scholarly journals Public libraries as an infrastructure for a sustainable public sphere

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ragnar Audunson ◽  
Svanhild Aabø ◽  
Roger Blomgren ◽  
Sunniva Evjen ◽  
Henrik Jochumsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Digital World

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the shaping of public libraries as an infrastructure for a sustainable public sphere through a comprehensive literature review. Design/methodology/approach In order to capture the whole picture of this research field, we utilize comprehensive review methodology. The major research questions are: first, to what extent have research topics regarding libraries as public sphere institutions expanded and diversified? Which theoretical perspectives inform research? Second, which challenges and topics does the research focus upon, such as: social inclusion and equal access to information; digital inequalities; censorship and freedom of expression; and access to places and spaces with a democratic potential and the role of libraries in that respect? Third, what influence has social media exerted on libraries in the context of the expanding digital world? Findings The authors identified mainly four themes regarding the public library and public sphere, such as: the importance of public libraries by using Habermas’s theory; the function of meeting places within the public library and setting those places in the center of the library in order to enhance and encourage democracy; the relationship between social inclusion and public libraries and its functions in current society such as diminishing the digital divide; and the emerging electronic resources and arena of SNS in public libraries and utilizing them to reach citizens. Originality/value Capturing the recent history of this research field through comprehensive review is valuable.

Non-traditional library collections – in digital and other worlds

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 165-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Michnik ◽  
Catarina Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
The Public ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Library Collections

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to study how public libraries argue for the inclusion of non-traditional library collections and to identify public library objectives related to these collections. Design/methodology/approach – The data was collected through a Web survey which was sent to public library managers in all Swedish municipalities. Data were analyzed using a model in which public library practices are divided into three categories relating to the public library’s goals, activities and tools. Findings – Three different main arguments are used to support the introduction of non-traditional collections: as a contribution to public library goals or activities to attract non-users and as the result of external requests or needs. Through analysis of the survey results, the public library’s common goal, a socially sustainable society, was identified. Other library goals identified were an environmentally sustainable society and an improved library. Practical implications – The results may inspire practitioners to reflect upon how non-traditional collections are related to library goals and activities and what consequences their inclusion may have for the library. For example, if non-traditional collections are used only to attract new users, there is a risk of creating expectations that the library cannot live up to. Originality/value – Today, focus is placed on the conditions for public libraries in the digital world. It is easy to overlook the importance of non-traditional library collections, and the role they fulfill. This article draws attention to these collections and their possible consequences for public libraries.

Public librarians' perception of their professional role and the library's role in supporting the public sphere: a multi-country comparison

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Johnston ◽  
Ágústa Pálsdóttir ◽  
Anna Mierzecka ◽  
Ragnar Andreas Audunson ◽  
Hans-Christoph Hobohm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Professional Role ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
The Public Sphere

PurposeThe overarching aim of this article is to consider to what extent the perceptions of librarians in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland and Sweden reflect a unified view of their professional role and the role of their institutions in supporting the formation of the public sphere and to what extent the variations reflect national contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe multi-country comparison is based on online questionnaires. The central research questions are how do librarians legitimize the use of public resources to uphold a public library service? How do librarians perceive the role of public libraries as public spaces? How do librarians perceive their professional role and the competencies needed for it? Consideration is given to how the digital and social turns are reflected in the responses.FindingsThe results show evidence of a unified professional culture with clear influences from national contexts. A key finding is that librarians see giving access as central for both legitimizing library services and for the library's role as a public sphere institution. Strong support is shown for the social turn in supporting the formation of the public sphere while the digital turn appears to be a future challenge; one of seemingly increased importance due to the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThis study shows that libraries across the seven countries have expanded beyond simply providing public access to their book-based collections and now serve as social, learning and creative spaces: both in the physical library and digitally. Qualitative research is needed concerning librarians' notions of public libraries and librarianship, which will provide a more in-depth understanding of the changing professional responsibilities and how public libraries recruit the associated competencies.Originality/valueThe article provides a much needed insight into how librarians perceive the role of public libraries in supporting the formation of the public sphere and democratic processes, as well as their own role.

Conceptual modelling of the public sphere in public libraries

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael M. Widdersheim ◽  
Masanori Koizumi
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to construct a conceptual model of the public sphere in public libraries. Various international authors over the past 20 years have associated the public sphere with public libraries, but these associations have yet to be clarified and synthesized in a comprehensive way. Design/methodology/approach – This study used qualitative content analysis to identify the dimensions of the public sphere in public libraries. The study’s scope included annual reports from an urban US public library system from 1900 to 2010. Findings – Six dimensions of the public sphere in public libraries are described with examples. The dimensions are: core criteria; internal public sphere; external public sphere; collect and organize discourse; perform legitimation processes; and facilitate discourse. Three of these dimensions are newly identified. The six total dimensions are synthesized into a comprehensive conceptual model with three discourse arenas: governance and management; legitimation; and commons. Originality/value – This study is distinctive because it used a data-based, empirical approach to public libraries to an abstract sociological concept. Three dimensions of the model are new to library studies literature and therefore represent new potential areas of inquiry. The resulting conceptual model is useful for both practitioners and researchers in the public library sector. Further, the model contributes to existing social and political theory.

