“Ge mig en chans” : En studie om kompetenser hos bibliotekarier med utländsk bakgrund på svenska folkbibliotek

Sammanfattning

While librarian competencies constitute a well-researched field, librarians with an immigrant background represent a considerably less studied group. The aim of this study is to examine competencies and competence development among public librarians with an immigrant background, defined as individuals who migrated to Sweden in adulthood and who work in public libraries with a degree in Library and Information Science obtained either in Sweden or in their country of origin. The lack of an established subject term, combined with limited prior research, poses challenges particularly in a Swedish context. The study is based on nine semi-structured interviews with public librarians with an immigrant background, analyzed using thematic analysis supported by Lundmark’s (1998) competence analysis model and Ellström’s (1992) four theoretical perspectives on competence development. The analysis shows that the interviewed librarians experienced the greatest need to develop certain technical-professional, strategic and social competencies. Competence development primarily took place in line with the humanistic perspective, in which individuals’ own initiatives and everyday interaction with colleagues and managers played a central role, while the absence of training specifically targeted at this group also became apparent. There are also clear elements of the technical-rational perspective in formal and mandatory training, and to some extent of the institutional perspective. For some participants, the conflict-control perspective is also relevant. Linguistic challenges as well as organizational, structural, and social barriers emerged as the most prominent factors affecting both competence development and the ability to apply competencies in professional practice. At the same time, participants perceived that they were able to contribute to public library services through their background, particularly in terms of linguistic and cultural competencies, prior education and work experience, as well as experiences of migration and establishing themselves in a new country – and that these competencies are not being fully utilized.