Public libraries have long been considered important spaces of adult education and learning. However, major social changes over the past few decades, and the impact these have had on libraries' work, have received little attention. Our three-year cross-national study of libraries in Canada and Britain explored how librarians navigate the discourse…

Founded in the 1850s to promote an informed citizenry, public libraries advanced both adult learning and citizenship education in the first half of the 20th century, thus becoming cornerstones of democracy. But with a more recent decline in public engagement in libraries and beyond, librarians question whether democracy requires more than an…

The Reading Agency has been backing and building a movement in libraries called reader development. The movement is creating a livelier, more interventionist reading service that's both much more attractive and socially relevant. A focus on reader development is changing the way public libraries work, and transforming people's lives in the…

The library in order to become a more serving, responsive, and vital institution, must incorporate processes and strategies which will help it respond to rapidly escalating change. Identified are new roles for the library that permit it to function in ways that facilitate human growth and development. (Author/AP)

This article discusses the functions and activities of libraries attached to adult education institutions, universities, colleges of education, etc. and of public libraries in the context of adult education. (10 references) (Author)

The recent resurgence of interest outside the library field in independent study and the development of formal programs for nontraditional study provide new opportunities for public libraries to serve the independent learner. (Author)

To help the people in villages and rural areas in their efforts to become literate, librarians should, if necessary, conduct adult education classes, employ audio-visual aids, and even sell adult education materials in the library. (2 references) (Author)

Sweden is in the throes of an adult education explosion; the public libraries of that country are playing a prominent part in this development. (Author/NH)

After years of cutbacks, the pivotal role of public libraries in providing lifelong learning resources is being recognized. In Britain, a consortium for public-library networking is extending libraries' ability to deliver knowledge-based services. (SK)

This review traces the history of the public library's role in the diffusion of information about American culture, surveys the influence of that role on library education, and describes five models which reflect the range of cultural roles presently being fulfilled in libraries and which identify the knowledge and skills librarians need to…

Examines the role of public library services in adult literacy education, the definition of literacy, the nature of service clientele, literacy program development, literacy research projects, patterns of service, materials service, and librarian training for such services. References are given. (FM)

Reviews the accomplishments of Ernestine Rose, a pioneer in providing library services to Blacks in Harlem from 1920 to 1942. Her activities included involving community leaders in library governance; establishing a separate collection of Negro materials; work with the Negroes Round Table of the American Library Association; and the Harlem…

The case for public library support for open university programs. Description of some existing public library projects and discussion of ways in which libraries can participate in adult degree programs. (LS)

This study focuses on the question of whether the public library can or will be one of the non-formal providers of lifelong learning in Minnesota, and uses the Delphi method to discover in what way the public library as it is perceived by various publics could become an active participant in this dimension of the educational process. Five groups…