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This study investigates caregivers' perceptions of the benefits of library visits in relation to preschool children's learning and development. Reasons and benefits for attending libraries and storytimes, which were reported in previous research, are synthesized. Caregivers in Taiwan who visited public libraries in August 2019 (before COVID-19) with their newborn to 8-year-old children were asked one open-ended question in the context of a library user satisfaction survey. In total, 405 responses were gathered and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Three main benefits were identified related to education, socialization, and enjoyment, in line with prior studies; however, participants expressed their reasons with depth and clarity. The findings show that caregivers have positive perceptions toward public libraries and value public libraries for supporting preschool children's learning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries with multilingual communities should provide adequate access to multilingual resources to meet the needs of community members. Few previous studies have addressed online access to multilingual collections of public libraries that serve multilingual communities. This article highlights challenges in supporting multilingual users on public library websites that have multilingual users by asking what factors are involved, how the problems will eventually be solved, and what features will be needed in website design and indexing to enhance multilingual support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makerspaces are now a common feature in many public libraries in the United States. However, there has been little research into how these spaces function for adults with disabilities. In this study, qualitative data were collected from patrons with disabilities and public librarians through online focus groups, interviews, and an online survey to address this gap in knowledge. Findings speak to the needs of a significant subset of public library patrons, describe current practices in public library makerspaces, and suggest areas for implementing more inclusive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries are increasingly trying to meet patrons' psychosocial needs, in response to shifting demographics and the changing requests of their users. These psychosocial needs include assistance with or referrals for mental health or substance misuse, physical health problems, or basic needs such as housing or financial assistance. In many cases, needs assessments are conducted before libraries begin to address psychosocial needs of patrons. Limitations of existing needs assessments include only surveying staff instead of patrons, asking about only specific needs like housing or mental health-related needs, or surveying community members who may not be actual library users. The current study fills a gap in the literature by surveying a large sample of public library patrons about their broadly defined self-identified needs and suggestions for the library to better meet their needs. Implications for public libraries are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has transformed how social institutions, including public libraries, are able to engage with and support their communities. Whereas previous disaster scenarios have allowed public libraries to be physically open and library staff to be present to connect with patrons, physical distancing mandates associated with COVID-19 safety measures have introduced new challenges for both staff and patrons. While extant COVID-19–focused public library research has analyzed library-produced digital content or statements, we examined the ways in which 218 Canadian newspaper stories framed public library responses to COVID-19. Using frame analysis, we identified three media frames: (re)negotiating the library's space, (re)configuring the library's roles, and (re)constructing "others." These media frames highlight the changes that COVID-19 has effected in public library roles and spaces and how these roles and spaces are differently interpreted for different library patrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the notion of participation informs policy documents in a public library context. Library users are expected to manage on their own, to a large extent, as society calls for self-governing, active subjects who are willing to participate. To explore this notion of participation, we utilize the concept of problematization and analyze policy documents regarding the public libraries of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmö, Sweden. Although all of the documents are concerned with participation and user involvement, they have different points of departure and call upon different rationalities. Whereas the outlined policies of the Malmö libraries problematize social inclusion, the Copenhagen libraries primarily problematize inefficiency. Despite this contrast, increased participation seems to be the proposed solution in the policy documents of both cities. An analysis of these documents shows the complex and sometimes contradictory meaning of the concept of participation, depending on which rationality is put into play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the programs offered by Danish public libraries have increased in both number and variety, leading to difficulties defining and assessing such programs in a way that encompasses their complexity. To enrich future research and assessments of public library programs, this article presents an empirically based and textually grounded analytical model. Building on prior work collecting more than 2,500 Facebook events announcing public library programs, this article presents the analysis of these textual data. Inspired by grounded theory coding, the content of the Facebook events is categorized in terms of format, content, and role and function. As a result, an analytical model is developed. In light of the analysis, it is argued that public library programs exist between the library collections and the connections they foster. As such, they are an intriguing part of understanding the role and function of public libraries today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a theoretical framework for conceptualizing public library membership and belonging as an ongoing action net of joint intention and collective action between individual members of the public and the library. It provides an analysis of how membership is constituted, observed, and documented by public libraries from a social-constructivist perspective. Drawing on social theory and philosophy, organizational studies, and secondary public library data sources, a high-level typology of public library member categories from the political and organizational modes of public library action is proposed. Member types are characterized using institutionalized structures of public library use, access, data, discourse, behavior, and social media applications. Implications of this framework for future research and public library innovation are suggested in conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores public library users' health information behavior and their perception of their own ability to find, evaluate, and use health information available in public libraries. The study employed semistructured intensive interviews as a follow-up to a quantitative study that measured health literacy ability by employing the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy Ability (S-TOFHLA). Twenty interviewees were selected from survey respondents based on gender, ethnicity, educational level, and age. The study examined their health information needs, selfperception of their own health information behavior, and the impact of the health information. Above all, the findings highlighted that most interviewees encountered critical barriers to using health information services available in public libraries, even though they had proficient health literacy based on S-TOFHLA [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the role of public libraries in providing access to government information in the U.S. It outlines the shift that has occurred in government information from print to digital formats and discusses challenges this poses to libraries, including inadequate Internet access capacity. It looks at various approaches to evaluating library services. Other topics include the digital divide and library and information science (LIS) education.

