Political discourse: Do public libraries serve as a fertile ground?
Introduction
Public libraries are public (Buschman, 2003, Buschman, 2009, Buschman, 2012) social and community institutions (Johnson, 2012; Sigler et al., 2011; Taylor, Jaeger, McDermott, Kodama, & Bertot, 2012). The role of these institutions is to serve as a bridge between government and citizens. The American Library Association (ALA) explained this role in a democratic country as a two-way process for development. On one hand, the government should have the commitment to inform the public through public libraries. In this role, public libraries, along with providing information about the economic development of the country, educate and enlighten the community through wide range of knowledge resources. On the other hand, community engagement through public libraries should serve as a baseline in political discourse for policy making (American Library Association, 1995).
Jaeger, Bertot, and Gorham (2013) in their thought-provoking paper, “Wake up the Nation: Public Libraries, Policy Making, and Political Discourse” argued that the first role of public libraries to serve the community is a well addressed area in research while the second role is not focused on either by the researchers or practitioners. They stated that public library practitioners in general and library scholars particularly are unaware of the important connection between libraries, policies and politics. It is evident that scholarly and professional literature widely focuses on public library services and meeting user needs. However, the focus on community engagement for politics and policy making that is far more important for the healthy democratic society, is neglected in research and practice (Buschman, 2003, Buschman, 2009, Buschman, 2012; Jaeger, Bertot, & Gorham, 2013). Buschman (2003) also made a stern statement that “without a public, democratic purpose for librarianship, there is no compelling reason/argument in the long run to continue libraries” (p.176). To cover this imperative, grave and gigantic gap in the literature, this study made an effort by covering public libraries through three lenses, i.e. geographical lens, library services lens and community perspective lens.
Public libraries are producing social capital by establishing relationships and trust, establishing the link between library resources and community, providing specialized help to patrons, and establishing the library as a physical, meeting and safe place (Johnson, 2007, Johnson, 2012). By producing social capital, public libraries promote healthy communities and involve them in political discourse for policy making (Hillenbrand, 2005; Johnson, 2012). Community involvement in policy making results in the economic development of the country (Buschman, 2017; Jaeger, Gorham, Bertot, & Sarin, 2013). To achieve this objective, it is imperative to involve community in political discourse through the public libraries' network. This will only be possible when public libraries actively perform their role. Public libraries fundamentally aim to provide services to the public with the goal to enhance public engagement and participation in the political discourse for policy making (Jaeger & Bertot, 2011). But this role of public libraries is not only neglected in the developing world but also in developed countries (Hillenbrand, 2005).
Internationally, public libraries are facing fundamental changes, due to information technology development and digitization, and increasing pressure in many countries to downsize the public sector, of which libraries today are an integrated part. In Pakistan, budget restrictions and a weak political stance causing concern for communities and politicians to oversee public services, are common. This creates a need for assessing public services projects and institutions and their long-term impact on society and the community. Public libraries are competing with other public services such as school, health, etc. for their share of scarce funding; it is important to document the value of public libraries for individuals and society at large. Therefore, assessing the role of public libraries for community engagement and participation in political discourse is crucial. In other words, is use of public libraries, associated with a high level of social capital, promoting community involvement in political discourse or is public library use the means to compensate for lack of resources for the community to involve in political discourse.
The value of this study is that it investigates the current situation of public libraries of the capital city of Pakistan through three complimentary lenses including, geographic situation, library services, and community engagement in political discourse through public libraries. The study also benefits future researchers by providing a different viewpoint of social capital produced by public libraries and their relationship with community involvement in political discourse. The study used IAP2 spectrum for measuring community involvement in political discourse, thus, making it possible to replicate this study in different contexts.
Section snippets
Public libraries
A public library is a place where community members can obtain all kinds of information and knowledge free of cost and readily accessible (Wijetunge, 2000). Public libraries are established within their respective community's culture, which also affects the services provided but services like access to knowledge, information and services to all members regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, religion, language, disability, economic and employment status are normally common (IFLA/UNESCO,
Methodology
To study the role of public libraries in political discourse through assessment of library service is an outdated phenomenon and now is the time to examine this role in a multi-dimensional perspective (Jaeger, et al., 2013). Therefore, this study covered the three dimensions of library geography, library services, and community involvement in political discourse. There are nine public libraries serving the 2.06 population of Islamabad city (PBS, 2018). Data was collected from the nine libraries
Geographical information of public libraries in Islamabad
Global Positioning System (GPS) device was used and marked on the map of Islamabad and the proportion of population surrounding each library was identified using the ArcGIS technique in GIS software. The minimum population was found nearby public library ‘F' with the distance of just 1.44 km from public library ‘C'. Public library ‘I' has the maximum distance with 6.13 km from ‘F' library and its minimum distance is 4.32 km from library ‘G'. All nine public libraries are in Islamabad city.
Discussion
GIS is a useful tool for policymakers in the decision-making process. Sieber (2006) has defined three benefits with respect to GIS: (a) It is related to land-use planning, health, education or provision of social services with its point of scales. (b) It provides information about the exact position (longitudes/latitudes, address, zip code etc.) that would be helpful for all stakeholders in the policymaking process, and(c) Policy-making information can be evaluated as an output of all of these
Conclusion
The role of public libraries for community involvement in political discourse is a challenge, requiring continued attention by academicians and professionals. To cover all aspects of public libraries, for example, the geographical, services and the user/community perspective, to reach to a comprehensive conclusion, it is essential to investigate the role of public libraries in providing an environment to the community that motivates them to become involved in political discourse. Synthesizing
Fakhar Abbas Hashmi is a librarian in the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. He is currently completing a MS in library and information science from Sarhad University of Science & Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan. His research interests are public libraries, political discourse, social capital, and the knowledge economy. He has published his research in the Journal of Contemporary Management Sciences.
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Fakhar Abbas Hashmi is a librarian in the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. He is currently completing a MS in library and information science from Sarhad University of Science & Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan. His research interests are public libraries, political discourse, social capital, and the knowledge economy. He has published his research in the Journal of Contemporary Management Sciences.