Burning platforms and melting icebergs

Abstract

Purpose – The public libraries face several challenges. The most important is probably the economic situation. A second is discrepancies between the profession's perception of the roles of the libraries in the local community and the users' much more traditional views of the constituting elements of a public library service. The third challenge is the rather overwhelming introduction and proliferation of new services and the prioritising of these services. Recent research indicates a possible gap between the public library users and their perceptions of the elements constituting a library and the library profession's struggle to place the public library in the centre of the perceived development of society. This paper seeks to analyse this gap and address questions concerning the traditional roles of the library and the discourses in the profession concerning the public library as a place and an agent for social capital, integration, entrance to the public system, a player in the field of emerging social technologies, and to discuss possible consequences in relation to the significance users, and non‐users, place on different types of service provision. Further, the paper aims to analyse and discuss how public libraries can bridge the gap between the traditional roles and the role as an agent of change or innovation using existing data and user surveys.

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