More than just a room full of books:

(1)

More than just a room full of books:

Swedish school libraries during distance education

Claire Shove

Institutionen för ABM

Uppsatser inom biblioteks- & informationsvetenskap ISSN 1650-4267

(2)

Författare/Author Claire Shove Svensk titel

Mer än bara ett rum med böcker: Svenska skolbibliotek under distansundervisning.

English Title

More than just a room full of books: Swedish school libraries during distance education.

Handledare/Supervisor Anne-Christine Norlén.

Abstract

Thus far the research on how schools have managed the sudden transition to distance education due to the COVID-19 pandemic has mainly focused on the experiences of teachers, and the voices of school librarians have gone unexplored. This study aims to explore the transition to distance education from the perspectives of secondary school librarians in Sweden. The study focuses on how this transition affected school librarians’ working practices and the factors that impacted their abilities to rebuild their usual activities and services in new formats.

This study uses an infrastructural perspective to analyse the school library as a part of the wider school infrastructure, and considers the enforced transition to distance education as a kind of infrastructural ‘breakdown’.

School libraries are treated as multifaceted infrastructures with material, structural and relational/cultural factors which all may contribute to their success. Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 14 librarians at 12 secondary schools in Sweden, I identified four themes in the ways informants talked about the transition process:

1. Most well-established practices, relationships and collaborations could be adapted.

2. The library room had social functions that could not be fully rebuilt online.

3. Systematic integration, strong relationships and a culture of library use contributed to successful transitions.

4. Work to make libraries more accessible and visible became more important.

Abstract på svenska

Hittills har forskningen om hur skolor har hanterat den plötsliga övergången till distansundervisning på grund av COVID-19-pandemin fokuserat till största delen på lärares erfarenheter, och skolbibliotekariers röster har inte utforskats. Denna studie syftar till att utforska övergången till distansundervisning utifrån svenska skolbibliotekariers perspektiv. Studien fokuserar på hur denna process påverkade skolbibliotekariers arbetspraktiker, och de faktorer som påverkade deras förmåga att återskapa sina vanliga verksamheter i nya format.

Studien använder ett infrastrukturellt perspektiv för att analysera skolbiblioteket som en del av en bredare skolinfrastruktur, och betraktar den påtvingade övergången till distansundervisning som ett slags “infrastrukturellt sammanbrott”. Skolbibliotek behandlas som mångfasetterade infrastrukturer, med materiella, strukturella och relationella/kulturella faktorer som alla kan bidra till deras framgång. Genom tematisk analys av semi-strukturerade intervjuer med 14 bibliotekarier på 12 gymnasieskolor i Sverige identifierade jag fyra teman i hur informanterna pratade om övergångsprocessen:

1. De mest väletablerade praktikerna, relationerna och samarbetena kunde anpassas.

2. Biblioteksrummet hade sociala funktioner som inte helt kunde återskapas på nätet.

3. Systematisk integrering, starka relationer och en kultur av biblioteksanvändning bidrog till framgångsrika övergångar.

4. Arbetet för att göra biblioteken mer tillgängliga och synliga blev viktigare.

Ämnesord

Skolbibliotek, gymnasiebibliotek, skolbibliotekarier, distansundervisning, Covid-19 Key words

School libraries, High school libraries, High school librarians, Distance education, COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-

(3)

Table of Contents

Introduction ... 5

Research Aims ... 6

Research Questions ... 6

Thesis structure ... 7

Background ... 7

Current laws and regulations for school libraries ... 7

State investigation on strengthening school libraries ... 8

Distance education in response to COVID-19 ... 9

Distance Education in Sweden ... 9

Previous research ... 11

Widespread lack of preparation to teach online ... 14

Shortcomings of digital teaching tools and distance education ... 15

Peculiarities of the Swedish approach ... 16

The role of the school library in transitioning to distance education ... 17

Limitations of existing research and contribution of this study ... 18

Methodology ... 20

Research design ... 20

Data collection ... 20

Participant recruitment and selection ... 20

Interviewing method ... 22

Language and translation issues ... 22

Sample description ... 22

Data analysis ... 24

Ethical considerations ... 25

Reflexivity ... 26

Limitations ... 27

Theoretical foundations ... 28

The infrastructural perspective ... 28

Defining infrastructure ... 29

Applying the concept of infrastructure to the school library ... 30

Self-managed library maintenance and classroom infrastructure support ... 31

School library infrastructure and breakdown during distance education ... 33

Results and discussion ... 34

Introduction to themes ... 34

(4)

Q.1: What effects did distance education have on school librarians’

practices? ... 35

Continued classroom infrastructure maintenance support ... 36

Collaborative work ... 37

Need for relationships to be well-established ... 38

Reading promotion ... 39

The importance of the library room ... 39

The increased importance of making the library accessible and visible ... 41

Q.2: What factors affected the ability of school librarians to adapt their practices to distance education? How did these factors impact their ability to adapt? ... 43

Digital readiness ... 44

Limitations of digital teaching tools ... 46

Leadership ... 47

Integration through library plans ... 48

Cultural and relational factors ... 49

Q.3: How did the ‘breakdown’ of the school infrastructure due to enforced distance education affect the visibility, or invisibility, of school libraries and librarians? ... 51

Organic or accidental incidences of increased visibility ... 52

Accessibility work in the face of decreased visibility ... 53

Summary of results ... 55

Thematic Summary ... 57

Concluding Discussion ... 59

Theoretical contributions of this study ... 61

Empirical conclusions and reflections ... 61

Suggestions for future research ... 63

References ... 64

Sources ... 64

Material in the author’s possession ... 64

References ... 64

Appendix 1: Study Information Form ... 69

Appendix 2: Informed Consent Form ... 70

(5)

Introduction

In March 2020, Sweden joined many other countries around the world in transitioning to distance education for secondary students. This unprecedented move posed a significant challenge to the nation’s educational infrastructure, requiring educators to reinvent their teaching practices in a matter of days.

