'Slow Librarianship' in Sweden : An exploration of sustainable librarianship
(2026) ABMM54 20261Division of ALM, Digital Cultures and Publishing Studies
- Abstract
- The slow librarianship movement aims at re-introducing a qualitative, socially sustainable practice into the library and is a response to neoliberalism’s presence within the library sphere. ‘Slow librarianship’ as a concept emerged actively in the USA within the last decade. This thesis takes ‘slow librarianship’ into a Swedish context. It seeks to examine in how far Swedish librarians are familiar with this concept, and if they make use of practices that can be considered to fall under slow librarianship practices. It also seeks to identify what obstacles Swedish librarians encounter when trying to work according to ‘slow’, qualitative, reflective practices. This is to find out which factors contribute to an unsustainable working... (More)
- The slow librarianship movement aims at re-introducing a qualitative, socially sustainable practice into the library and is a response to neoliberalism’s presence within the library sphere. ‘Slow librarianship’ as a concept emerged actively in the USA within the last decade. This thesis takes ‘slow librarianship’ into a Swedish context. It seeks to examine in how far Swedish librarians are familiar with this concept, and if they make use of practices that can be considered to fall under slow librarianship practices. It also seeks to identify what obstacles Swedish librarians encounter when trying to work according to ‘slow’, qualitative, reflective practices. This is to find out which factors contribute to an unsustainable working environment within a Swedish context, and what kind of change is necessary to create sustainable working conditions for qualitative librarian work.
The research material was gathered through eight interviews and a qualitative questionnaire. Respondents include both academic and public librarians, covering wide-spread geographical ground within Sweden. This thesis finds that a majority of Swedish librarians have on the whole good working conditions, yet also see potentials for slow librarianship, and that around half of the respondents are able to work sustainably. It further finds that there are three main detrimental factors to qualitative and successful library work. These are: a neoliberal working culture regardless of library type; a lack of reasonable and relevant priorities within the library as an institution; as well as a lack of a clear librarian role or identity, which has partly been brought about by new public management, and library role and expectation changes around the millennial shift. This thesis suggests that slow
librarianship conversations could be fruitful within Sweden for all library types. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9232264
- author
- Stumpf, Katharina LU
- supervisor
-
- Karen Søilen LU
- organization
- alternative title
- ‘Slow librarianship’ i Sverige : En undersökning av hållbart bibliotekarieskap
- course
- ABMM54 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Library, Information, Slow Librarianship, Reflective Practice, Swedish Libraries, Sustainability, Neoliberalism, Working Conditions, Librarian Work Environment
- language
- English
- id
- 9232264
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-16 09:22:26
- date last changed
- 2026-06-16 09:22:26
@misc{9232264,
abstract = {{The slow librarianship movement aims at re-introducing a qualitative, socially sustainable practice into the library and is a response to neoliberalism’s presence within the library sphere. ‘Slow librarianship’ as a concept emerged actively in the USA within the last decade. This thesis takes ‘slow librarianship’ into a Swedish context. It seeks to examine in how far Swedish librarians are familiar with this concept, and if they make use of practices that can be considered to fall under slow librarianship practices. It also seeks to identify what obstacles Swedish librarians encounter when trying to work according to ‘slow’, qualitative, reflective practices. This is to find out which factors contribute to an unsustainable working environment within a Swedish context, and what kind of change is necessary to create sustainable working conditions for qualitative librarian work.
The research material was gathered through eight interviews and a qualitative questionnaire. Respondents include both academic and public librarians, covering wide-spread geographical ground within Sweden. This thesis finds that a majority of Swedish librarians have on the whole good working conditions, yet also see potentials for slow librarianship, and that around half of the respondents are able to work sustainably. It further finds that there are three main detrimental factors to qualitative and successful library work. These are: a neoliberal working culture regardless of library type; a lack of reasonable and relevant priorities within the library as an institution; as well as a lack of a clear librarian role or identity, which has partly been brought about by new public management, and library role and expectation changes around the millennial shift. This thesis suggests that slow
librarianship conversations could be fruitful within Sweden for all library types.}},
author = {{Stumpf, Katharina}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{'Slow Librarianship' in Sweden : An exploration of sustainable librarianship}},
year = {{2026}},
}