The article looks at the legacy of library science scholar and outgoing "Library Quarterly" editor John Carlo Bertot, focusing on the importance of his work in relation to the advent of the Internet and digital services in libraries. Topics include Bertot's research on the extent and implications of Internet access in U.S. public libraries and his influence on library science education during his tenure at the University of Maryland College of Information Studies.

Because of an absence of dialogue, a tense relationship appears to exist between Wisconsin's gay men's book discussion groups and their local public libraries. Public library directors express interest in accommodating these groups if approached but face budget restrictions and local communities that may oppose these gatherings; gay men's book clubs prefer meeting in private homes and other openly gay-friendly environments largely because of the conservatism of cultural institutions in their collective memories. This qualitative study argues that, with consistent dialogues, gay discussion groups can help public libraries achieve their missions of diversifying their patrons, collections, and services, and that public libraries can assist gay communities with establishing themselves in the city or county's history by hosting visible public discussions of gay texts as markers of an entire community's cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries have evolved into a primary source of Internet access in many communities, generating wide-ranging impacts in the communities that public libraries serve. Based on the findings of the 2007 Public Libraries and the Internet study, this article examines the ways in which the Internet access delivered by public libraries affects their communities. This article describes the public access technology roles of public libraries and explores the relationships among community impacts, community expectations, and public policies related to libraries. The analysis emphasizes the effects of future Internet platforms and applications and online communities on the community impacts. This article also examines ways in which to measure these impacts from other perspectives, including developing a means of assessing the users' perceptions of the impacts of public library Internet access in their own lives and in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tanganyika Library Service (TLS) was the national public library service set up in Tanzania, East Africa, in the 1960s. By the end of the decade, it was generally regarded as a model of Western-style public library development in Africa. This is an account of its establishment and early years based on accessible documentary sources in Tanzania and the United Kingdom, on printed sources, and on interviews with 1960s staff members in the two countries. Topics include the background of educational and library underdevelopment during the colonial era; the African Socialist philosophy of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere; TLS readers and what they wanted to read in English or Kiswahili; the link with adult education and with literacy education in particular; the attempts to reach as many as possible with books and service in spite of resource constraints; the urban/rural debate; staffing and staff development; the contribution of E. M. Broome, TLS founding director; and the issue of overseas aid and cultural imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the challenges and the strategies for evaluating networked information services. Increasingly, libraries rely on information services, resources, and programs made available via a networked environment. This networked environment has, in recent years, become a ubiquitous context in which library staff and users of the library who expect seamless, prompt, and effective access to a range of networked information services and products. Indeed, for many users of the library, access to networked information resources, rather than physical access, is the preferred method of use. The digital nature of these networked information services provides for endless opportunities and venues to organize and link the information to make it available to library users. Links between and among the information resources via the networked environment insure a range of choices for presenting, using, and accessing information. The increased complexity of this networked environment places new opportunities and burdens on both the creators and users of this information.