This research report, produced for National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa (National Library), focused on a Putoi Rito Communities of Readers project carried out in Dargaville in 2023-24. Putoi Rito is a National Library initiative that works with communities to design, develop, and deliver support for reading engagement…

At a time when government funding cuts mean that public libraries face an uncertain future and need to make sure they stay relevant to young users and their families, this paper explores what counts as literacy for young children in a public library in a town in the East Midlands, UK. It is based on a study which adopted an ethnographic approach,…

This report outlines a case study investigating how public libraries in New South Wales are currently educating their clientele in the use of social media applications. It includes the background to this case study and the expected outcomes, and identifies the scope and limitations. It also includes a list of significant stages, and outlines the…

This paper considers the role of the public library in ameliorating relations between communities, and the appropriateness of a multicultural or assimilationist approach via which to deliver socially inclusive services. Qualitative findings from two inductive studies, each of which focused on different aspects of the capacity of public library…

This study aimed to develop and pilot a questionnaire to determine the ways in which working in a UK public library system can impact the well-being of those deployed in the sector. The methodological framework was based on an approach used to evaluate the well-being of patients in a clinical setting. Based on the responses of 466 employees, the…

This article reports on a research study investigating the attitude of twelve- to fifteen-year-old residents of an Eastern Canadian regional municipality to the public library. Phase 1, a quantitative survey, analyzes overall satisfaction ratings and frequency of use of the public library. Phase 2 uses qualitative methodology (focus groups) to…

Replicated across the globe, the Learning 2.0 programme--also known as "23 Things"--has been touted as a means to not only educate staff about emerging social and mobile technologies but as a means of moving the participating library forward as a learning organisation. This paper explores the results of a multi-faceted research project…

Joint-use libraries have identified staff integration as a problem. Using focus groups, this project investigated the culture, professional ethics, and attitudes of staff in a public-tertiary joint-use library in Auckland, New Zealand. Findings show some difference in organizational cultures, but more variation at the lower level of roles and…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how public libraries in Ireland are using their websites to present local studies collections online. Design/methodology/approach: All the websites of public libraries in Ireland were evaluated against a checklist of 50 criteria by one of the authors. An analytic description was provided of the four…

The aim of this research was to investigate current issues faced by public library staff in rural South Australia and to examine some of the reasons why people choose to work in rural libraries. The study took a mixed methods approach, combining interviews and questionnaires to gain a fuller understanding of the issues and experiences of rural…

The purposes of the study were to explore the role of Canada's public libraries in developing the public's information literacy (IL) skills, to explore current IL training practices, and to explore the perspectives and IL experiences of individuals who visit public libraries to access the Internet. This article documents the second phase of a…

The paper describes the introduction of Web 2.0 techniques and tools at the Yarra Plenty public library in Victoria, beginning with library staff. The author argues that as libraries move from Web 1.0 type delivery systems to the social networking world of Library 2.0 librarians need to deploy and make accessible these radically different systems,…

This article uses Wellington City Libraries as the basis for a case study of a future-focused, reorganized staffing structure in a public library network. It covers the change from why, how, departure from a building-based hierarchical structure, new staff and line responsibilities, union involvement, implications for staff training to culture and…

This paper discusses personnel management issues that arose when the East Berlin (Germany) Municipal Library and the West Berlin America Memorial Library united in 1995 to form the Central and State Library. The first section provides historical background on the two libraries and their merger. The second section summarizes the East-West conflict…

Discusses problems with the growth and development of public libraries in Nigeria. Highlights include low patronage; lack of current materials; lack of trained personnel; inadequate funding; and suggestions for improvement, including the involvement of multinational organizations in funding. (Author/LRW)