The Past Public Library Observed: User Perceptions and Recollections of the Twentieth‐Century British Public Library Recorded in the Mass‐Observation Archive

Black, Alistair

doi:10.1086/511100

Cited by 39 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…As Gold (1990, p. 24) states, "What is regarded as great literature is what the authorities have decided will last," critiquing notions of the literary canon in relation to narratives of power. Similar debates abound throughout the academic literature discussing the provision of materials in public libraries, with some authors concluding that the aim of libraries is to provide literature for the betterment of the general populace, with others arguing that libraries should provide the materials that readers want to read rather than those they "should" read (Black, 2006;Stewart, 2006;Usherwood, 2007).…”

Section: Bibliotherapy In the United Kingdommentioning

confidence: 90%

Mind the Gap: Do Librarians Understand Service User Perspectives on Bibliotherapy?

Brewster¹,

Sen²,

Cox³

2013

lib

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Article:Brewster, L., Sen, B.A. and Cox, A.M. (2013) Mind the gap: do librarians understand service user perspectives on bibliotherapy? Library Trends, 61 (3). pp. 569-586.eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version -refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher's website. TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. Mind the Gap: Do Librarians Understand Service User Perspectives on Bibliotherapy?Liz Brewster, Barbara Sen, and Andrew Cox Abstract Bibliotherapy schemes aim to improve mental health and well-being. Schemes focus on engagement with either imaginative literature or self-help texts and are now commonplace in U.K. public libraries. Impetus for bibliotherapy schemes was influenced by health policy and a drive toward partnership working. There is a recognized need for in-depth evaluation of bibliotherapy services; the lack of evaluation is problematic, as the schemes are designed without reference to service user perspectives. There is a need to identify and analyze usage to assess effectiveness of the schemes. Drawing on data from interviews and focus groups with library and health professionals and service users, this article explores the service provider and service user perspective on bibliotherapy schemes. It concludes that-for service providers-there is a lack of clarity and understanding about how bibliotherapy works, and this impacts on the experience of service users. While service providers and service users share a common goal of improving mental health and well-being, their understandings of bibliotherapy differ, meaning there is a potential gap between service provision and service user needs. The article concludes that in-depth research influenced by user-centered design principles, may help to improve services in practice.

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Section: Bibliotherapy In the United Kingdommentioning

confidence: 90%

Mind the Gap: Do Librarians Understand Service User Perspectives on Bibliotherapy?

Brewster¹,

Sen²,

Cox³

2013

lib

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“…The second and third of these directives were commissioned by the author. Evidence from the 1988 and 1999 directives has featured in studies by Black and Muddiman (1997), Black and Crann (2002) and Black (2006). The directive on public libraries in 1999 generated enough interesting commentary on public library buildings to justify a further directive on this subject alone.…”

Section: Methododologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MOA is an open-access social science research organization and repository. Methodological issues relating to the MOA have been discussed at length previously, including in studies undertaken by the author (Black, 2006;Black and Crann, 2002). Nevertheless, a summary of these issues is appropriate here.…”

Section: Methododologymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘We don’t do public libraries like we used to’: Attitudes to public library buildings in the UK at the start of the 21st century

Black

2011

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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Introduction 'We don't do public libraries like we used to', wrote a volunteer of the internationally renowned Mass-Observation Archive (MOA), University of Sussex in response to a recent survey of attitudes to public library buildings in the UK. The writer continues:That pioneering, philanthropic Victorian zeal that created some of our best and most historic library buildings has long been eroded by dullard councillors, 'visionary' 60s planners who gave us insubstantial open plan flat-roofed nightmare buildings, and penny pinching central government, who don't have the imagination to see that public libraries are essential to the democratic process and self-advancement.The inference in this statement is that, if the state of their built forms is anything to go by, public library services in Britain are in decline and have been for decades. Employing evidence garnered from the MOA, this article examines public attitudes to the design of public libraries in Britain and contextualizes these attitudes in discourses on the subject issued by librarians, planners, politicians, architects, and architectural and cultural commentators. The study Article AbstractAlthough the quality, performance and future of public library services in the UK is a matter of debate, there is little doubt that in recent years, despite claims relating to the emergence of a cyber-society, interest in library buildings and the library as 'place' has been intense, almost matching that seen during the Carnegie era of mass public library building in the early 20th century. Tapping into this renewed enthusiasm for the library built form, this article analyses evidence collected by the Mass-Observation Archive (MOA) in response to a request for written commentary on public library buildings, an investigation commissioned by the author. The MOA contains evidence, stretching back to the 1930s, of the British public's daily lives and attitudes. The Archive's data-collection method takes the form of essay-style contributions, varying from a few sentences to thousands of words, submitted from anonymous volunteer correspondents. A total of 180 essays (from 121 women and 59 men) were received, and all were read and analysed for the purpose of this study. Analysis focused on the tension between old and new styles of library design. It was found that while some people prefer public library buildings to retain their historic style and feel, others demand contemporary designs like those employed in recent years for new, 'flagship' buildings in Norwich, Peckham, Brighton and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A third category of opinion expressed a taste for the provision of up-to-date facilities and interior decoration in historic settings. A fourth strain of thought -the essence of which might be described as 'libraryness' -played down the importance of style, whether old or new, foregrounding the importance of services and collections. The second half of the article offers a discussion that places the MOA evidence in the context of an assessments of, and commentaries on, ...

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“…The design goals which, once reached, enable libraries to evolve in a versatile manner and to be well adapted to the digital age. To make this happen, the inclusion of the key stakeholders into the design process is essential (Black, 2006, 2011; Mehtonen, 2016). The selection of the site is also important even though location criteria have been evolving with the development of urban areas.…”

Section: Public Library Services In Macao and The New Central Library Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public views on a new library project: a content analysis 2014–2019

Xie

Sun²

2021

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PurposeThis study aims to investigate how the local residents viewed a new public library project in Macao through the analysis of newspaper articles published in 2014–2019 and how these views have changed the decision-makers in selecting a different site for the new library.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis was used to analyze public views. 569 newspaper articles on the new library project published in local major newspapers from January 2014 to August 2019 were coded and analyzed. Percentage agreement for the two coders and Cohen's Kappa were used to calculate the inter-rater reliability.FindingsThe top 5 factors discussed in the newspaper articles were the general decision-making process (38.65%), location (18.20%), selection of the Old Court Building as the new library site (15.07%), budget (13.5%) and new library services (6.85%). The local residents tended to raise questions on the high cost, the appropriateness of the selected library site, the preservation of the local heritage buildings, and the role that the government should play in this project.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only collected and analyzed the data from the articles published in the major newspapers in Macao. Other types of media from sources such as Facebook were not included in this study. Articles containing similar information but from different newspapers were all counted as individual entries for data collection. The voices/options were not divided by groups. For further analysis, the articles could be separated by voices from politicians, librarians and other special interest groups. The chosen categories in this study were based on Voyant Tools and the authors' interpretation/focus of the research question. The categories could be subdivided for further study. For example, the overall support of the project could be broken into full support, support with some minor reservations, support with major reservations, etc. And some articles currently in the neutral category with some degrees of support might fit into one of the above new sub-categories.Originality/valueThe case carries new references for any communities embarking on similar projects.

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The Past Public Library Observed: User Perceptions and Recollections of the Twentieth‐Century British Public Library Recorded in the Mass‐Observation Archive

Cited by 39 publications

References 13 publications

Mind the Gap: Do Librarians Understand Service User Perspectives on Bibliotherapy?

Mind the Gap: Do Librarians Understand Service User Perspectives on Bibliotherapy?

‘We don’t do public libraries like we used to’: Attitudes to public library buildings in the UK at the start of the 21st century

Public views on a new library project: a content analysis 2014–2019

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