Public libraries and lifelong learning

Abstract

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.

Databrarian ed? Preparing Information Specialists for Participation in an Open Datafied Society

“…Inadequate preparation of librarians for their roles in learning and teaching has been a recurring theme in the literature for decades and now surpasses cataloguing education as the issue attracting the most criticism from practitioners, who highlight the 'contradiction' (Davies-Hoffman et al, 2013, 9), 'troubling disconnect' (Brecher and Klipfel, 2014, 43) and 'severe mismatch' (Hensley, 2015, 315) between academic curricula and library practice at a time when 'instruction constitutes a core activity for most librarians' (Davies-Hoffman et al, 2013, 10) and 'almost all librarians teach in some manner throughout their career, whether it be for students and faculty as formal library instruction, at the reference desk, as part of outreach efforts, or staff training initiatives' (Hensley, 2015, 317). The role of librarians in facilitating self-directed and problem-based learning has long been recognised in the reference work of academic libraries (Currie, 2000;Miller 2001) and in lifelong learning support in public libraries (Nielsen and Borlund, 2014), where instructional work may cover 'accessing and using new technologies, finding and applying for jobs, and navigating information sources for research and personal needs' (Saunders, 2015, 2).…”

“…...neither a historical burden nor a contemporary quirk'. Yet many librarians feel they lack the pedagogical competencies for such roles, especially in public libraries (Nielsen and Borlund, 2014). While a growing proportion of LIS programmes offer one or more specialist electives on the subject and some offer apprenticeships/field experiences, others cover the topic only as a minor part of a reference course and few schools make pedagogy a major part of their core curriculum; the quality of offerings has also been criticised (Brecher and Klipfel, 2014;Davies-Hoffman et al, 2013;Hensley, 2015;Raju, 2017;Saunders, 2015).…”