The paper reports on a study of 12 Danish high school students’ perceptions of public libraries’ role in learning, user education, information literacy, and librarians’ information competencies. The study is undertaken by use of literature review and interviews with a purposive select sample of public library users in Denmark. The study demonstrates that public libraries are considered an important place for learning. The high school students view the public librarians as very competent and as good at helping them to develop their information needs, identify sources, and support the students in the information search processes. The high school students show rather good critical skills, but poor information need developing skills. The study further shows that concepts of information literacy and lifelong learning are not very well understood by the users, i.e. the high school students. The results have a range of implications, both for pedagogical praxis in the public library and for Library and Information Science (LIS).

This paper reports on the results of an empirical study of public librarians' conception of how public libraries support lifelong learning, as well as the role of information literacy in relation to lifelong learning. Lifelong learning has become essential to all people in today's information society as a result of easy and free access to information. A basic understanding of the concept is "learning throughout life, either continuously or periodically". This implies that learning is not restricted to educational institutions, but can also take place in for example the public library. Public libraries thus may play an important role in supporting the learning process not the least because lifelong learning is characterised by the inclusion of informal elements of learning, flexible learning opportunities, and a shift towards self-directed learning. This selfdirected learning promotes active citizenship and employability, thereby enabling people to participate in all spheres of social, political and economic life. Therefore, how do the public librarians conceive the learning responsibility and their own role in supporting lifelong learning? Furthermore, how do public librarians become better at teaching? The study reports on data from 12 interviews of purposely selected public librarians and a large-scale e-mail survey (questionnaire). The e-mail survey contained 28 questions and was sent to all staff members in public libraries in Denmark, and resulted in 986 responses. The results show that the public librarians consider the public library to be an important place for learning. The results also show how the public librarians find that they could become better at teaching and facilitating learning. This could in turn affect the sharing of knowledge and collaboration.

Intet abstract

Abstract. This paper reports on the results of an empirical study of Danish public librarians' conceptions of information literacy and user education in order to support and optimize lifelong learning of library users. The study builds on data from interviews of purposely selected public librarians and a large-scale e-mail survey (questionnaire). The results show that the public librarians consider the public library an important place for learning, but also that they do not share a common understanding of the concepts of information literacy and lifelong learning. The study further reveals a diversity of user education in public libraries with a strong focus on the individuality of the user and that hands-on courses are preferred as the pedagogical form.Keywords: Information literacy, lifelong learning, public library, user education, information literacy instruction. IntroductionThis paper reports on a study of perception of information literacy and learning among public librarians and public library managers. In this study, we identify how they perceive information literacy and which types of courses and guidance they provide to the users. The study is motivated by a need for a deeper understanding of the role of the public library as a place for learning and how public librarians can support learning. This knowledge is essential for public librarians and library managers as a prerequisite to discuss, to improve, and to adapt information literacy education to users' needs. In order to improve information literacy instruction in the public library and to qualify public librarians for user education, one of the first things we need to understand is what information literacy is in the public library context, and how the public library support users through courses and guidance. It is therefore our ambition with the present study to enhance our understanding and to bring new insight on how information literacy is understood. As a result, public librarians may adjust services and pedagogies to the needs of individuals, as well as to specific target groups, when they design information literacy education. To do this, the present paper aims at answering the following research questions:1. How do public librarians perceive information literacy? 2. What types of courses are offered in the public library?

Intet abstract