Biosketch: Dr. Cecilia Gärdén

Cecilia Gärdén is a senior lecturer the Swedish School of Library and Information Science at University of Gothenburg and University of Borås. Cecilia's research and teaching are mainly focused on information seeking and learning in different contexts.

Current research activities/projects

Today, education is often characterized by problem solving. Memorizing and transferring text is no longer an ideal in educational contexts, where students are expected to seek and choose information, value and critically review information and sources, understand different kinds of texts and their relations to the surrounding world and also produce texts. Cecilia's dissertation is therefore focused on information seeking practices in educational contexts, especially the interaction between information seeking and learning. From a socio cultural perspective, the thesis explores 1) how adult students, teachers and librarians interact in
information seeking and use in the practice of working with a complex school assignment, 2) what tools and scaffolds are used, and why, 3) how information is used by adult students to construct knowledge and make sense, and 4) what elements of information literacy emerge in the interaction around the assignment. To answer the research questions, a qualitative case study was conducted. The case study included 43 interviews, 30 observations and 17 documents, which provided in depth knowledge of the interaction between individuals, practice and tools.

Abstract:
http://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/21971/2/gupea_2077_21971_2.pdf

Thesis, including summary in English:
http://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/21971/1/gupea_2077_21971_1.pdf

A few recent publications

Gärdén, Cecilia (2011). Tio år med vuxnas lärande: En kunskapsöversikt med fokus på folkbibliotek och vuxnas lärande. [Ten Years with Adult Learning: A Review Focusing on Public Libraries and Adult Learning] Borås: Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap/Bibliotekshögskolan. http://bada.hb.se/handle/2320/8105

Gärdén, Cecilia (2010). Verktyg för lärande: Informationssökning och informationsanvändning i kommunal vuxenutbildning. Borås: Valfrid. Diss. [Tools for learning: Information seeking and use in municipal adult education]
http://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/21971/1/gupea_2077_21971_1.pdf

Zetterlund, Angela & Gärdén, Cecilia (2007). Why public libraries have problems sharing a vision of joint use libraries: Experiences from a program concerning adult learners. In: A. Bundy (ed.) Joint use libraries - an international conference. Manchester UK, 19-21 June 2007. Proceedings. Blackwood South Australia: Auslib Press. p. 36-45.