Perceived outcomes of public libraries in Finland, Norway and the Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study is to compare the perceived benefits of public libraries and their structure in the major areas of life between Finland, Norway and the Netherlands Design/methodology/approach: The data was based on representative samples of Finnish, Norwegian and Dutch adult library users. In Finland a mail survey was used and in Norway and the Netherlands web surveys were used for data collection. The distribution of the proportion of those benefiting from the library in various areas of life at least sometimes was compared across countries. The structure of benefits was compared across countries by factor analysis. Findings: The results showed that the level of the nineteen benefits observed was considerably higher, and the range of benefits remarkably broader in Finland compared to Norway and the Netherlands. It is likely that the greater supply of library services in Finland compared to the other two countries explains the differences in benefits derived from the public library. The study validated the measurement instrument for the perceived overall outcomes of public libraries. Research limitations/implications:Comparing only three countries is too limited for producing valid results on the relations between the supply of library services and their use and the benefits derived from that use. Analysing these associations in a larger sample of countries would create reliable results also for policy making. Practical implications: The policy implications of these findings are discussed. Originality/value: This is the first across-country comparison observing perceived benefits of public libraries across major areas of life.

Result List Actions in Fiction Search

“…Borrowing books is the most popular activity among library users [17]. Enjoying reading books, fiction in particular, was clearly the major outcome of using the public library in Finland, Norway and the Netherlands [22].…”

Patterns of perceived public library outcomes in five countries

“…Vakkari et al, 2014). In other countries than the U.S. both library supply and users' perceptions of benefits are on a lower level compared to Finland.…”

“…Research on public library outcomes has expanded from evaluating the outcomes provided by individual library programs or libraries to surveying how public libraries benefit citizens in a particular country (Streatfield, 2012;Vakkari et al, 2014). The studies focusing on individual libraries are important in informing library policy at municipal level, but they cannot shed light on the larger social role of public libraries and policy decisions at national level.…”

“…Covering a broader range of services, a survey in six African countries explored the benefits people derived from using public libraries (EIFL, 2011). Vakkari et al (2014) compared the outcomes of public libraries in 19 areas of life in Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. In comparative studies in LIS in general, it has been scarce to overcome pure descriptive analysis for properly identifying and comparing factors producing variation in the phenomenon of interest (Lor, 2014).…”

A könyvtár haszna az egyes demográfiai változók alapján

“…A kérdés azt feltételezi, hogy a könyvtár igen sokféle területen hasznosulhat. 5 Például, ha valaki a könyvtárból veszi kölcsön az útikönyvet, amelyet a nyaralásnál használ, akkor ő utazáshoz használta a könyvtárat. Ha valaki a gyerekét a könyvtárban hagyja, amíg ő maga elintézi a hivatali ügyeit, akkor a gyermeknevelés, gyermekmegőrzés területén hasznosultak számára az intézményeink szolgáltatásai.…”