scholarly journals Enacting property: Making space for the public in the municipal library

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M Freeman ◽  
Nick Blomley
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Property ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship ◽  
Social Service Provider ◽  
The Uk

The space of the municipal library is changing. Libraries are no longer the traditional haven for quiet contemplation. In many cities across North America and the UK, municipal libraries have become a central social hub, a social service provider and a place of shelter for the marginal. In combination with technological advances and the hovering threat of budget cuts, the space of the library and the multiple publics it serves has becoming increasingly debated. We argue that the library and its changing mandate can be usefully understood through a property lens. The library is not only public space, we argue, but also public property. The manner in which the library, as public property, is enacted, is complicated most immediately by the competing conceptions of the ‘public’ that the library is to serve, but also by the ambivalent relationship between the ‘public’ and the ‘private’, and by the spatiality of the library itself. We demonstrate these complications in the context of changes to the sleeping policy in the Edmonton Public Library in Alberta, Canada (2014–2015).

scholarly journals The Dangers of Hoaxes in Building Civil Society in the Era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0

2021 ◽  
pp. 117-138
Author(s):  
Muhamad Basitur Rijal Gus Rijal ◽  
Ahyani Hisam ◽  
Abdul Basit
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Ideal

Civil society (civil society) as the ideal structure of society's life that is aspired to, but building a civil society is not easy. There are preconditions that must be met by the community in making it happen. Coupled with technological advances in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.o like today, where information can spread easily through various online media unlimitedly in spreading hoaxes. This research seeks to uncover the dangers of hoaxes in building civil society. This research uses descriptive analytical method by examining the sources of literature related to building civil society in the Industrial Revolution 4.o. This research found that the public space is a means of free speech; democratic behavior; tolerant; pluralism; and social justice can shape civil society. whereas the impact of hoax news greatly affects the way people perceive a certain issue, so that people cannot distinguish which news is real or fake news which causes them to be incited by fake news that is spread.

A new page? The public library in austerity

2020 ◽  
pp. 227-248
Author(s):  
Emma Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Marked Decrease ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communal Space ◽  
Clear Shift ◽  
The Uk

This chapter demonstrates how, in the UK, austerity has not been limited to the provision of social security. Most government departmental budgets were cut and there was a clear shift in responsibility from central to local government, which also had its budgets slashed. The cuts to local government have also resulted in a marked decrease in the provision of key services. The chapter finds that libraries can be important spaces for support workers to meet clients, as well as for those with fewer resources to access computers, books, or simply a safe communal space outside of their home. Future lack of investment in universal public services may perpetuate and further widen the inequalities in access to these resources.

Yelling ‘Fire’ in a Crowded Occupation: Cynical Fire Hazard Claims and the Technocratic Containment of Dissent

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-573
Author(s):  
Honor Brabazon
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Uk

While the privatisation of public space has been the subject of considerable research, literature exploring the shifting boundaries between public and private law, and the role of those shifts in the expansion of neo-liberal social relations, has been slower to develop. This article explores the use of fire safety regulations to evict political occupations in the context of these shifts. Two examples from the UK student occupation movement and two from the US Occupy movement demonstrate how discourses and logics of both private and public law are mobilised through fire hazard claims to create the potent image of a neutral containment of dissent on technical grounds in the public interest – an image that proves difficult to contest. However, the recourse to the public interest and to expert opinion that underpins fire hazard claims is inconsistent with principles governing the limited neo-liberal political sphere, which underscores the pragmatic and continually negotiated implementation of neo-liberal ideas. The article sheds light on the complexity of the extending reach of private law, on the resilience of the public sphere and on the significance of occupations as a battleground on which struggles over neo-liberal social relations and subjectivities play out.

scholarly journals La bibliothèque au-delà de la bibliothèque

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 86-95
Author(s):  
Maurizio Bergamaschi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The Public ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Surrounding Areas

The public library of Casalecchio di Reno, a small town near Bologna (Italy), is an articulated and multifunctional space, a reference point not only for the municipality but also for the surrounding areas. This library is characterized by multiple spaces and functions, some of which are well-defi ned whilst others less, and diff erent groups of population use it. Together, its low level of regulatory framework, its geographical location and its confi guration as a «public space» make this library both a place of culture and a place of hospitality and friendliness in urban space. By analysing the everyday practices and the concrete actions performed by the subjects, the present study focused on the redefinition of space and on the practices of re-signifi cation, as well as on the manifest or latent needs that underlie such practices.

