The political perception of the public library: the Australian view

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Section of Library Theory and Research conducted an international project on The Political Perceptions of the Public Library during 2002-4 under the leadership of Professor Bob Usherwood of Sheffield University, UK. The pr...

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Main Authors: Smith, Kerry, Usherwood, B.
Format: Conference Paper
Published: 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2004/conference.papers.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25461
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author Smith, Kerry
Usherwood, B.
author_facet Smith, Kerry
Usherwood, B.
author_sort Smith, Kerry
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Section of Library Theory and Research conducted an international project on The Political Perceptions of the Public Library during 2002-4 under the leadership of Professor Bob Usherwood of Sheffield University, UK. The project title is: Public library politics - a transnational evaluative survey of national policy maker's attitudes to, and perceptions, of the role, value and impact of public library services. The project aims to provide information on national and, where appropriate because of local circumstances, local or regional government's attitudes to public libraries. The results of the Australian component of the project are now being collated for the final IFLA report (Smith, 2004). This paper reports on the Australian project by describing the methodology and presenting a summary of the results. Descriptions of the theoretical framework for the study and a detailed literature review will appear in other publications once the international project is concluded. The paper concludes that there is a fear for the future of the public library in Australia and that this fear is primarily tied to funding issues. It is curious that this fear is despite there being political support at the local and state government levels for the public library.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-254612017-02-27T14:48:08Z The political perception of the public library: the Australian view Smith, Kerry Usherwood, B. Librarianship Library funding Attitudes to public libraries Public libraries The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Section of Library Theory and Research conducted an international project on The Political Perceptions of the Public Library during 2002-4 under the leadership of Professor Bob Usherwood of Sheffield University, UK. The project title is: Public library politics - a transnational evaluative survey of national policy maker's attitudes to, and perceptions, of the role, value and impact of public library services. The project aims to provide information on national and, where appropriate because of local circumstances, local or regional government's attitudes to public libraries. The results of the Australian component of the project are now being collated for the final IFLA report (Smith, 2004). This paper reports on the Australian project by describing the methodology and presenting a summary of the results. Descriptions of the theoretical framework for the study and a detailed literature review will appear in other publications once the international project is concluded. The paper concludes that there is a fear for the future of the public library in Australia and that this fear is primarily tied to funding issues. It is curious that this fear is despite there being political support at the local and state government levels for the public library. 2004 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25461 http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2004/conference.papers.html fulltext
spellingShingle Librarianship
Library funding
Attitudes to public libraries
Public libraries
Smith, Kerry
Usherwood, B.
The political perception of the public library: the Australian view
title The political perception of the public library: the Australian view
title_full The political perception of the public library: the Australian view
title_fullStr The political perception of the public library: the Australian view
title_full_unstemmed The political perception of the public library: the Australian view
title_short The political perception of the public library: the Australian view
title_sort political perception of the public library: the australian view
topic Librarianship
Library funding
Attitudes to public libraries
Public libraries
url http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2004/conference.papers.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25461