Magdalena Paul Social impact of Polish public libraries Paper at BOBCATSSS 2017

1. SOCIAL IMPACT OF POLISH PUBLIC LIBRARIES
FIRST FINDINGS AND RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES
MAGDALENA PAUL, MA
DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM, INFORMATION AND BOOK STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW, POLAND

2. en. impact ← lat. impingere (v)
to push, strike, dash against

3. en. impact = pol. wpływ ← płynąć (v)
to flow, stream

4. CC BY-SA Bea https://www.flickr.com/photos/beamillion/6924303372

5. IMPACT OF LIBRARY
● difference or change in an individual or group resulting from the
contact with library services (ISO, 2014).
● any change resulting from the library's activity and library as a
organization, including intended as well as unintended, negative as
well as positive, and long-term as well as short-term effects
(Laser..., 2005).

6. RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES
impact of initiative,
programme, service
or library process
advantages in specified areas
of life, which come from using
a library
using solicited evidences,
based on library users'
declarations on actual
and/or potential impact
using observed evidences
based on observations
and test results

7. RESEARCH GOALS
1. The impact of library initiative, which tries to generate sort of
social benefit, ie. activities supporting job seekers (programme
'Rise on labour market' = “Wykiełkuj na rynku pracy” in Polish):
● changes in knowledge, skills and attitude of participants,
● changes in participants' career, eg. finding and starting job, changing
profession, taking some additional courses or study programmes, decision of
starting their own business and others,
2. The general impact of libraries understood as impact in area of
social life, including social inclusion and cohesion, access to
information and education, community development and
individual well-being.

8. INSTRUMENTS & PROCEDURES
Module 1.
Impact of initiative
Questionnaire at
the beginning
and at the end
of project
2 IDIs at the end
of project
and 3 mth later
Module 2.
General impact
CAPI IDI

9. PILOT EDITION OF PROJECT AND MODULE 1. RESEARCH
● November 2015 – March 2016
● Warsaw Public Library in Ochota District – branch „Book stop”
● up to 6 people took part
– high school students
– university students and graduates
● 2 of them took part in whole programme and research

10. CHANGE OF COMPETENCES
● Person A: Certainly there's a change. First of all that more or less I know
what will happen next. I'm still afraid all of this, this process, and in general,
getting a job, apprenticeship, and so on, the interview and if I can keep it up.
Now I am a little less afraid, simply because I know, what awaits me.
● Person B: I'm somewhere closer than farther, let's say, to my future career. I
know better where to start, in fact I have already decided, I have 2-3 months
of free time and I want to do something about it, I actually know where to
start. Certainly there's some uncertainty associated with the first work, but
when it comes to the process itself, I definitely feel more confident. I do not
feel that there was something that I thought differently, and it completely
changed. But it seems to me that all is more in order now. Maybe I have a
little bit more positive approach to that.

11. LIBRARY AS A PLACE FOR JOBSEEKERS
● Person A: I do not know where else. I didn't even know that
something like this might be for free, that you can go there and
learn something.
● Person B: It seems to me that it's a right place, because I do not
see other place that would be better. Library is a place that
everyone has access to and it's in some way associated with
knowledge.

12. CHANGES IN CAREER
✔ They both looked for job
✔ They both had couple of interviews
✔ Person A did get a job, person B didn't
✔ They cooperated in searching for job's offers
✔ They individually deepenned their knowledge
✔ Person A helped her colleagues and sister in writing CV

13. GENERAL IMPACT OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES
● Place for borrowing books
– pleasure
– compensation – living the feelings of novels' characters
– spending free time and expulsion of boredom
● Internet access home, when it's not available at home
● Place for collaborative learning
● Place for individual learning
– in peace and quiet
– access to wide range of resources

14. NEXT RESEARCH STEPS
2015 2016 2017
Module 1. Pilot Module 1. - 23 public librariesModule 1. Pilot
Module 2.Nov
Module 1. - 23 public libraries
Jun Sep
Jan Sep

15. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
● Module 1.
– only a few libraries have already started programme
– there's a problem with finding participants
– possible bias
● impact of libraries might be identified by users and interrelated
with library activities
● areas of social impact might depend on the manner and intensity
of using libraries
● it depends largely on the current and long-term needs of the
participants

16. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Magdalena Paul
Department of Journalism, Information and Book Studies
University of Warsaw, Poland
magdaa.paul@gmail.com

17. BIBLIOGRAPHY (1/2)
1. (2005). Laser Foundation Libraries Impact Project,
http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/acrossuk/workpub/laser/news/awards2004/laserfinal6.pdf.
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Report two: logging the benefits,
http://www2.slv.vic.gov.au/pdfs/aboutus/publications/lbc_report2.pdf.
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Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 22 (pp. 6-12).
4. (2013). How Americans value public libraries in their communities,
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5. (2014). ISO 16439:2014 Information and documentation -- Methods and procedures
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https://www.york.ac.uk/media/abouttheuniversity/supportservices/informationdirectorate/docu
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18. BIBLIOGRAPHY (2/2)
8. Borowski, H. (2015) Do czego służą biblioteki?,
http://www.biblioteki.org/poradniki/Do_czego_sluza_biblioteki_raport_z_badania_wplywu_
Programu_Rozwoju_Bibliotek_na_uzytkownikow_bibliotek.html.
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http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/public_libraries/docs/safe_place.pdf.
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investigation into the relationship. Library & Information Science Research, 32, (pp. 147-155).
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