A Secure Hybrid Network Solution to Enhance the Resilience of the UK Government National Critical Infrastructure TETRA Deployment

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Devon Bennett ◽  
Hamid Jahankhani ◽  
Mohammad Dastbaz ◽  
Hossein Jahankhani
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Cellular Systems ◽  
Hybrid Network ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
Communication Traffic ◽  
The Uk

In developed economies, electronic communication infrastructures are crucial for daily public, private, and business interactions. Cellular systems are extensively used for business communications, private interaction, and in some cases, public information services, via such uses as mass SMS messaging. The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is at the core of all communications platforms. It was used primarily for voice communication purposes, but with current technological advances, this platform has been transformed from a voice to voice interface to a web enabled multimedia platform that provides commercial, business, and e-commerce services to the public. In response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist acts in New York City, the UK government introduced a policy of separating and transferring all emergency communication traffic from the PSTN to a digital public safety network based on the TETRA architecture. This paper extends the utilisation of the TETRA deployment by discussing a secure MANET hybrid solution for use in extreme situations as a short/mid-term EMS organisational communication platform for emergency and rescue operations.

scholarly journals Interlending and resource sharing in UK public libraries: A mixed methods study

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Wakeling ◽  
Sophie Rutter ◽  
Briony Birdi ◽  
Stephen Pinfield
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
The Public ◽  
Library Funding ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This paper presents the results of a mixed methods study of interlending and resource sharing in UK public libraries, based on the results of a survey distributed to both senior library managers and interlending staff, and in-depth follow-up interviews with 20 respondents. We present an analysis of perspectives towards rates of interlending, the rationales and strategies for providing the service, the perceived value for money offered by various interlending schemes, the impact of the current digital environment, and views on the future of interlending in the UK. Our findings suggest that while interlending services are undoubtedly threatened by the drastic cuts to public library funding, and that demand for the service is more generally in decline, resource sharing is viewed by some as a potential means of mitigating the effects of increasingly limited acquisitions budgets, and ensuring the public library system continues to provide access to a wide range of resources for its users.

Social Service Films in the Public Library

1942 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 258-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM STEWART
Keyword(s):  
Social Service ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The Public

Neighborhood Resource Center

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Sol M. Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Social Service ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Social Service Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Resource Center ◽  
To Come ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Service Agencies ◽  
Neighborhood Resource

The Library Partnership is a jointly operated facility that offers area residents full public library services and access to approximately thirty (30) social service agencies. The collaboration provides a unique environment for clients to receive counseling and advice from social service agencies and the resources, assistance, and services to address their needs from the public library all in one location . Clients are often referred to the library for a variety of eGovernment and other services. The presence of a public library allows potential and scheduled clients to come to the facility without the stigma often attached to entering a social service assistance center.

Join the queue: Including women’s toilet needs in public space

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 908-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Greed
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Gender Recognition ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
The Public ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
The Uk

The trend towards desegregated women’s and men’s toilets, including installing Gender Neutral Toilets (GNTs), and the implications of revisions to the Gender Recognition Act for women-only spaces, have brought into focus the pre-existing lack of female toilet provision in the UK. Looking at the problem from a town planning perspective, I argue that austerity-driven cuts are coming together with GNT provision to reshape the public toilet landscape in ways that continue to be detrimental to women. Typically women are only provided with half as many facilities as men, resulting in queues for the Ladies, and GNT provision based on relabelling rather than redesigned or additional provision can, in fact, increase competition for the cubicles in the Ladies. The historical, legislative and cultural reasons for this inequality are explored, along with the different types of public toilet and the different requirements of male and female users. The article draws on previous research project findings, many of which foreshadow the problems currently coming to the fore as a result of toilet desegregation. In conclusion, recommendations are made as to how to deal with the conundrum of providing adequate facilities for all women and men, whilst providing all sorts of individuals with choice and privacy to create inclusive, accessible cities for all.

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