Grace, D. and Sen, B.A. (2013) Community resilience and the role of the public library. Library Trends, 61 (3). pp. 513-541.
Abstract
Communities face increasing threats from disasters precipitated by climate change, biodiversity loss, and energy and food insecurity. In the face of such threats, communities must adopt strategies that build resilience. The library has a role to play in such strategies. This study explores how, through an examination of day-to-day working practices, public libraries promote and inhibit community resilience. The methodology used combined autoethnography and situational analysis. A reflective journal was kept documenting experience across a period of four months. Situational analysis was used to elucidate the data content. Several areas of interest emerged: the existence of a split between the social worlds of the library worker and user, the role of technology in this split, the role of professionalism as discourse in rationalizing the use of certain technologies, the role of management in perpetuating this discourse, the place of outreach in bridging the gap between these social worlds, and the environment as an abiding concern. Each of these areas provides a potential site for new policies and practices and for further research regarding the role of the public library in building community resilience.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. This article first appeared in Library Trends, Volume 61, Issue 3 pages 513-541 |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Miss Anthea Tucker |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jun 2013 14:11 |
Last Modified: | 05 Jun 2014 11:04 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lib.2013.0008 |
Status: | Published |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:75802 |