Aging With Public Libraries
CURRENT PROJECT
“Aging in Place with Public Libraries:
Mobilizing Social Infrastructures for Social Inclusion”
OVERVIEW
Socially isolated older adults typically have complex health and support needs and require access to a complement of community-based supports to age well. Public libraries provide “a sense of place, a refuge, and a still point; they are a vital part of the public sphere and an incubator of ideas” (de la Peña McCook, 2011). They are well-poised to provide inclusive support to older adults, given their distribution in high- and low-income neighbourhoods, their long history of social inclusion in their values and mandates, their range of materials, programs, and services, and their spaces that can be used without expectation of payment. That said, public libraries are often excluded from research on social infrastructures such as health clinics, religious organizations, and seniors’ centres, that engage with and cultivate social inclusion among older adults. In response to this gap, this project is exploring the relationship between older, community-dwelling library patrons and public library branches and systems to bring attention to the overlooked role public libraries play in bolstering social inclusion for community-dwelling older adults.
FUNDING SOURCE
SSHRC Insight Development Grant (grant 430-2020-00872)
RESEARCH TEAM
Dr. Nicole Dalmer
Principal Investigator
Bria Mitrovica
Research Assistant
Amanda Bull
Research Assistant
FEATURED PUBLICATION
The Public Library as Social Infrastructure for Older Patrons:
Exploring the Implications of Online Library Programming for Older Adults During COVID-19
Public library systems' websites were often the sole means for older patrons to access library services and programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study integrated Pauwels' (2012) framework to analyze 25 Ontario public library systems' websites for evidence of their available programming for older adults during the early months of COVID-19. The 640 identified programs for older adults revealed a number of patterns, including issues regarding visibility and representation of older patrons on library websites as well as assumptions surrounding older adults' access to technologies. Discussions consider three implications for public libraries as they reopen and create new virtual spaces “postpandemic”: questioning (re)distributions of resources that support both virtual and in-person services, questioning implicit assumptions that digital connection will foster social connection, and questioning the effects of the library as a virtual space on feelings of social connectedness.
Library & Information Science Research
Volume 44, Issue 3, July 2022
Aging in (Third) Place with Public Libraries
FEATURED PUBLICATION
An aging population presents both opportunities and challenges for a range of community spaces and organizations, including public libraries. Rather than focusing on the challenges, as is so often done, here we position public libraries as key community hubs that can (and do) reach out to and engage with community-dwelling older adults with socially inclusive programs, services, materials, and spaces. Exploring the meaning of the public library for older patrons, we begin with an overview of two key concepts that are shaping the importance and implications of the library as a third place for this population: the trend toward aging in place and concerns around social isolation. We then provide an overview of an environmental scan of older adult programming provided by forty Canadian Urban Library Council (CULC) member library systems’ websites. Findings from this study lead us to consider how the organization of programming based around age might alter experiences of the public library as a third place and prompt us to shift our conversation from an understanding of the library as third place to the library as social infrastructure.
Public Libraries
Volume 59, number 4, July / August 2022
“Still Open and Here for You”:
News Media’s Framing of Canadian Public Libraries during COVID-19
FEATURED PUBLICATION
COVID-19 has transformed how social institutions, including public libraries, are able to engage with and support their communities. Whereas previous disaster scenarios have allowed public libraries to be physically open and library staff to be present to connect with patrons, physical distancing mandates associated with COVID-19 safety measures have introduced new challenges for both staff and patrons. While extant COVID-19–focused public library research has analyzed library-produced digital content or statements, we examined the ways in which 218 Canadian newspaper stories framed public library responses to COVID-19. Using frame analysis, we identified three media frames: (re)negotiating the library’s space, (re)configuring the library’s roles, and (re)constructing “others.” These media frames highlight the changes that COVID-19 has effected in public library roles and spaces and how these roles and spaces are differently interpreted for different library patrons.
The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy
Volume 92, number 2, April 2022
Related Research Areas
Aging with Technologies & Data