Surpassing the business model: a public sphere approach to public library management

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 404-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Koizumi ◽  
Michael M. Widdersheim
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Shared Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Library Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Public Library Management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the characteristics of the public sphere with those of a shared value approach and better understand the value that public libraries can offer to management theory. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses two methods. First, this study uses a systematic literature review to identify sources relevant to shared value and the public sphere in public libraries. Next, this study uses comparative theoretical analysis using data gathered from the systematic review to analyse the two theories. Findings This study successfully describes the similarities and differences between “shared value” and the “public sphere in public libraries”. Originality/value This study elucidates public library innovation from the perspectives of library management and the public sphere concept.

scholarly journals The public sphere and Habermas: reflections on the current state of theory in public library research

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-258
Author(s):  
Håkon Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
The Public ◽  
Library Research ◽  
The Public Sphere

PurposeThis article addresses a recent debate in this journal between Buschman and Widdersheim and Koizumi on public libraries and public sphere theory in library and information science (LIS). The article moves beyond the debate as the debate has been too focused on the theories of Jürgen Habermas. In order to really understand the democratic mission of public libraries and how it is related to the public sphere, the author argues that LIS scholars need to look beyond Habermas' theories of the public sphere.Design/methodology/approachThis is a theoretical article that discusses different theories of the public sphere, and how they have been and can be applied in library and information science.FindingsThe author finds that a main disagreement between Buschman and Widdersheim and Koizumi is whether one can use the concept of a public sphere without doing it in a “traditional” Habermasian way. The answers put forward in this article, is that we can and should look beyond Habermas' work when seeking to understand the role of public libraries as public spheres.Originality/valueThe article puts forward theories that are not commonly used in LIS, and advocates for broadening the theoretical scope of LIS scholars studying the relations between public libraries and public spheres.

Immaterial labour, public librarians, and third-generation public libraries

2016 ◽  
Vol 117 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 186-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan A Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Future ◽  
Public Librarians ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
Blind Spots

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to draw attention to one specific upper-level government policy document in which a discourse of perpetual innovation and customer service is promoted, and the kinds of questions such discursive interventions raise for the future of work in public libraries; and second, to demonstrate the explanatory potential of the concept of immaterial labour for questions relating to emerging labour processes in libraries. The concepts of “prosumer” and Web 2.0 are included as discursive resources of relevance to any discussion of immaterial labour. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of a public policy visioning document for public libraries in Ontario, Canada, with reflections on related literatures. Findings – The concept of immaterial labour provides an additional analytic tool suitable for questions of relevance to public librarians and library scholars. Within the government text under review which deals specifically with the future of the public library to 2020, the identity of the public librarian is alarmingly absent. Conversely, the library patron as a producer and consumer is privileged. Research limitations/implications – Failure to attend to the broader policy arena within which the public library resides creates dangerous blind spots for public library professionals, educators and researchers. Practical implications – This paper demonstrates the value of a discourse analysis for uncovering the ideological dimensions of policy documents, while simultaneously modelling the method using the kind of policy text commonly produced in governments around the world. Social implications – This paper shows how failure to attend to the broader policy arena within which the public library resides creates dangerous blind spots for the public library community. Originality/value – This paper contextualizes the immaterial and volunteer labour of the public library user as producer/consumer in the context of the future of the frontline professional and waged librarian.

Democracy, digitisation and public libraries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Skøtt
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
National Library ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Media Types

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate what democratic challenges the digitisation of the public libraries in Denmark has entailed. Using the concepts from a national library professional strategy from 2012, an analysis of 9 librarians’ experiences with digital dissemination in practice is conducted. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a part of a larger research project called “If digitisation is the answer, then what was the question?”. This sub study builds on the semi-structured interviews with library staff members, case-descriptions of two central providers of digital public library materials, as well as literature studies of missions, vision and strategies from different public library policy institutions. To frame the study, a literature review has been conducted. Findings The author detects the presence of several incompatible conditions in digital dissemination. These conditions are predominantly of an organisational nature, potentially containing major consequences for citizens’ free and equal access to information, knowledge and culture. Among other things, the Danish public libraries risk substantiating an already existing and problematic polarisation between technologically capable and incapacitated groups of people. Originality/value The digital transformation of society has only just begun. Therefore, it is important to examine the consequences of the transition to digital media types for central cultural institution such as the public libraries. The present study is an early and minor contribution to the illumination of a process requiring many more and large-scale studies.

