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This bachelor thesis in Library and Information science (LIS) aims to examine faculty perceptions of what constitutes and legitimizes an academic library. Academic libraries have experienced immense changes in the last several decades, mainly due to technological advances such as electronic resources, but also the increase in students, teachers and researchers. Many libraries are trying to to provide new services and expertise to remain indispensable to users, which contributes to a fragmented image of academic libraries. This study addressed the following research questions: What are teachers’ and researchers’ expectations of an academic library? How do teachers and researchers think about access and resources? What are teachers’ and researchers’ perceptions of future academic libraries? The study was conducted using a qualitative approach where eight faculty members with experience of being both a teacher and a researcher were interviewed at the Faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University. The data was analyzed using an analytical framework of legitimacy and documentality deriving from Professor Joacim Hansson (2015), but adapted to fit the study. The analytical framework mainly contributed in clarifying which library resources and services can be considered either essential or mostly facilitating. The findings show that faculty perceives the academic library as crucial for their work, especially for giving access to printed or electronic literature, guiding users in how to find and value relevant information, assisting in publishing matters and in education. However, faculty also considers resources and supportive services intrinsically non-essential to teaching and research as relatively important, and truly values the personal contact with the librarians. The results indicate that academic libraries will persist in the foreseeable future, though an informed strategy is necessary. |
