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Reimagining “Palaces for the People”: A Critical...
Journal article

Reimagining “Palaces for the People”: A Critical Review of Public Libraries’ Engagement with the Asocial Society

Abstract

The “loneliness epidemic,” a public health crisis characterized by reports of higher levels of social isolation and loneliness, has been attributed to features of modern living, including urbanization and the increase of one-person households. Public library workers are contending with individuals navigating this crisis. Findings are presented from a state-of-art literature review focussed on recent English-language, peer-reviewed studies (n=235) of public library programming, services, technology and policies in the context of trends in the contemporary asocial society. Across published research, public libraries fostered connection through the following means: encouraging feelings of belonging, creating connections through technology, reinforcing cultural identities, creating safe physical spaces, addressing issues of accessibility, creating new educational programming, and creating new recreational/social programming. The findings allow for a reimagining of the roles of public libraries but not without a reckoning about workplace culture and workloads of library staff.

Authors

Dalmer NK; Rothbauer P; McKenzie P; Oswald K; Martin-Yeboah E; Goulding A

Journal

Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes du congrès annuel de l ACSI, , ,

Publisher

University of Alberta Libraries

Publication Date

September 10, 2024

DOI

10.29173/cais1839

ISSN

2562-7589

Labels

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