At a time when the survival of the education system depends on technological competence, digital and media literacy, access to digital resources and flexible approaches to teaching and learning, the skills of school librarians have arguably never been more essential (Mackley & Chrastka 2020, pp. 4–6). Librarians are well-equipped to assist schools by ensuring that teachers and students have access to the digital resources they need, as well as the media literacy to evaluate information sources for themselves. However, at the time of writing there is no pub- lished research exploring the transitional work of school librarians in Sweden and their perspectives on this experience. As of yet we do not know what roles school libraries have played in this time of crisis. We do not know whether school librarians have been able to transform their own practices to ensure they remain relevant for teachers and students who now have new needs, nor do we know what challenges they have faced in this process and what factors have helped and im- peded their transitions.

I am to provide some initial, exploratory insights on this topic through this presentation of a qualitative interview study with secondary school librarians who experienced the transition to distance education during 2020. In order to make sense of the transitional work of these librarians and how it fits into the wider context of their schools, I draw on work by authors such as Star (1999), Star and Ruhleder (1996), Bowker et al. (2009) and Centerwall and Nolin (2019) in order to consider the school library as a part of the school’s infrastructure. This study asks what has happened to school libraries as the Swedish school infrastructure experienced unprecedented pressure, how school librarians have responded to the challenge, and what factors have impacted their success in transitioning to distance education.

(6)

Research Aims

This study has two main aims:

1. To explore school librarians’ perspectives on the transition to distance education in Sweden.

Through lifting the voices of secondary school librarians, this study aims to provide a complementary perspective to the existing research on teachers’ and principals’ experiences of the transition to distance education during 2020. Through semi-structured interviews, the study will explore librarians’ perspectives on how they adapted their practices to the new circumstances and what factors positively and negatively impacted them in this work.

2. To theoretically explore the role of the school library as a part of school infrastructure, particularly in the context of distance education.

Drawing on theoretical work by Star (1999), Star and Ruhleder (1996), Bowker et al. (2009) and Centerwall and Nolin (2019), this study will consider the school library as a kind of infrastructure – both in its own right and in terms of how it serves the wider school infrastructure. School libraries are treated as infrastructures with material, structural and social/cultural aspects, which are built upon the pre-existing conditions of the schools they are situated in. This infrastructural lens draws attention to aspects of school librarians’ work which may otherwise be invisible both to their colleagues and students and in the existing scholarly literature. This study uses an infrastructural lens in an attempt to make school libraries and librarians visible in new ways, with the hope that this may build a better understanding of what makes them work and what has enabled them to adapt to their new circumstances.

Research Questions

This study aims to answer the following three research questions:

1. What effects did distance education have on school librarians’ practices?

2. What factors affected the ability of school librarians to adapt their practices to distance education? How did these factors impact their ability to adapt?

(7)

3. How did the ‘breakdown’ of the school infrastructure due to enforced distance education affect the visibility, or invisibility, of school libraries and school librar- ians? How do librarians think about and work with issues of visibility and invisi- bility?

Thesis structure

This thesis is structured into the following sections:

1. The introduction, in which I describe the topic, research questions and aims of the study. This section also gives some background information on the unique educational challenges posed by the covid-19 pandemic, and how the schools in this study responded to national recommendations.

2. Previous research, which provides an overview of the Swedish and inter- national research on how schools have transitioned to distance education.

3. Methodology, in which I describe the study’s data-collection and analysis methods and limitations, as well as providing a description of the study’s participants.

4. Theoretical foundations, in which I introduce the key theories and con- cepts used in this study’s analysis.

5. Results and analysis, in which I present the empirical findings from the in- terview study and discuss them in relation to the study’s research questions.

6. Finally, in the concluding discussion I give a summary of the study’s find- ings in relation to previous research and the study’s theoretical foundations and reflect on the usefulness of the theoretical concepts applied. This section also gives some suggestions of possible topics for future research in this area.

Background

Current laws and regulations for school libraries

In Sweden school libraries are regulated by both the national Library Act (SFS 2013:801) and the Education Act (SFS 2010:800). The Library Act defines the purpose of all publicly funded libraries (including school libraries) as ‘working for the democratic development of society by contributing to knowledge media- tion and free opinion-building’. Libraries are also expected to promote literature and interest for education, research, and culture.

(8)

Both the Library Act and the Educational Act state that all students in primary and secondary school have the right to a school library. However, what is meant by ‘school library’ is not defined in either law. The national secondary school curriculum states that the school library should be used as a part of the school’s teaching and to develop students’ linguistic and digital competences, but not how this work should take place, or who should staff school libraries (lgr11).

The Library Act also states that each municipality and region should have a local ‘library plan’. Municipal library plans often name school libraries and define their roles more explicitly, but this is not a legal requirement. Additionally, many individual schools have their own library plans which may define how they are used in the school and the division of responsibilities for their operations.

State investigation on strengthening school libraries

The vagueness of the legal requirements for school libraries has been blamed for the widespread inequity in school library provision in Sweden, as current legisla- tion does not give any specific requirements for how school libraries should be staffed, financed, or included in teaching (Schultz Nybacka 2019, pp. 65–66).

There are no exact statistics on how many students currently have access to a school library, but indications are that many – perhaps a majority – do not (Schultz Nybacka 2019, pp. 5–6). Many libraries are staffed by teachers who may only have a few hours a week to dedicate to the library, or by librarians who work at several schools and must split their time between them (SOU 2021:3, pp. 81–

82). The weak legal status of school libraries in Sweden has caused significant inequity for students, as some can access to a qualified school librarian and well- resourced library at any time during the school week, while others do not have access to a school library at all.

