Identifying the Capacity of Public Libraries with a Focus on Creating Social Capital: A Systematic Review

Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Zeinab Ghayouri

PhD graduate of in Library and Information Science.Faculty of Education and Psychology. Alzahra University. Tehran. Iran

10.22067/infosci.2023.24120.0

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to identify the capacities and potentials of public libraries in creating social capital and the activities of public libraries focusing on creating social capital. Public libraries, as public places that have a high capacity to establish communication between people, have a significant contribution in this regard. The public library is known as one of the universal institutions in modern society, whose inclusion makes the public library a place with the capacity to create communication and social capital. Also, public libraries have the feature of facilitating communication, which plays a main role in creating social capital
Methodology: The current research is applied in terms of its purpose, and in it, a systematic review method has been used to achieve the research goals. Systematic review is a scientific method and one of the most reliable research methods based on review, the purpose of which is to evaluate and integrate the results of applied studies in a specific research problem in an objective and systematic way to determine the situation of the problem in the field under study. A summary of these studies reveals the necessity of a comprehensive and systematic review of research texts in this field. Based on this, the present study deals with a systematic review of related research texts to achieve the following two main goals: extracting published information and categorizing the methodologies used in research related to public libraries in creating social capital; and identifying the capacity of public libraries in creating social capital. The current case study is based on the PRISMA systematic study framework. In order to collect the relevant original research texts, a search was made from the reliable English database of Web of Science and with the specialized keywords of this field, and 152 documents in English were identified. In repeated steps, by studying and reviewing the abstracts of the sources, duplicate and unrelated items were removed. Finally, by applying initial filtering, inclusion and exclusion criteria and control by the researcher 36 original English research texts in the form of articles were selected to enter the systematic review and sentences related to the research topic (capacity of public libraries in creating social capital) were extracted.Findings: The research review showed that the documents reviewed in this study were published between 1993 and 2020, that the most attention to this field in the production of texts was from 2012 onwards, and the peak of the studies was in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Most of the research related to the capacity of public libraries in creating social capital, with survey research method, case study and data collection sources including local residents (residents of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Magyarország, Germany, Switzerland), library users and non-users, resources and the published texts were library managers and librarians and immigrants (Mexican immigrants and immigrants from the three countries of Iran, Afghanistan and Kurdistan in Norway). Also, the tools used in most of the conducted researches were questionnaires and unstructured interviews. A total of 10 public library capacities including; creating equal access to information resources, providing opportunities to learn and acquire skills, a meeting place, a place to provide services to people on the margins of society, a place with the aim of establishing social justice and neutral and usable for all groups, a place to establish communication between people , a place to increase public participation, a pleasant library environment, a place for people's leisure time to create social capital was identified.Conclusion: It is necessary to pay attention to the library as a place for people to meet, strengthen the collection of information resources of public libraries and increase programs related to learning and skill training, as well as paying attention to people on the margins of society in providing services in public libraries to create social capital. On the other hand, maintaining the neutrality of public libraries in dealing with people from different groups and races and paying attention to the public library as a place to increase public participation and paying attention to the role of public libraries in promoting leisure programs can help create social capital through public libraries. Also, the review of internal and external information sources showed that so far no research has done as systematic reviews of the researches of public libraries in creating social capital. Therefore, it is necessary to review the published scientific and research resources to have a comprehensive view of the capacity of public libraries in creating social capital, and the mentioned capacities indicate that public libraries have a very high capacity to create social capital and have the ability to plan appropriate and providing the context for the flourishing of these capacities has become an important element in the society and play a role in people's lives. Since the library space as a place of discussion and meeting is of special importance in texts, it is very important to provide a space for groups and facilitate the presence of groups who want to use the library space to meet their needs. Organizing classes, training programs and skill workshops are opportunities to increase social capital among marginalized groups in society. Social capital in public libraries provides opportunities for learning and improving the socio-economic status of people.
 

Keywords

• Public libraries
• Capacity
• Social capital
• Systematic review
• Marginalized groups immigrants

20.1001.1.22516344.1402.13.1.8.0

Main Subjects

• Services evaluation

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