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Abstract

This article examines the question, "What differences do libraries and librarians make?" primarily from the perspective of geographical communities. The article first states the reasons why this is an essential research question and describes the contributions of current public library planning tools to the determination of impact. It then takes a broad look at the framework that is essential for the intellectual development of this topic and the ability to answer the question, including methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks that will be discussed throughout. While the authors pose this research problem as an evaluation question, this article examines contributions of research in several areas--particularly professional practice, especially reference research that has been informed by qualitative methods--to its solution. Finally, the authors examine approaches to studying context as a framework for determining the impacts of library services and include a brief presentation of findings from a recent study of "How Libraries and Librarians Help: Context-Centered Methods for Evaluating Public Library Efforts at Bridging the Digital Divide and Building Community," funded by the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS).

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Abstract

Pettigrew, Durrance, and Unruh report on data collected by survey, interview, field observation and focus groups concerning three communities recognized for community information networks in which the local public library played a leading role. The survey was posted for 73 days on the website of each network and yielded 197 responses providing insights on how the public uses CI systems, barriers encountered, and resulting benefits to users and communities. Responding users were diverse demographically, and sought a wide variety of information types. The information types were broader than previous CI studies with a strong emphasis on employment, volunteerism, social services, local history and genealogy, sale, exchange and donation of goods, news, and technical information. Barriers identified were technological, economic, geographic, search skill related, cognitive, and psychological, as well as a large class of information related barriers concerning the quality of the information provided, its accessibility, and security. Users are identified who browse the CI system with particular interest in discovering material of potential value to others. The systems are valued and used by the adult population and seem to strengthen existing communities while stimulating the formation of information communities.