In November 2019, the Swedish government appointed Gustav Fridolin to conduct an official investigation into possibilities for strengthening the legal posi- tion of school libraries to ensure equity of provision. In January 2021, Fridolin presented an interim report outlining several proposed changes to the Education Act, the Library Act, and the curricula for secondary and primary school (amongst other laws and regulations). The report recommended that schools should be required to staff their libraries at at least fifty percent, and primarily by trained librarians (SOU 2021:3, pp. 29–30). The report also recommends a stronger wording of the principal’s responsibility for ensuring the school library is used in the school’s teaching in both the primary and secondary school curricula (SOU 2021:3, pp. 40–41). With the suggested changes, principals would be responsible for ensuring libraries are integrated into their schools by supporting structured collaborative work between teachers and librarians and helping to write and sys- tematically evaluate local school library plans.

(9)

This interim report and the debates around it provide an interesting backdrop to this study. At a time when many are trying to lift the status of the school library and demonstrate that it cannot be reduced to some bookshelves in an unstaffed room or corridor, it is of key interest to explore how school librarians may have contributed value to their schools even while their physical locales were closed (Nilsson 2021).

Distance education in response to COVID-19

Although there is some international variation in how countries have handled the transition to distance education, the initial transition in the early months of 2020 came suddenly for all. Many researchers have drawn attention to the unique educational challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have argued that required response should be seen as distinct from distance education under usual circumstances (Hodges et al. 2020). While well-planned distance education can be asso- ciated with positive learning outcomes, the lack of preparation and careful instruc- tional design in the current situation means that no educator can be expected to make full use of the advantages of the new tools and formats they are being forced to use (Hodges et al. 2020, pp. 3–5). In place of ‘distance education’, Hodges et al. propose the term ‘emergency remote teaching’, which has previously been used to describe emergency educational strategies in other crisis situations such as warzones and natural disasters (p. 3). Here the term ‘distance education’ is used, as this has been the preferred term in the Swedish context (both in research and daily speech). Nonetheless, the unique challenges of distance education in this context are very much a part of the focus of this study.

Distance Education in Sweden

The Swedish National Health Agency issued its first recommendation for secondary schools and universities to transition to distance education on the 17^th of March, 2020 (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2020a). These instructions allowed for some flexibility in how schools chose to manage distance education.

For the schools in this study, this meant that schools which ran special education programs, language introduction programs and vocational programs typically kept their locales open to varying extents for these students. Many schools also remained open for other students who were judged to have too much difficulty studying at home because of factors such as limited internet. This meant that some of the libraries represented in this study were physically open to some students and staff at least some of the time even in the initial period of distance education.

After the summer break in 2020 schools were allowed to re-open (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2020c). This period was however short-lived. In De-

(10)

cember after the Public Health Agency issued a new recommendation for resumed distance education, with the adjustment that students in special education programs and language introduction programs along with other ‘vulnerable’ students were to be allowed to continue their education at school (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2020b). Parts of teaching which were difficult to execute by distance, such as practical moments and tests, were also allowed to take place at school.

During this period all librarians in this study were working at school at least some of the time, but many also continued to work partially from home and offered reduced open hours at their libraries.

In January 2021 schools were recommended to move towards models of ‘partial distance education’, where all students were to be offered at least twenty percent of their education at school (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2020c). The schools in this study responded to this recommendation with various forms of rotating schedules, where students alternated between distance and physical education. Typically this was split by year group and program, but there were also instances of schools which split individual classes and had some students from every class at school while the rest participated in live classes via video link. At the time interviews were conducted schools were operating under this ‘partial distance education’ approach, while still anticipating that they may have to adapt their practices again if the Public Health Agency announced new recommendations.

(11)

Previous research

As the COVID-19 pandemic is both a recent and ongoing development, we do not yet know the extent of its educational impacts. Previous research about similar educational disruptions and early research on the COVID-19 crisis indicate that there will likely be widespread learning loss, especially amongst students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (European Commission 2020, pp. 28–29).

In this research overview I aim to provide a brief thematic review of the international and Swedish research on the challenges incurred during the transition to distance education. In order to be able to make relevant comparisons to Sweden, the literature reviewed here focuses on high-income, industrialised countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, England, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The table below details the countries of focus, method, source type and topic of the main empirical material drawn upon here. I also draw upon some additional material which is not included in this table, mainly to give context to the empirical data presented.

At the end of the overview, I will connect this material with the limited research on the role of school libraries in distance education and outline some potential contributions of this study.

Table 1: Source type, focus and method of literature reviewed

Citation Source type Countries in

focus

Research topic

Method

Ahlström, Björn, Leo, Ulf, Norqvist, Lars & Isling, Pär Poromaa (2020), “School Leader- ship as (Un)usual. Insights From Principals in Sweden During a Pandemic,” International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Edu- cational Administration & Man- agement (CCEAM)) 48 (2) (April) s. 35–41.

Journal article

Sweden Principals’

perspectives on distance education

Survey of 361 principals

(12)

Bergdahl, Nina & Nouri, Jalal (2020), “Covid-19 and Crisis- Prompted Distance Education in Sweden,” Technology, Knowledge and Learning (September 2).

Academic journal article

Sweden Teachers’

Online ques- tionaire of 153 teachers at various levels Flack, Dr Clare Buckley, Walker,

Dr Lyndon, Bickerstaff, Amanda, Earle, Hester & Margetts, Cara (2020), Educator perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on teach- ing and learning in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne, Aus- tralia: Pivot Professional Learn- ing.

Report from private educational research company

Australia and New Zealand

Teachers’

Survey of 2373 teachers at primary and secondary level

Gudmundsdottir, Greta Björk &

Hathaway, Dawn M. (2020), “‘We Always Make It Work’: Teachers’

Agency in the Time of Crisis,”

Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 28 (2) s. 239–

250.

USA and Norway

Teachers’

Online survey with respondent from several countries.

