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A Study of Cooperation between Local Libraries and Local Organizations: Focusing on Multicultural Services

  • Journal of the Korean Biblia Society for Library and Information Science
  • 2018, 29(1), pp.299-324
  • DOI : 10.14699/kbiblia.2018.29.1.299
  • Publisher : Journal Of The Korean Biblia Society For Library And Information Science
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Library and Information Science
  • Received : February 19, 2018
  • Accepted : March 5, 2018

Yeojoo Lim 1

1한성대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes the processes and the needs of public library services for multicultural populations based on cooperation between public libraries and local organizations. In-depth interviews with public librarians and officers of local organizations were conducted for this case study. Result shows that cooperation was inevitable because there was not enough library personnel compared to the amount of services they have to provide, and the librarians did not have proper skills to serve the diverse populations. Public libraries were cooperating with many local organizations including the Multicultural Family Support Center. Gatekeepers of ethnic communities were playing important roles in promoting and inviting participants for library programs. Many children and young adults with immigration background gained positive views on reading and libraries after participating library programs based on cooperation between public libraries and local organizations, which was recognized as the best achievement of cooperation by many interviewees. Despite many good results of cooperation, how to get to the majority of diverse populations who are not library users yet is still a question mark. Interviewees for this study all agreed that current library service has limitations and insisted a whole new method to invite immigrants and their families to public libraries should be created.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.