Keynote: ‘Public library services and citizenship: a longitudinal analysis of roles, impact, and value’: Dr Leo Appleton (University of Sheffield)

Between 2013 and 2019, Leo Appleton undertook longitudinal research to explore active user perceptions of public library services in England and Scotland. Through the analysis of focus group data collected from a range of local authorities, three broad roles of the public library were identified: (1) epistemic, (2) community/social, and (3) political. In this keynote presentation, Leo will highlight the impact and value of public library services on citizenship development with reference to functions such as the generation of social/community capital, and the encouragement of democratic participation within local communities.

Presentation

Powerpoint with audio Please download and open the file, then go to slideshow. The narration should then start automatically. Alternatively, open the file and click the small loudspeaker icons at the bottom-right of each slide.

Background reading

Appleton, L., Hall, H., Duff. A. & Raeside, R.  (2018). UK public library roles and value: a focus group analysis. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(3), 275-283  (Full text freely available from the Edinburgh Napier repository at https://www.napier.ac.uk/~/media/worktribe/output-1031576/uk-public-library-roles-and-value-a-focus-group-analysis.pdf and from the publisher with subscription access at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0961000618769987.)