This paper covers re- sponses from 813 Norwegian and Ameri- can teachers.

Kim, Lisa E. & Asbury, Kathryn (2020), “‘Like a rug had been pulled from under you’: The impact of COVID‐19 on teachers in England during the first six weeks of the UK lockdown,” British Journal of Educational Psycholo- gy 90 (4) (December) s. 1062–

1083.

England Teachers’

Interview study of 24 teachers during first weeks of distance education

Klapproth, Florian, Federkeil, Lisa, Heinschke, Franziska &

Jungmann, Tanja (2020), “Teach- ers’ experiences of stress and their

Germany Teachers’

stress, bar- riers and coping

Online survey of 380 teachers

(13)

coping strategies during COVID- 19 induced distance teaching,”

Journal of Pedagogical Research 4 (4) (August 25) s. 444–452.

strategies during distance education

Lepp, Liina, Aaviku, Triinu, Lei- jen, Äli, Pedaste, Margus & Saks, Katrin (2021), “Teaching during COVID-19: The Decisions Made in Teaching,” Education Sciences 11 (2) (February) s. 47.

Estonia Factors influencing teachers’

decisions during distance education

Interviews

with 16

science teachers

Niemi, Hannele Marjatta & Kou- sa, Päivi (2020), “A Case Study of Students’ and Teachers’ Percep- tions in a Finnish High School during the COVID Pandemic,”

International Journal of Technol- ogy in Education and Science 4 (4) (September 2) s. 352–369.

Finland Teachers’

and students’ per- ceptions of distance education

Quantiative and qualitative surveys conducted at a single high school

Swedish School Inspectorate (2020), Gymnasieskolors dis- tansundervisning under covid-19 pandemin: Skolinspektionens centrala iakttagelser efter in- tervjuer med rektorer.

Government agency report

experiences of distance education

Interviews with around 260 principals at secondary schools

Swedish School Inspectorate.

(2021), Utbildning under påver- kan av coronapandemin: Sam- manställning av centrala iak- ttagelser från en förenklad granskning av 225 gymnasieskol- or.

Government agency report

and students’ experiences of distance education

Interviews with principals and students at 225 secondary schools

Trust, Torrey & Whalen, Jeromie (2020), “Should Teachers be Trained in Emergency Remote Teaching? Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Jour-

USA Teachers’

Online survey of 325 elementary and secondary school

(14)

nal of Technology and Teacher Education 28 (2) s. 189–199.

teachers

Van der Spoel, Irene, Noroozi, Omid, Schuurink, Ellen & Vgan Ginkel, Stan (2020), “Teachers’

online teaching expectations and experiences during the Covid19- pandemic in the Netherlands,”

European Journal of Teacher Education 43 (4) (August 7) s.

623–638.

Netherlands Teachers’

Two online surveys of 200 primary, secondary and tertiary teachers

Widespread lack of preparation to teach online

One clear theme which occurs throughout the literature is that teachers in general felt very unprepared for the challenge of distance education. This was not only because of the suddenness of the transition, but because they were required to use digital tools with which they had little or no familiarity. The extent of digital integration in schools varies considerably between nations. In Germany, for example, strict data minimisation policies mean that schools have not been allowed to use cloud technology and many of the other digital tools which provided a foundation for distance teaching in other countries (Kerres 2020, p. 691). However, even in countries such as Finland, Estonia and Sweden, where digital integration has pro- gressed much further and schools have been using digital tools for teaching and communication for many years, many teachers have described feeling that they lack the digital training and confidence they needed for distance education (Lepp et al. 2021; Niemi & Kousa 2020; Bergdahl & Nouri 2020).

In many cases, schools in countries where some form of digital teaching was already a part of normal practice have been able to adapt fairly smoothly, with no major hardware accessibility issues after the first few weeks of distance education (Niemi & Kousa 2020; Van der Spoel et al. 2020; Bergdahl & Nouri 2020; Lepp et al. 2021). However, even after this initial period of intense learning and adapta- tion, teachers have had continued issues with adapting their pedagogical design to the work with the technical tools and platforms available to them. Many American and Norwegian teachers, for example, reported that their ICT training during teacher education or later professional development focused mostly on technical aspects, rather than instruction on how to meaningfully integrate digital technology into a pedagogical design (Gudmundsdottir & Hathaway 2020, p. 244). Even

(15)

when teachers had received some technical instruction on how to use tools such as Microsoft Teams, e-books and websites, they had not been taught how to use them in meaningful and effective ways, as well as insight into issues relating to copyright, privacy and source criticism (Gudmundsdottir & Hathaway 2020, pp.

243–244). Similarly, Bergdahl and Nouri note that preparation in Swedish schools was mainly focused on having the necessary technology in place, while actual pedagogical adaption was much more disperse and inconsistent (2020).

Both the initial learning curve for teachers learning to use new tools and the ongoing work involved in adapting their teaching and assessment processes have proven very time-consuming, strenuous and stressful for teachers (Flack et al.

2020, p. 4; Kim & Asbury 2020, pp. 1071–1072; Klapproth et al. 2020, p.448;

Bergdahl & Nouri 2020; Lepp et al. 2021, p.14). Although the transition to distance education was inevitably stressful, many teachers felt that this stress would have been lessened if they had spent more time working with digital tools and in particular digital pedagogical design prior to the pandemic (Trust & Whalen 2020, p. 192).

Shortcomings of digital teaching tools and distance education

Even after learning to use new technologies and finding a rhythm in teaching online, teachers across the world have remained concerned over the shortcomings of digital teaching tools, particularly the limited opportunities they provide for social interaction. Although many schools use video conferencing tools, some teachers have found their students unwilling to turn on their video, leaving them uncertain whether students are engaged in their lessons or are even present at all (Lepp et al. 2021, p. 12). Additionally, most of the video conferencing tools used are not built for teaching and lack functionality for central teaching functions such as splitting participants into smaller groups. On the other hand, many tools had functions allowing participants to mute each other or eject each other from group sessions which caused additional problems for teachers (Bergdahl & Nouri 2020).

Teachers in Sweden have been frustrated by their schools’ commitment to use only GDPR-compliant tools. In some cases this has meant that they had to use platforms and tools with limited functionality in order to comply with municipal rules and contracts (Bergdahl & Nouri 2020). Though some teachers have found other tools they judged to be more pedagogically suitable, they have not been allowed to use them because the tools did not meet GDPR standards.

A key concern for teachers has been the problem of assessment and examina- tion. Teachers have felt unable to evaluate their students’ learning through daily interaction, as the contact they had through digital platforms is so limited (Niemi

& Kousa 2020, p. 361). Studies of students’ experiences indicate that they have found it harder to ask for help and feedback during distance education (Swedish

(16)

School Inspectorate 2020b, p. 10; Niemi & Kousa 2020, p. 359). A related issue is the possibility of students cheating during assessments at home, with many teachers feeling unequipped to assess whether students may be getting unauthorised help when completing tests (Swedish School Inspectorate 2020a, p. 20).

Although teachers’ concerns over their students’ learning are significant, many teachers have been even more alarmed over the social well-being of their students and the detrimental effects of isolation. Teachers in Estonia valued students’ motivation and well-being over their educational goals during distance education, while in England teachers were more concerned with the well-being of vulnerable students than with teaching itself (Lepp et al. 2021, p. 11; Kim & As- bury 2020, pp. 1071–1072). Flack et al.’s survey in Australia and New Zealand found that teachers were more concerned with students’ isolation and well-being than with potential learning loss (2020, p. 15). Van der Spoel et al. found that similar concerns amongst Dutch teachers increased over time, even as their anxiety over quality of education decreased (2020, p. 629). Similar concerns have been raised in Sweden, where principals have been particularly concerned about students from immigrant backgrounds (Ahlström et al. 2020, p. 38).

Two conclusions can be drawn from these findings. Firstly, as Kim and As- bury state, teaching is a ‘caring profession’ (2020, p. 1064). For many teachers the task of tending to students’ general well-being is an intrinsic part of their professional identity and a source of job satisfaction and meaning. The loss of social interaction when switching to teaching through digital tools has been a concern for teachers not only because of the emotional and educational impacts it may have on their students, but because it robbed teachers of much of the joy of their work. Teachers felt that interactions through digital tools lacked the spontaneity and authenticity offered by the physical classroom and felt unable to build relationships with their students as they usually would (Niemi & Kousa 2020, p. 361;

Flack et al. 2020, p. 5). Secondly, teachers’ concerns over the shortcomings of digital teaching tools highlight that they view social interaction as an essential part of the learning process. The lack of opportunities for spontaneous exchanges, feedback and help, as well as students’ isolation and decreased motivation, was expected to result in further learning loss. This expectation is supported by reports from students, who have described difficulties asking for help and managing their workload independently during distance education (Swedish School Inspectorate 2020b, pp. 10–11; Niemi & Kousa 2020, p. 359).

Peculiarities of the Swedish approach

Although many of the challenges described here have been experienced by teachers throughout the world, it is worth addressing some differences in the approach taken to distance education and the pandemic in general in the Swedish context, as

(17)

they have impacted educators’ experiences. Ahlström et al. note that Sweden was often lifted as an exceptional case in the early months of the pandemic, as most of the country stayed open and running much as usual, rather than implementing major shutdowns as in much of the rest of Europe (Ahlström et al. 2020, pp. 35–

37). In much of the rest of the world, including many of the countries discussed here, primary schools were closed alongside secondary and tertiary institutions, but this was not the case in Sweden. The Public Health Agency of Sweden has consistently recommended that primary schools stay open as much as possible, both for the sake of students’ learning and social well-being, and to avoid giving large sections of the workforce the additional burden of caring for school-aged children (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2021).

One consequence of this is that teachers in Sweden have generally not had to take care of their own children for long periods while also teaching online from their homes. This has been a significant additional stress factor for teachers in many other countries, particularly female teachers (Flack et al. 2020; Kim &

Asbury 2020).

On the other hand, Ahlström et al. found that the differences in the Swedish approach have been a source of anxiety for many educators, parents and students, who have questioned why Swedish schools were staying open while the other Nordic countries shut down (2020, p. 37). Swedish educators and principals have therefore had the additional pressure of defending this system to concerned guard- ians and students.

The role of the school library in transitioning to distance education

There is as of yet little empirical material on the roles of school libraries and librarians in the process of transitioning to distance education. A survey of over 1000 American schools in April 2020 found that although most school libraries were closed either to everyone or to all but essential staff, librarians were nonetheless engaged with a variety of tasks to support staff and students.

Unsurprisingly, the most common task librarians engaged in in response to school closures was ensuring that students had sufficient online resources and that these resources were accessible to them (through curation, promotion and virtual assistance). 46 percent of respondents were also involved in co-teaching some form of online classes, and many were also conducting their own teaching and other activities online, including book clubs and teaching on topics such as research and STEM skills. Librarians were also working to ensure students’ access to their collections by delivering and posting books. At a glance, it appears that many librarians were able to successfully transfer many of their practices and services into online/distance formats.

(18)

Beyond this, most librarians found new ways to respond to the needs of their teaching staff, such as providing technical support with online resources and tools (71.98 percent), offering curation of resources and online tools for instruction (84.94 percent) and answering intellectual freedom/fair use questions (58.4 percent). This suggests that librarians’ technological and media literacy expertise has become more relevant in the current situation, and librarians have found new ways to assist teachers with the steep technological learning curve they have been facing.

35.02 percent of librarians responded that they were providing some form of social/emotional/learning support to students. 42.17 percent stated that they were supporting students’ engagement through virtual channels, and 75.77 percent were trying to support students and their families by sharing community resources. This suggests that school librarians, much like teachers, are in a ‘caring profession’

(Kim & Asbury 2020), and are also concerned with providing students with emotional support. Shaper and Streatfield call this ‘pastoral care’: various forms of unofficial and often invisible work aiming to support students’ emotional well- being, including providing direct emotional support, building a welcoming envi- ronment, and building positive, supportive relationships with students (2012). It appears that librarians have continued with this part of their role as their schools have moved online.

Limitations of existing research and contribution of this study

The research reviewed above indicate that there are some general challenges that have impacted many schools in many different nations, including teachers’ sense of lack of technological preparation to teach online and their feeling that digital tools could not provide the social interactivity they desired. However, given the highly limited literature available, there are as of yet more unknowns than knowns. There is very little research focusing specifically on the Swedish education system. The research that does exist, both in Sweden and internationally, focuses mainly on the perspectives of teachers, with less voice given to students and other school professionals.

The transitions of school librarians have drawn little scholarly attention, and there is no research on this topic in the Swedish context. This study contributes towards closing this research gap by lifting the voices of Swedish school librarians and exploring their perspectives on the transition to distance education. Li- brarians have a unique perspective innately different to that of teachers, in that they are likely to interact with all students at some point, rather than just a small selection of classes as is the case for many teachers. Their frequent meetings with students at all levels, as well as teachers in a variety of subjects, gives them a global view of school culture and infrastructure (Mackley & Chrastka 2020, p. 9).

(19)

Librarians may then have insights about their schools, and their transition processes, that teachers do not.

Moreover – and more importantly, for this study – the school library is interesting and important in its own right. By investigating how librarians adapted to the challenge of distance education and what factors made this transition more or less difficult, this study contributes to a deepened understanding of what makes school libraries work. It also explores the ways that librarians have strived to be of value in a time of changing needs for students and teachers.

(20)

Methodology

Research design

This study is based on a qualitative research design driven by a social constructivist epistemology and ontology. Social constructivism is rooted in the view that reality is constructed through social interactions, relationships and experiences, and is therefore context dependent. Our knowledge and understandings of the world are also socially constructed (Leavy 2014, p. 85). This means that the role of the researcher is not one of discovering and explaining the ‘truth’ of a context being studied, as in positivist and post-positivist traditions. Instead the researcher is actively constructing truth by interpreting data and presenting findings that they find meaningful (Leavy 2014, pp. 84–85).

In qualitative research, where the focus is on understanding the meanings people extract from their experiences, one common means of collecting data is interviewing. In this study, I used a semi-structured approach to interviewing, where the intention was to focus on how the informants framed and understood their experiences (Bryman 2015, p. 468). The semi-structured approach allowed the flexibility I deemed necessary in this study, while maintaining a level of con- sistency and comparability in the data collected from each informant. The interview guide and interview procedures are discussed in more detail below.

Data collection

Participant recruitment and selection

I interviewed fourteen librarians from twelve different schools. The majority of these informants were recruited through the mailing list skolbib@skolnet.skolverket.se, which is maintained by the National Agency for Education. This mailing list is intended as a forum for school librarians to discuss questions related to their work and reaches school librarians throughout the country. One additional informant was recommended to me by a classmate as a potential suitable candidate for the study.

(21)

This strategy can be described as a version of ‘generic purposive sampling’, where the goal is to select participants who are determined appropriate for answering the research questions according to set of selection criteria (Bryman 2015, p. 414). The purposive sampling strategy employed here is not intended to be representative as in quantitative research. The qualitative assumption is instead that the researcher should select a sample from which the most can be learned (Merriam & Tisdell 2015, p. 95).

The selection criteria for participants in this study were:

1. To be currently employed as a school librarian at a secondary school that had to transition to distance education because of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, and;

2. To have also been employed at the school before this transition took place.

These conditions were intended to ensure that the informants could reflect on differences between their practice before and during distance education, one of the key focuses of the study. The study was limited to secondary schools as elementary schools in Sweden were never recommended to close except for very brief periods, and then only for middle grades (Public Health Agency of Sweden 2021).

I deemed it unnecessary to limit participation by other factors such as geographic location or type of school (municipal or independent) as the recommendation to transition to distance education applied equally to all secondary schools in Swe- den.

With a purposive sampling strategy, interviews should continue until a point of thematic ‘saturation’ has been reached (Merriam & Tisdell 2015, p. 199). This means that new interviews seem to offer relatively little new findings that have not been repeatedly stated by other informants, and the themes and findings already produced are robust enough to stand on their own (Merriam & Tisdell 2015, p. 199). In this study I began to observe a sense of saturation around the eleventh interview.

It is important to note that a consequence of using a mailing list as the study’s primary recruitment strategy is that it may draw a particular kind of participant more than others. It may be that school librarians who have a librarian education and are employed full-time may be more likely to subscribe to such a mailing list, while part-time librarians or teachers with some responsibility for school libraries may not be aware of the resource or feel that they have the time to partake of it. It may also be the case that the topic of the study itself specifically attracted school librarians who felt that their transition to distance education was successful, while librarians with more negative experiences would be less likely to wish to tell their stories.

(22)

Interviewing method

Interviews were conducted over zoom, both as a means of practicality (as informants were located throughout Sweden) and to follow social distancing recommendations. I recorded the interviews using zoom’s recording function. In the case of the two schools where I interviewed more than one person, both people were present on the same zoom call, for the sake of convenience for the participants. All other interviews were one-on-one. Interviews averaged around 40 minutes in length.

As this is an exploratory study on a very contemporary topic, I felt it necessary to have a flexible approach to interviewing and be open to adjusting the interview guide based on the topics on which my informants laid focus. Following the first two interviews I made some adjustments to the interview guide, removing questions that I realised my informants found irrelevant or uninteresting, adjusting wording that proved inappropriate, and adding questions to allow informants more space in raising issues they found important. These adjustments were relatively minor, and after the second interview the guide stayed stable. Although I still var- ied the wording and order of questions as felt appropriate, the questions and topics addressed were basically the same. In a few cases I reached out to informants via email after their interviews to clarify certain things or ask additional questions.

Language and translation issues

I chose to conduct interviews in Swedish, which is my second language, because I felt that allowing informants to speak in their native tongue would allow them to express their ideas more naturally than if they had been speaking English (my own native language). I transcribed the interviews in Swedish and did not trans- late them in their entirety; instead, I translated individual quotes when I included them in my analysis. From the constructivist perspective employed in this study, the act of translation is not an objective process, but a part of interpretation and meaning-making (Temple & Young 2004, pp. 164–165). Although I speak Swe- dish myself, the act of translating the participants’ words could nonetheless bear a risk of changing their intended meaning. To alleviate this issue, I informed participants that if I were to include such quotes from their interviews, I would email them a suggested translation of the quote that they could then correct as they deemed appropriate. In two cases informants proposed minor adjustments to one or two of their quotes, which is reflected in this final version of the text.

Sample description

(23)

Here the study’s participants and their schools are briefly described, to give relevant context to the sampled extracts from their interviews. The names given are pseudonyms.

1. Informant 1, ‘Kjell’, worked at a school (school 1) which was split into two locales (but run by a single administration). The school had a total of around 1200 students. He held the title of ‘library coordinator’ and had approximately five years of experience in that role. The school was located in a municipality with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants. Kjell had one librarian colleague who worked at the school’s other location, a few hundred metres away.

2. Informant 2, ‘Peter’, worked at a small independent school (school 2) in a large city in a municipality with over 500,000 inhabitants. His school had around 300 students and was the only independent school in this study. He worked 80 percent at this secondary school 20 percent at an elementary school within the same school organisation. He was the only librarian at his school and had three years of experience in the role, as well as additional previous experience at the elementary school.

3. Informant 3, ‘Amanda’, worked at a school (school 3) with around 900 students in a municipality with around 150,000 inhabitants. She had around seven years of experience and was the only librarian at her school.

4. Informant 4, ‘Johanna’, worked at one of two schools (school 4) under a single administration in a municipality with around 100,000 inhabitants.

She served around 1000 students at her school unit and was the only librarian, though she had a librarian colleague at the school’s other unit. She had six years of experience.

5. Informant 5, ‘Monika’, worked at a school (school 5) with around 1000 students in a municipality with around 100,000 inhabitants. She had one librarian colleague and 30 years of experience.

6. Informant 6, ‘Päivi’, worked at a school (school 6) with around 1000 students in a municipality with around 40,000 inhabitants. She had close to 20 years of experience. She had one librarian colleague, informant 7.

7. Informant 7, ‘Olivia’, had around six years of experience, and also worked at school 6.

8. Informant 8, ‘Jenny’, worked at a school (school 7) with around 900 students in a municipality with around 70,000 inhabitants. She had one colleague who worked 50 percent. Jenny had 10 years of experience.

9. Informant 9, ‘Felicia’, worked at a school (school 8) with around 2500 students in a municipality with around 125,000 inhabitants. She had three years of experience. Her school had two other librarians, one of whom was also interviewed (informant 10), as well as a library assistant.

(24)

10. Informant 10, ‘Lisbet’, had seven years of experience, and also worked at school 8.

11. Informant 11, ‘Alice’, worked at a school (school 9) with around 1000 students in a municipality with around 230,000 inhabitants. She had 15 years of experience as a school librarian (two years at her current school).

There was one additional librarian at her school, who was not interviewed.

12. Informant 12, ‘Ulla’, worked at a school (school 10) with around 850 students in a municipality with around 350,000 inhabitants. She had six years of experience and one librarian colleague.

13. Informant 13, ‘Nina’, worked at a school (school 11) with around 1000 students in a municipality with around 80,000 inhabitants. She had four years of experience as a school librarian and 15 as a public librarian. She was the only librarian at her school.

14. Informant 14, ‘Anneli’, was in the process of relocating her library as her school (school 12) joined together with another school nearby. The com- bined schools had around 500 students, in a municipality with around 45,000 inhabitants. Anneli had around 13 years of experience and was planning to retire within a couple of years. She was working 50 percent at the school and 30 percent at a public library.

Data analysis

The interview data was analysed through a thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke (2006). This is a popular and flexible approach to qualitative analysis with six phases of data familiarisation, coding, and creating and presenting themes (Braun & Clarke 2006, p.87).

Braun and Clarke note that researchers often use thematic analysis without giving sufficiently detailed descriptions of the actual processes and decisions involved in analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006, p. 80). They argue that it is important to highlight the active role of the researcher in constructing meaning through identifying and naming themes, rather than hiding the researcher’s role through passive accounts of themes ‘emerging’ as if on their own. As a means of avoiding this pitfall, I aim to provide a detailed account of my own data analysis process here.

I began familiarising myself with the data during the transcription process, following Braun and Clarke’s recommendations (2006, p. 87). I strived to create verbatim transcripts with all verbal utterances transcribed, as well as any significant non-verbal utterances such as sighs, pauses and laughter. Throughout the transcription process I continued to review relevant theoretical material, using an abductive approach to the data. After completing transcription I read through all the transcripts and wrote down some initial observations, as recommended by

(25)

Braun and Clarke as an important step for gaining an overview of the data before coding begins (p. 87).

Phase two, generating initial codes, was conducted using the analysis software Dedoose. During the first round of coding I followed Braun and Clarke's recommendation to code for as many potential themes as possible (p.88). At this stage the codes were mainly bottom-up, data-driven labels rather than theory-driven, and mainly semantic rather than interpretive. Some semantic codes included 'leadership', 'lending' and 'distance education tools' - straight-forward descriptions of the general topics discussed in the given extracts.

As coding continued, I began to develop more interpretive codes, some of which later became themes. An example of this is 'accessibility work', which I identified as a central theme in the informants' descriptions of their new work hab- its, and which became the core of theme 4. After all transcripts had been coded, I read through each of the coded transcripts and reviewed the codes to ensure that codes developed later in the process were equally applied to transcripts which I had processed earlier, and to remove and edit codes that no longer felt like accu- rate or useful descriptors.

Phase three, searching for themes, was an iterative and abductive analysis process resulting in several candidate themes which I later discarded in phase four (reviewing themes). Here it is important to define 'theme', which is an under- theorised and often misapplied term in qualitative research (Braun & Clarke 2006, p. 82). In this analysis the themes are defined as patterns of response or meaning in the data set, which help to answer the research questions (Braun & Clarke 2006, p. 82). Themes are not merely categories, such as 'factors contributing to a successful transition to distance education', but meaning statements which should be able to stand on their own. While constructing themes I returned to the previous research and theoretical material which I had already identified as relevant to the topic of this study, and utilised theoretical and empirical insights from this material in making sense of my own data. This process of identifying, naming and describing themes continued as I wrote this final report. For each of my final four themes I constructed a table with all the relevant quotes from the interview transcripts.

Ethical considerations

In all social research it is important to consider how participants will be kept from harm. Three key considerations are the issues of informed consent, confidentiality and the use of research data for other purposes than those described to participants (Lindstedt 2019, pp. 50–52).

(26)

Informed consent requires that participants are made aware of the study’s purpose, the context in which it is being conducted (in this case, as part of a master’s program), and the conditions for participants, including that they can revoke their participation at any time. In this study, this was achieved through a study information sheet which was sent to all potential participants. Participants were also given multiple opportunities to ask any questions they had about the study.

All participants signed a consent form confirming that they had understood and agreed to the conditions of the study.

Issues of confidentiality and anonymity are particularly relevant in this study as participants were discussing conditions at their workplaces, which could be considered sensitive information. To ensure that participants would not be able to be identified in the final report, they have been given pseudonyms, and their plac- es of work are not named. I have also chosen not to identify the municipalities where participants are employed (as in some cases municipalities are small enough that the informants are the only school librarians employed there).

I have no intention of utilising the data generated through this study for any other purpose. Informants were made aware of this intention through the informed consent form.

Reflexivity

The concept of reflexivity is central in qualitative research, and involves ac- knowledging that the interpretive work a researcher does is not fully impartial or objective, but influenced by the context of their beliefs, values and experiences (Leavy 2014, p. 22). In order to attempt to attain a level of objectivity, the researcher should strive to make relevant aspects of their identity, experiences, beliefs and values explicit to the reader (Leavy 2014, p. 22).

To this end, I acknowledge that I have the experience of interning at a school library for a brief period during my master’s education in Library and Information Science, which has coloured my understanding of some of the issues impacting school librarians in their work. I will begin working as a school librarian later this year, and therefore I have a significant vested interest in the profession and have had many conversations with others in the field, as well as reading about their experiences in blogs, social media, news articles, etc. This means that I have a context of background knowledge and assumptions about the value of school libraries and librarians. My views on and knowledge about school libraries have inevitably meant that I have also had assumptions about the experiences of school librarians during the transition to distance education; however, I have strived to put these aside and approach this research with an open mind to the best of my ability.

(27)

Limitations

Due to its qualitative research design and relatively small sample size, this study should not be treated as representative of the population it studies (secondary school librarians in Sweden). As noted under Participant Recruitment and Selec- tion, using a mailing list to recruit participants may have had the unintended consequence of attracting a certain group of librarians (likely those with librarian education and who have enough time in their contracted hours to participate in such forums). The study’s topic may also have attracted librarians who feel their transitions have gone smoothly, meaning that there may well be challenges faced in other schools that are not represented here.

(28)

Theoretical foundations

In this section I introduce the key perspectives and concepts that form the theoretical foundation of this study.

The infrastructural perspective

This study draws upon concepts and perspectives developed by Star (1999), Star and Ruhleder (1996), Bowker et al. (2009) and Centerwall and Nolin (2019) to analyse the school library as a part of the school’s infrastructure. Star and Ruhle- der’s work on infrastructure encourages research which aims to make the invisible visible by troubling the idea that functional infrastructure should ‘sink into the background’ (Star & Ruhleder 1996, p. 113). In their analysis, infrastructural in- version – or ‘foregrounding the background’ – is a means of understanding infrastructures and the invisible work that goes into maintaining them, the agendas that may lie behind their design, and the ways – deliberate or otherwise – that they may exclude or disempower some users (Star 1999, pp. 384–387).

This approach to studying infrastructure, sometimes labelled ‘infrastructure studies’, has gained popularity in a number of fields, particularly science and technology studies, economics and information science (Star & Bowker 2010, p.

3; Centerwall & Nolin 2019). Much of this work has centred on questions of system design, access and usability, with terms such as ‘information infrastructure’

and ‘cyberinfrastructure’ coined to describe the multifaceted structures that enable science, computing and other knowledge work to take place (Bowker et al. 2009, pp. 98–99; Huvila 2019).

Another central thread in this research tradition is the focus on the invisible work (and invisible workers) that is required to support infrastructures. One important objective of this work has been to highlight the fate of the technicians, public servants and other ‘invisible workers’ whose labour supports infrastructures, often without acknowledgement (Star & Strauss 1999; Shapin 1989; Star 1999, p. 386). Shapin, for example, examines the ways in which the scientific assistants of the seventeenth century chemist Robert Boyle were excluded from the historical narrative about the scientist’s accomplishments, despite their essential contributions (1989).