routines for intranet evaluation. The conclusion is that the content of the intranet appears to fulfil the needs of the users, but the structure and search engine makes it difficult to retrieve the information needed. Communication via forums is practically non-existent, but is none the less asked for by the employees who work in the library branches. The intranets possibilities for supporting the organizations knowledge exchange is still an unused potential.Uppsatsnivå: