A Delphi investigation into the research needs in Swedish librarianship

• Elena Maceviciute and T.D. Wilson
• Information Research

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13 December 2009This article reports on the conduct of a national survey in Sweden to establish the desired research priorities for libraries.

Results. Consensus among panel members was not achieved during the survey rounds, but the workshop resulted in the identification of the ten highest priority themes. The public, regional and school libraries are more concerned with relation of libraries to education and society at large, while academic and special libraries emphasize the changes in scholarly and business communication and the impact of new technologies.

Conclusions. The consensus among different Swedish library sectors regarding the top research agenda can be reached only conditionally. Strong differences between them remain and have to be taken into account when implementing the agenda. The panel members regard the library future as uncertain and prioritize the topics that can help to foster readers and library users and strengthen strategic positions of libraries.