The pedagogical role of librarians : On the art of teaching information seeking and use

There is an increasing demand for information literacy, which is mirrored in curriculum throughout the whole educational system. This, in turn, has brought forward a growing need for librarians who can teach. But do librarians possess pedagogical competence, and if they do, how is this ability used in everyday library practice? The aim of this study is to investigate librarians' conceptions of the pedagogical role, as it is expressed in their didactic interaction with the users. The research questions focus on librarians' experiences of teaching information seeking and use and their activities in this respect. By examining librarians' conceptions of their pedagogical tasks and relating this to the users' learning, it becomes possible to discern variations in librarians' experiences of teaching. Moreover, it becomes clearer how librarians themselves look upon their pedagogical role, teaching ability and needs when they are expected to fulfil such tasks in their everyday working life with respect to their conceptions of users' needs and demands. Theoretically, the study takes its departure point in the core issues of library- and information science; information seeking, information use, user studies, and user education. Furthermore, the study is inspired by phenomenographical learning theories which shed light on issues such as pedagogical competence and its relations to conceptions of knowledge, teaching and learning. The issues have been addressed through qualitative interviews with eight librarians and supplemented with a literature study. The results of the study are presented in systematically grouped categories of quotations that reflect different views. The results suggest that librarians include pedagogical aspects in their conceptions of their professional role to a considerable extent. However, librarians tend to differ in their conceptions of learning and information literacy, which, in turn, affects their methods in user education and the content they put into it.Uppsatsnivå: