Digital care work at public libraries: Making Digital First possible

Abstract

Claims of becoming the first, the best, and the most digitized are standard rather than outstanding in most public-facing digitalization agendas and strategy documents of countries in the Global North. These grand narratives of digitalization need translation through concrete practices by sometimes unexpected actors—in this case, librarians. This article develops the notion of digital care work based on 18 book-chapter-length essays by active librarians based at Swedish public libraries. It illustrates that librarians are central to the process of translating digitalization into reality; they have become ambassadors of digitalization not only by fostering digital skills and competences in workshops and official training sessions but also, we argue, through a specific form of digital work, namely, digital care work. This kind of gendered work, which is typically carried out alongside the official tasks and assignments of librarians, is of low prestige and often involves affective aspects, such as emotions of shame and uncertainty.