The authors surveyed public libraries to learn about the opportunities for play they offered and children's freedom to engage in such play without adult supervision. The authors conclude that, in recent years, public libraries in the United States have increasingly created spaces and programs enabling free play for children and teens. These…

In the present article, the educational needs of Iranian rural librarians are investigated. The rural libraries are the only cultural centers of rural communities, and the librarians of these libraries have limited contact with other librarians as well as professional communities. On the other hand, the rural library is one of the few institutions…

This case study explores how young adults (aged 18-24) taught and learned with and around technologies in a teen library space in Hartford, Connecticut. These young adults, called Legends by library staff, were technically not supposed to be present in the teens-only space. In this paper, I argue that Legends uniquely contributed to opportunities…

Extending from existing research on how public libraries offer information literacy (IL) instruction through classes or programs, the purpose of this research was to explore how public librarians provide IL instruction through individual interactions with patrons. US public librarians recorded their impressions of instructional interactions over a…

Academic libraries, apart from their main function, which is to provide information services to academic communities, may also perform a number of social roles in the broad meaning of the term. Accordingly, they now tend to serve as the third place offering inclusion and animation activities to academic as well as local communities (including…

Drawing on ethnographic research, this paper investigates the gendered involvement in early literacy programs at one central library in the Greater Toronto Area. This study consisted of observations and field notes across family literacy programs, along with in-depth interviews with librarians and mother attendees. In particular, this research…

The purpose of the research was to explore the collaboration between public libraries and schools in Hong Kong from the perspective of school librarians. Three school librarians were interviewed (semi-structured), and their responses were thematically analyzed. Collaboration between public libraries and the three schools was well received and…

This article details the findings from Project LOCAL (Library Outreach as a Community Anchor in Learning), a mixed-methods study that explored how public libraries contribute to educational equity by going into community locations to reach and serve families and children in underserved communities who cannot come into the library due to a variety…

Public libraries serve an important role in the U.S. workforce development system by offering a wide range of free career services and job-seeking activities for job seekers and the general public (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2017). During the Great Recession, over 30 million people, roughly 10% of the total…

Public libraries are a national reading service, supporting reading and literacy throughout life. As a free local resource, they are particularly powerful in supporting the development of literacy and reading skills in disadvantaged communities. Libraries have a unique and powerful role to play in raising literacy skills, vital for individuals and…

Purpose: Public libraries play a pivotal role in supporting education and literacy. They provide numerous services, activities, collections and resources for education and leisure. Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) is an international renowned public library that provides numerous services for different users worldwide. E-learning is an emergent and…

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,…

While early literacy achievement continues to be stratified by social class in the United States, public libraries often offer programs such as "storytime" in order to bolster the literacy development of youth in their communities. The purpose of the present ethnographic study was to explore how storytellers recruited and maintained…

In the fall and winter of 2020, New America embarked on a snapshot study to gather data on how--or if--people were discovering, accessing, and using their public libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on materials that libraries made available online. Our findings, which include data from a national survey of 2,620 people, highlight…

Many librarians work in public libraries to make a difference for children, families, and communities and identify family and community engagement as a cornerstone of their responsibilities. For librarians to be successful they must be afforded strong foundations in family and community engagement that begin early in their preparation. Yet little…