Public libraries and public primary school literacy: a Kenyan case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 689-701
Author(s):  
Peter Mose
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
School Type ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
Teachers And Parents

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain how public libraries have been instrumental in early child school literacy teaching and learning. Most African public schools do not usually afford enough core textbooks and supplementary readers.Design/methodology/approachThis was a qualitative case study in Western Kenya amongst public library staff members, public primary school teachers and parents of library children clients. The following questions were addressed: What is the book situation in public primary schools in the study site? What school-type literacy-related services are offered by the sampled public library? and What are library staff members’, teachers’ and parents’ feelings about the public library services offered? Observations, interviews and document studies were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically.FindingsPublic schools do not have enough core textbooks and the situation is worse for supplementary readers; the public library branch studied offers critical school-type literacies to school children both at the library building as well as at public schools registered with it; and library staff members, teachers, and parents express positive feelings about the services offered.Research limitations/implicationsThis was a case study whose findings might not apply to the larger situation and the study did not confirm actual literacy benefits of the library services amongst school children by, for instance, conducting literacy tests. The findings are, however, an index to the possible situation in the macro context.Practical implicationsThe relevant stakeholders should find ways of co-opting public libraries as associates of public schools in literacy teaching. This relationship is not straight forward in Kenya.Originality/valueThe findings reported are from original research.

A study of the evaluation of a library’s economic value based on the users’ and librarians’ perceptions

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-596
Author(s):  
Younghee Noh
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Evaluation Index ◽  
Human Resources Development ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose This study aims to develop an evaluation index to evaluate the economic value among the values of the library and also attempts to measure the economic value of the library by performing a survey of the librarians and users at public libraries. The results of this research would likely encourage the librarians to feel increasingly confident about the library, while students and users, in general, would also likely be able to realize the economic value and presence of the library in more perceptive ways, thereby contributing to the activation of the library. Design/methodology/approach This study pertains to the development of an evaluation index for assessing the economic value of the library and, to evaluate the economic value of the library, has derived a preliminary evaluation index by collectively gathering and analyzing the domestic and foreign papers on the value of the library in its first phase. The preliminary evaluation index derived was verified by conducting three phases of Delphi survey by selecting ten experts. The survey questionnaire was developed to measure the economic value based on the final evaluation index derived from this study, and the economic value was measured against the perceptions of librarians and users of the public library. Findings The economic value of the library was divided into the four categories of the local economy’s value enhancement, namely, connection with the local community, human resources development, job creation and investment value enhancement for the librarians and users surveyed for assessment purposes. Consequently, the area of connection with the local community turned out to be the highest at 4.15, followed by 4.02 of the investment value improvement, 3.58 for the local economy’s value improvement and 3.50 for the human resources development and job creation, respectively. Furthermore, the respondents demonstrated the highest level of consensus on average on how the resource sharing by libraries has helped to reduce the economic burden for the residents as a matter of social value for the public library while believing that the libraries deliver a high level of return on social investments. Originality/value There are not that many studies conducted on the economic influence or the value of public libraries in Korea, and they are merely referenced in part if and when referenced to the overall value of the library. Given that, the research that focuses only on the economic value of the library must be carried out. In this respect, this research has been quite meaningful. The evaluation index developed in this research is likely to become a basic tool that can be applied to public libraries, as well as other types of libraries. Furthermore, the evaluation index developed through this research could be applied to nonprofit organizations, such as libraries, and would likely have a social ripple effect as a research that evaluates and presents the economic value of libraries. Accordingly, in this research, we have analyzed the list presented by the American Library Association and domestic research results, and have also structured the core details and derived the preliminary economic value index. Finally, 4 evaluation areas, 7 evaluation items and 22 evaluation indicators have been developed through the Delphi survey through three phases.

scholarly journals Free and for all? A comparative study of programs with user fees in North American and Danish public libraries

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 103-115
Author(s):  
Noah Lenstra ◽  
Mia Høj Mathiasson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
User Fees ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Cross National

PurposeAs a research topic within the field of LIS, programs in public libraries are underexplored, and the question of user fees for programs has not previously been addressed.Design/methodology/approachThis article compares data collected from two individually conducted studies of public library programs in North America and Denmark to enrich our understanding of user fees in relation to programs.FindingsThe comparative analysis shows both similarities and deviations regarding the levying of fees for library programs. While paying a fee to attend a program is rather normal in Denmark, it is more of a fringe idea in North America.Research limitations/implicationsBy exploring a previously understudied facet of contemporary public librarianship, this article opens up new avenues for inquiry regarding how the relative accessibility and availability of programs relate to theoretical discussions about programs as public library services.Practical implicationsThis article provides library managers with needed information about how to conceptualize the roles of programs as public library services.Social implicationsAs programming surges to the fore in contemporary public librarianship, the levying of user fees has social implications in terms of social equity and the public library ethos of free and equal access for all.Originality/valueThis article is the first study of user fees for public library programs, as well as among the first cross-national comparisons of programming as a dimension of public librarianship.

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