Our activities

Areas of activity

The library provides support in many different areas. Below is information about some of them.

Support in the research process

We support the research process in three stages:

• First, in connection with literature reviews. We discuss how literature should be sought, selected, and integrated into scientific writing.
• Second, through choice of publishing channel. There are a number of strategic decisions to make regarding the appropriate journal or platform.
• The last stage is post-publication. Here we work with indexing, structuring, enriching and analysing research publications.

The library's support consists of individual consultations, workshops, courses and maintenance and development of necessary infrastructure.

Search consultations

KIB provides search consultations for systematic reviews. This is a service primarily offered to researchers at KI; students and doctoral students are offered drop-in or booked consultations in information retrieval. Search consultations are free of charge for KI's researchers and are carried out by librarians with expert competence in conducting systematic literature searches in databases relevant for KI's subject areas.

The search group at KIB follows current evidence-based practices and international guidelines, and monitors current issues in literature search methodology.

Information provider

KIB provides researchers, employees and students with scientific information in the form of articles, databases and books.

The library also provides course literature to a limited extent - if possible, in electronic format, otherwise in print. Students have access to the same literature as researchers, whether in the form of books, journal articles or databases.

KIB also invests in literature that has a certain theme, for example, norm criticism.
Find out more about the library's various book collections. 

Bibliometrics

Bibliometrics consists of making statistical analyses of publications. It is a type of publication measurement (biblos: book and metron: measurement). Bibliometrics are commonly used to analyse research by conducting quantitative studies on publications.

The main purpose of this activity is to give Karolinska Institutet's management the opportunity to analyse KI's research as a basis for business development. The analyses provide an overview of the research at Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm, enabling comparison with the research conducted in the rest of the world.

Secondary purposes include giving other stakeholders within Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm the opportunity to order bibliometric analyses, and to disseminate information to the outside world about the quality of Karolinska Institutet's scientific production and collaborations. Since 2009, Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm have had a common model for distributing direct research funds to departments and clinics according to a performance-based distribution model. In this model, bibliometrics is one of the four subweights used to calculate an activity figure for each department, hospital and clinic.

Support in education

Regardless of where today's KI student chooses to work - in health care, industry, or in research and development - the ability to find and evaluate scientific information will be an invaluable skill. To help KI students develop this skill, we teach workshops and provide consultations to students and doctoral students in information literacy, both on campus and online. You can read more about the education we provide in information skills to students. Here we also detail the basic package we offer educational programmes at KI.

Academic Writing Support, which is a part of the library, provides support to students and doctoral students in academic and popular science writing, as well as in presentation skills and study techniques. Support is available in both Swedish and English, via workshops as well as via individual consultations. Instructors help students develop the structure, style and language of their texts. The aim of each consultation is to give students tools with which they can then improve their texts on their own.

KIB offers many types of courses, workshops and seminars, adjusted for different skill levels and needs. 

During each semester, KIB offers a workshop series in both academic writing and information literacy skills, primarily intended for KI's master's students. Read more about the library's workshops.

Students' workplace

A popular meeting spot for KI students, the library provides accessible study environments for both individual study, group work and open lectures. For those who have a KI card, the library is usually open 7-22, every day, all year round. Library support is provided both digitally and in person. You can get help with loan questions, information searches, reference management and IT. Students with reading and writing difficulties can get help accessing customized media, such as audiobooks, free print-outs and longer loan periods on course books. There are also resource rooms with software for speech synthesis, magnification, advanced spell checking, language lexicon, and more.

More information can be found on the page Study facilities & rooms

Student IT

KIB is responsible for students' IT support. These may include login issues, access to wireless networks, printing, or downloading software. Student IT is also responsible for the operation of KI's computer rooms, and provides support for digital examinations.

Equal opportunities

Karolinska Institutet's activities must be characterised by participation, openness, gender equality and diversity. At the library, we work actively to ensure that our services can be used by all equally. 

KIB has a zero tolerance policy regarding discrimination, sexism and racism. All library visitors and staff must be treated with respect.

Read more about the library's work with equal opportunity

Environment and sustainability

In line with KI's sustainability goals, KIB works actively to reduce the library's negative environmental impact.

The aim is to integrate sustainability into all work that occurs in the library.

Read more at the page Sustainable development

National and international collaborations

Within Sweden

Nationally, KIB is represented in the steering group for the National Library of Sweden's so-called BIBSAM consortium, in the Association of Swedish Higher Education's library director network and in the working group for bibliometrics. We also collaborate with other university and college libraries within the framework of Stockholm Trio and Flemingsberg Science. Representatives of KIB are part of several different networks, such as the reference group for the medical library conference and the network for nursing libraries in Stockholm. KIB has a good collaboration with the hospital libraries in the region. KIB is also a member of the national professional organisation Svensk Biblioteksförening.

Internationally

KIB collaborates within the framework of various international organisations, such as IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations), LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche), EAHIL (European Association for Health Information Libraries), MLA (Medical Library Association) and with other individual libraries.

Annual report

Here you can read the annual report from 2023 (in Swedish only).

Publications

At the library, we are happy to share what we do at work. Below is a list of articles that reflect KIBs activities and the interests of its librarians. 

Articles

Transformative agreements and their practical impact: a librarian perspective S. Parmhed, J. Säll. Insights. 2023:36 (12): 1-7

The library as a physical learning environment at the Karolinska Institutet University Library C. Ahlberg. JEAHIL. 24Jun.2020;16(2):24-8.

Cancelling with the world’s largest scholarly publisher: lessons from the Swedish experience of having no access to Elsevier. L. Olsson, C. Hertil Lindelöw, L. Österlund, F. Jakobsson. Insights. 2020:33 (1): 13.

Using a social platform as an internal communication tool: A case study. Haya G, Lind SM, Janzen S. College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News). 2020;81(1):14–17.

Granularity of Algorithmically Constructed Publication-Level Classifications of Research Publications: Identification of Specialties. Sjögårde P, Ahlgren P. Quantitative Science Studies, 29 August 2019, 1–32. 

Granularity of algorithmically constructed publication-level classifications of research publications: Identification of topics. Sjögårde P, Ahlgren P. Journal of Informetrics. 2017;12(1):133-152.

Why doesn’t everyone love reading e-books?. Myrberg C. Insights. 2017;30(3):115–125.

Letter to the Editor: Are older studies lost in database searches for systematic reviews? Jonsson BH, Winzer R, Gornitzki C. Psychological Medicine. 2017 Nov 27:1–2.

Abandoning native apps to become future friendly. Jergefelt M. Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries. 2015;11(2):36–38.

An internet of pings: enhancing the web user experience of physically present patrons with bluetooth beacons. Jergefelt M. Weave: Journal of Library User Experience. 2015;1(2).

Bringing the national interlending system into the local document supply process – a Swedish case study. Gavel Y. Interlending and Document Supply. 2015;43(2):104–109.

Freewheelin’ scientists: citing Bob Dylan in the biomedical literature. Gornitzki C, Larsson A, Fadeel B. BMJ. 2015;351:h6505.

Screen vs. paper: what is the difference for reading and learning?. Myrberg C, Wiberg N. Insights. 2015;28(2):49–54.

A visit to the library of the Italian Institute of Health in Rome (ISS, Istituto Superiore di Sanità). Carlsson J. Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries. 2014;10(3):21–22.

MOOCs at KI University Library. Ahlberg C. Insights. 2014;27.

Multilingual query expansion in the SveMed+ bibliographic database: a case study. Gavel Y, Andersson P-O. Journal of Information Science. 2014;40(3):269–280.