The library - a place for knowledge and learning

Tradition, technological advancements, the free pursuit of knowledge, and security – these are just some of the factors that Chief Librarian Johanna Hansson must consider as the university library establishes its role in modern Uppsala. She is the 34th person since 1638 to undertake the responsibility of managing and promoting the many values the library represents.

“Libraries are great places for learning. They provide framework. As a student or researcher, you can feel that you are part of something bigger, in an academic context that gives identity and direction. In an old library like Carolina Rediviva, you also become a link in a long chain of people: those who have sat here and educated themselves before and those who will sit here in the future.”

Today's university library is not just a place for active students and researchers. It also attracts alumni and other members of the community who wish to deepen their knowledge, which places special demands on openness.

“For me, libraries are about learning and helping people learn. We are here for everyone who wants to take advantage of the library's resources. I find it meaningful to go to work every day. I truly believe in the library as an idea - and that idea is about the free pursuit of knowledge by free people. It is very important in a free and open society.”

Johanna Hansson's leadership is characterised by a genuine interest in understanding the organisation and its operations.

"She points out that it is important to be able to step aside, to regain or find new perspectives through the simple question – "what are we actually doing?". Perhaps it is a leader's most important task to be able to switch between different viewpoints, especially in these times when knowledge and learning are constantly questioned and challenged formatively.

A mirror of their time

Johanna Hansson describes libraries as a mirror of their time – in every era – and it is particularly important in "serious times" to return to the question "what is the most important thing we can do right now?". The very value and purpose of libraries is both obvious and subject to constant negotiation.

“We must preserve openness as much as we can. We cannot be afraid or build barriers just because, we cannot start censoring our collections or saying "you can come in but not you". To be able to do that, to be completely open, we must think a lot about security at the same time.”

How the library will work with issues surrounding openness and accessibility in a future where AI is a central tool remains to be seen, but digitisation is in full swing. The university libraries are running a joint project to digitise all Swedish print.

"There is still much left to do, and more resources are needed to seriously move forward."

Questions about copyright for example remain, but as the amount of digitised material increases, researchers can ask completely new types of research questions. Although digitisation solves many practical problems, Carolina Rediviva remains strong as a place for meetings – between people and between people and information.

Open to all

Uppsala University Library was founded in 1620, and about 200 years later, in 1841, Carolina Rediviva was inaugurated. The business idea has been the same all along. People should in various ways encounter text that contributes to both their own and the world's learning. It was so in the 1600s and the 1800s. It is so now, and it will be so in fifty years.

“There is no doubt that the library as an idea is central to democracy, where one presupposes the other. Like the right to vote, the library needs to be used to make a difference. Taking care of your library is taking care of society as a whole."

“One idea with the library being open to everyone is that you should continue to deepen your knowledge after completing your university studies. There are resources here that anyone, including alumni, can use. I also think that alumni play an important role in telling students, or potential students, how to use the university library and what resources are available.”

Carolina Rediviva's best study place

“For every new student, it is an exciting thing to discover Carolina Rediviva. If you want to sit and have a cup of coffee and chat a bit, you go to the café. If you want to sit quietly and concentrated, then you go to reading room A or B. If you want to work in a group, you go to reading room C. There is something for everyone. If I was a student, I would move around and sit in different places.”

Many students have thought and think exactly that way. Even though the premises have undergone changes over the years, Carolina Rediviva has been a sanctuary and met many individual needs, something that does not seem to change.

“I often take a walk through the building and it makes me so happy to see all these people who have found their way here to deepen their knowledge. There is a queue every morning outside, sometimes their library gets full and many sit for a long time. It is like their workplace and it is fantastic. There is hope for the future!”

Belinda Hirvonen