Public Libraries and Social Capital in Three New York City Neighbourhoods (original) (raw)
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74 IFLA General Conference and Council, Quebec, 2008
According to librarians, public libraries create social capital and trust in most people. According to theories on the creation of social capital, this might well be true. However, there is little research confirming this. Overall, social capital theory is in an impasse regarding what factors generate social capital or generalized trust. Is it universalistic public institutions, voluntary associations, or is it interaction between people? From the point of view of social capital theory, public libraries are interesting cases because libraries are both universalistic institutions and social meeting places. In libraries, both mechanisms can be studied. Preliminary findings support that the library create social capital both ways. The specific ways that the library creates social capital has implications for social capital theory as well as library practice.
WOJCIECHOWSKA Maja. The role of public libraries in the development of social capital in local communities – a theoretical study. In Library Management. 2021, vol. 42. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-10-2020-0139., 2021
Social capital, understood as intangible community values available through a network of connections, is a factor in the development of societies and improving quality of life. It helps to remove economic inequalities and prevent poverty and social exclusion, stimulate social and regional development, civic attitudes and social engagement and build a civic society as well as local and regional identity. Many of these tasks may be implemented by libraries, which, apart from providing access to information, may also offer a number of services associated with social needs. The purpose of this paper is to present the roles and functions that libraries may serve in local communities in terms of assistance, integration and development based on classical social capital theories. Design/methodology/approach-The paper reviews the classical concepts of social capital in the context of libraries. It analyses the findings of Pierre-F elix on their respective concepts, the paper analyses the role of the contemporary library in the social life of local communities. In particular, it focuses on the possible new functions that public libraries may serve. Findings-A critical review of the concept of social capital revealed certain dependencies between libraries and their neighbourhoods. With new services that respond to the actual social needs, libraries may serve as a keystone, namely they may integrate, animate and engage local communities. This, however, requires a certain approach to be adopted by the personnel and governing authorities as well as infrastructure and tangible resources. Originality/value-The social engagement of libraries is usually described from the practical perspective (reports on the services provided) or in the context of research on the impact of respective projects on specific groups of users (research reports). A broader approach, based on original social theories, is rarely encountered. The paper draws on classical concepts of social capital and is a contribution to the discussion on possible uses of those concepts based on an analysis of the role of libraries in social life and in strengthening the social capital of local communities.
Public libraries, social capital, and low intensive meeting places
Information Research, 2007
Introduction. This paper presents a research project aiming at eliciting the potential of public libraries in building social capital, and promoting generalized trust in today's multicultural society. Method. Two approaches to research, the societal approach and the institutional approach are identified. The concept of low intensive versus high intensive meeting places is presented. A survey among inhabitants in four different metropolitan communities varying according to demographic characteristics in general, and the percentage of the population with a non-Western background in particular was undertaken. Initial results from a survey on how the public library is taken into use as a meeting place are presented and analysed. Analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the research question. Results. The survey results indicate that the library is a complex meeting place with a range of meetings along a continuum from high intensive to low intensive meetings.
Role of Public Libraries in Increasing Social Capital: A Case Study of Tehran City
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Do libraries matter? Public libraries and the creation of social capital
Journal of Documentation, 2008
Purpose -Librarians and the library profession keep repeating that libraries contribute greatly to generating social capital by "building community". However, little evidence of this has been presented. This paper aims to be a first step towards correcting this situation by asking whether public libraries matter in the creation of generalized trust. Design/methodology/approach -This study used quantitative data in analyzing macro-level data on whether public library expenditure could explain social trust patterns in the OECD countries. Additionally, a few qualitative interviews with public library leaders in the USA and Norway were used to indicate by what mechanisms, or by which processes, libraries generate generalized trust. Findings -The main finding is that public libraries seem the most important factor in creating generalized trust in the OECD area, even more so than efficient/impartial public institutions. However, there is the problem of causal direction. It might be the case that it is high trusting countries that prioritize public libraries. Therefore, times series data are needed as well as qualitative data on the process of trust creation in the library. Interviews with library leaders point towards the fact that they see outreach activities as creating trust and that people trust the library. Replication of these results, however, is crucial. Moreover, the findings appear to indicate that when the library's attention is directed at disadvantaged groups of non-users it is the widespread trust in the public library institution that breeds trust among these groups too. Originality/value -The paper contributes to the understanding/theory of the creation of generalized trust in general and to the role of the public library in this process.
Open Information Science
Many surveys have suggested that U.S. public library usage correlates with socioeconomic status and race; persons identifying as Non-Hispanic White, highly-educated, and affluent claim to use library services at a rate greater than those not belonging to these groups. These findings suggests that the dominant model of library service—a brick and mortar localized service point—interfaces poorly with marginalized and disenfranchised persons. This paper combines Public Library Survey and American Community Survey data for 49 U.S. states to explore the relationship between socioeconomic variables and public library usage. Using Bayesian hierarchical modeling, this paper finds corroboration for these surveys at the “community-level,” i.e., communities with higher socioeconomic status and more Non-Hispanic Whiteness are associated with greater levels of library activity. It also finds, using propensity score matching, that local funding is strongly associated with library activity, unders...
The Socioeconomic Profile of Well-Funded Public Libraries: A Regression Analysis
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