Mid Sweden University

Denna antologi har sin grund i arbetet med projektet MIUN Research Exhibition: Upplevelsebara forskningsutställningar i det fysiska och digitala biblioteksrummet, som under åren 2020-2022 pågick vid Mittuniversitetet. I antologin skriver samtliga medlemmar i projektgruppen ett eller flera kapitel med utgångspunkt i den roll som var och en har haft inom projektet. Syftet med antologin är att samla och dokumentera erfarenheter från arbetet med projektet. Därigenom är antologin ett forum för en avslutande reflektionsprocess för oss som nu under flera år har arbetat med att utarbeta och prova de modeller för forskningskommunicerande utställningar i det fysiska och digitala biblioteksrummet som utgör projektets kärna. Med antologin vill vi också bidra till den kunskapsbank som är på väg att växa fram om hur universitetsbibliotek kan initiera och skapa utställningar med utgångspunkt i forskning som bedrivs vid det egna lärosätet, och därmed bli aktörer på ämnesfältet forskningskommunikation. Antologin har mot denna bakgrund flera målgrupper. Med en förhoppning om att våra erfarenheter kan komma andra till nytta vänder vi oss till kollegor vid andra lärosäten som vill, eller redan är i gång med att, utforma sina egna forskningskommunicerande utställningar. Vi ser gärna att antologin blir ett inlägg i ett kontinuerligt samtal om hur forskningskommunikation kan bedrivas i utställningsformat och i samverkan mellan universitetsbibliotek och andra enheter vid våra lärosäten. På så sätt kan antologin också ses som ett inlägg i diskussionen om forskningskommunikationens olika format och vilka inom universitetsvärlden som är, kan vara eller borde vara aktörer i forskningskommunicerande processer.

The aim of this paper is to reflect on how university library exhibitions can contribute to research communication by presenting research findings and scientific methodologies in an experiential way. The paper builds on reflections from a project at Mid Sweden university library during 2020–2022 where library staff collaborated with researchers in producing an exhibition on the theme of forests and sustainable development. The paper discusses how visual elements based on statistical information together with differing disciplinary perspectives of time was designed and organised as part of the exhibition. During the design and redesign of the exhibition, the results were continually evaluated by applying methods such as participatory observations and reflexive critique. The context for research-based exhibitions is research communication, which is an important part of democratic society. The need to share scientific knowledge and new findings with the public as well as with organisations and institutions is key to innovation, sustainable development, citizens' intellectual growth and to the general progress of avital deliberative democracy. Research communication deals not only with spreading (popularised) research findings from researchers to nonresearchers, but also with the dissemination of knowledge about the research process itself. Research communication can even function as an arena for public participation in research projects and provide legitimacy for researchers. The university library is well suited to support these ambitions. Research communication in the form of exhibitions at the university library has the potential to engage students and other library visitors through multimodal experiences. By combining and designing different modes ofcommunication such as images, texts, artefacts, sound and interactive elements in a spatial arrangement, the library can work together with the researchers, assisting them in presenting research to visitors in a new experiential way. Here, e.g., complex statistical data can be redesigned to be understood “at a glance” and be presented as part of a wider exhibition narrative.

Rapporten utgör en dokumentation av de huvudsakliga inslag som utställningen Människan i skogen, skogen i människan består av. Utställningen visades i Mittuniversitetets två campusbibliotek i Östersund och Sundsvall under 2021–2022. Utställningen producerades av en arbetsgrupp inom universitetsbiblioteket och utgår från forskning inom biologi, ekoteknik, historia, litteraturvetenskap och turismvetenskap vid Mittuniversitetet. 

Med utställningen Människan i skogen, skogen i människan vill projektet belysa ett antal aktuella och viktiga frågor för vår region och samtid, samlade under ett tema: skog och hållbar utveckling. I utställningen får besökaren möta kunskap och perspektiv från fem forskare och forskargrupper vid Mittuniversitetet. Forskarna är verksamma inom biologi, ekoteknik, historia, litteraturvetenskap respektive turismvetenskap. Forskningens olika perspektiv länkas i utställningen samman genom sina förhållningssätt till tid, såsom avgörande för förståelse, kunskap och handling. De olika forskningsinriktningarna visar också fram spänningar mellan olika synsätt på skog och kan tillsammans ge flera svar och berättelser om skogens värden. En arbetsgrupp vid Universitetsbiblioteket står för gestaltning och produktion av utställningen.

