Digitalisering och katalogisering av äldre material : en kvalitativ studie om bibliotekspersonal och forskares upplevelser av digitalisering och katalogisering av äldre material vid Lunds universitet

The development of digital technology affects our whole society, and the cultural heritage sector is no exception. The aim of this thesis is therefore to map practical experiences of digitization and cataloguing of older material at Lund University, both from a library perspective and a research perspective. To achieve the purpose of the study, qualitative interviews have been conducted with library staff who work with digitization and cataloguing at the university library (UB) and with researchers who use older materials. Since Lund University mainly uses Alvin and Libris for digitization and cataloguing, these channels are in focus, although digitization is also discussed more generally. The empirical findings are discussed through analytical concept from both LIS and the historical field, with the focus on how digitization of older materials affect knowledge circulation. Digitization as a practice is also discussed in relation to the concepts of mass digitization and critical digitization. Findings of the study shows that both the library staff and the researchers consider accessibility to be both the main purpose and the major benefit of digitization, and Alvin and Libris are considered central knowledge arenas in which knowledge is allowed to circulate. The library staff are currently the leading knowledge actors in the digitization process, though the informants believe that the actorship should be more fluent regarding the roles of users and producers. This could be achieved by increased collaboration between the professions. Analogue material and the digitized material also offer different types of knowledge and experiences, which is highlighted by the researchers. It is also concluded that Alvin is more fitting for critical digitization than Libris, because of Alvin’s possibilities of analytic metadata. Currently, UB has neither the resources nor the technology to engage in mass digitization. The library staff would also like to have more time to engage in