Public Libraries as Developers of Social Capital

Abstract

The notion that public libraries have a social impact is an old one, and several studies to demonstrate this exist. These studies are reviewed in the context that social inclusion and community building have emerged as a central theme in government policy. However the literature on the role of public libraries in building social capital remains sparse. It is clear that the community, governing bodies and academics are largely unaware of their existing and potential contribution to social capital. The onus is on public libraries, and their associations, to educate, promote and advocate this role to members of the community and beyond. Edited and shortened version of chapter 2 of the author's MA thesis 'Public libaries as developers of social capital: changing roles, values and missions' University of South Australia 2004. The June 2005 issue of Aplis will contain a complementary article by the author describing the social capital audit of the Mount Barker Community Library in South Australia.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 67 citations exist upstream.