Many academic libraries are developing their work with organising experimental learning spaces within library buildings. Included in this work is planning for and designing research exhibitions with the purpose of introducing ongoing research at the university to students and other visitors. Mid Sweden University library has organised its work with designing a research exhibition within the project “MIUN Research Exhibition”. This project began in January 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting Sweden just three months later. Due to the pandemic the group of library staff working with the design of the exhibition couldn't meet physically and had to come up with new ways of working together online, using different digital tools.This paper presents aspects of this adaptation to new forms of creative design work in the context of the university library during the pandemic. The discussion specifically concerns a process where the members of the exhibition team chose, tried out and evaluated different digital tools for visualizing their design ideas. The aim of the study has been to find and add a digital platform to develop the exhibition during the limitations of the pandemic situation, as well as to be useful in other contexts.A qualitative participatory method was applied to evaluate different digital tools. The members of the design team chose and used different digital tools to visualize design ideas for the exhibition. The result of this design work was presented and discussed during an online workshop. Afterwards a formal evaluation survey was conducted.Results: The survey showed that the group members had positive experiences from the work with different digital tools. In total more than seven different digital tools were tested. The main obstacle in exploring each software’s features was the time factor. Some of the software had sets of objects or object libraries that was considered too limited, but such limitations were also experienced as potentially stimulating for creativity when members tried to find solutions among the given options, or by work-arounds. The digital tools were considered helpful when structuring and organizing design ideas and also supportive when visually communicating different design ideas to other group members in a pedagogical way. Due to the fact that the team members having different background and skills, a general recommendation when choosing software for the continued work process was to keep the chosen digital tool as simple as possible. The threshold should be low for those with little experience working with this kind of digital tools. Also, a softer critical thinking skill set is needed to evaluate what benefit the digital tool can have in relation to the specific design task. However, if you have experience and more elaborate skills you add value to the group when using tools that are more advanced to visualize the design ideas.

In autumn 2018, a team within the Mid Sweden University Library decided to advance the usage of different methods inspired by the perspectives within the field of “UX” to study the use of the learning spaces in the library. A special project concerned the students’ use of group study rooms. Here the library employed a method where student mentors working for the library gathered basic statistical data through observations. The student mentors measured the usage of the study rooms, seats used, technology used in the rooms, sound levels etcetera at several time points each day. The information was continuously registered in a shared Google sheet that also worked as the basic tool for the analysis. The results of the study gave important guidance for the development of the study rooms and the learning environment in general. More importantly, the use of Google and the shared process of collecting and analyzing information was seen as a rewarding learning experience by the student mentors and the involved library staff.

In autumn 2018, a team within the Mid Sweden University Library decided to advance the usage of different methods inspired by the perspectives within the field of “UX” to study the use of the learning spaces in the library. A special project concerned the students’ use of group study rooms. Here the library employed a method where student mentors working for the library gathered basic statistical data through observations. The student mentors measured the usage of the study rooms, seats used, technology used in the rooms, sound levels etcetera at several time points each day. The information was continuously registered in a shared Google sheet that also worked as the basic tool for the analysis. The results of the study gave important guidance for the development of the study rooms and the learning environment in general. More importantly, the use of Google and the shared process of collecting and analyzing information was seen as a rewarding learning experience by the student mentors and the involved library staff.

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss some of the underlying imperatives when establishing a new knowledge management system within the university library, profiled as a learning support services organization within Mid Sweden University. 

The concept of Knowledge management, as seen from a specific library perspective, has been broadly defined as the use of organizational knowledge through sound practices of information management and organizational learning (Broadbent, 1998). The different perspectives or discourses on knowledge management mainly puts its emphasis either on technology (and questions concerning technological aspects of knowledge management) or on social aspects such as the user’s reception or understanding of knowledge management systems in different settings. However, as Gold, Malhotra & Segars (2001) has noted, many so-called knowledge management projects are – in reality – information projects. When these projects yield some consolidation of data, but little innovation in products and services, the concept of knowledge management can be cast in doubt (ibid). 

During the spring and autumn of 2017 a project called “Infrastrukturen UB” (“Infrastructure University Library”) was carried out, implementing what could be considered a knowledge management system within a newly restructured library organization consisting of four different departments, and physical libraries at different campus locations. Drawing from the result of the project and the experiences of the project’s team members, it can be shown how this project was influenced by technological and social imperatives within the organization at large during different phases of the project. In addition, it can be argued that further steps of development are needed for the established system to fully be considered a “true” knowledge management system.