This bachelor’s thesis describes a qualitative case study of a public library as “third place”, a place besides from home and workplace visited frequently for conversation. The subject is chosen because of the many roles of public libraries. The main query of the study is “What view does the public library have of its role as third space and how does that relate to the way utilization of the public library as third place is seen?”. The purpose of it is to increase knowledge of the social aspects of public libraries. The theories used in the collecting and analysis of empiric material are the definition and description of the term “Third place” by Oldenburg, the model of four roles of public libraries by Andersson and Skot-Hansen and the theory of high/low intensive meeting-places by Audunson. The methods of collecting empiric material used are qualitative, partly structured interviews with three librarians and the chief librarian and an observation of the premises of the library. The investigation revealed that the informants were positive towards the public library as social center and leisure center and the premises of the library were suitable for these purposes. The informants didn’t define the library as a hub of the community. They were positive but not without hesitations towards the public library developing into a third place. Conclusions reached include that the public library was more like a low-intensive meeting-place than a third place but shared features with third places and might benefit from drawing inspiration from them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-20095 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Weman, Maria |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap / Bibliotekshögskolan, University of Borås/Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Kandidatuppsats, ; 2010:47 |
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