“Part of My Daily Life”: The Importance of Public Libraries as Physical Spaces

Philip M. Hider · Jane Garner · Simon Wakeling · Hamid R. Jamali

27 citations0/0 files storedPublic Library Quarterly

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Library Science and Administration Library Science and Information Literacy Web and Library Services

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to gauge how much, and why, people value visiting public libraries by asking them about the impact of the library closures. A questionnaire survey was administered to users of four library networks in New South Wales, Australia. About 19% of 1,295 respondents missed their library “a great deal,” another 28% “quite a lot.” Most commonly respondents missed browsing the shelves, taking children for visits, studying, reading, and socializing there. They also missed the quiet, relaxing, and friendly environment, and the resources provided. For many, the closures impacted their lives in a critical way.

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1999The great good place : cafés, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons, and other hangouts at the heart of a community 2012Use of library space and the library as place 2011Public libraries: A meeting place for immigrant women?2012The four spaces – a new model for the public library 2019Public libraries as an infrastructure for a sustainable public sphere 2011Libraries as the Spaces Between Us 2005Libraries and the Decline of Public Purposes 2019The Public Library as Resistive Space in the Neoliberal City

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