Urban Public Libraries in the 1980s: Evolving Library Services for an Information Society

Abstract

This qualitative interview study with retired staff from urban public libraries collects data about employees’ perceptions of how these institutions changed during the 1980s. Participants’ memories of their communities, budgets, staffing, new technology, security measures, services, programming, outreach, and work with job-seekers and the unhoused are compared with library literature and newspaper coverage from the decade. As the U.S. shifted from an industrial society of large workplaces linking whole communities toward an “information society” with a more heterogenous workforce divided by educational attainment, urban public library workforces, target audiences, collections, and programming both adapted to and mirrored these changes.

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