Knut Oterholm

Knut Oterholm is an Associate Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences and specifically the Department of Archivistics, Library and Information Science. His office is located at Pilestredet 48, 0167 Oslo (Office R423), and he can be reached at mobile: +47 482 28 175 or office: +47 672 38 216.

His primary research focuses on the Sociology of Literature, examining practical evaluative cultures among professional and avid readers. Oterholm investigates how readers evaluate and articulate their aesthetic reading experiences and explores the value and meaning of these experiences when literature is evaluated. He is a member of the 'Mediation of Culture and Literature' research group and has co-edited the book 'Plotting the reading experience – theory / practice / politics' published by Wilfred Laureier Press.

Oterholm's scholarly output demonstrates a consistent trajectory examining literary evaluation across diverse contexts. His work spans from early investigations of literary mediation in blogs (2015) and public libraries (2016), to broader explorations of reading experiences and quality assessment in professional reading contexts (2019), and more recent analyses of conversational evaluation practices (2025), literary festival dynamics in Norwegian cities (2023), and the conceptual transition from readers' advisory to literary advocacy (2022).

His research bridges library and information science with literary sociology, creating a distinctive perspective on how literature is evaluated, discussed, and mediated in contemporary society. This interdisciplinary approach informs both theoretical understandings of literary value and practical applications in cultural institutions.