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A Study on the Relationship Between Community Characteristics and Public Library Use

  • Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
  • 2025, 59(3), pp.157~180
  • Publisher : 한국문헌정보학회
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Library and Information Science
  • Received : July 15, 2025
  • Accepted : August 11, 2025
  • Published : August 31, 2025

Jongwook Lee 1 Min Sook Park 2 Sangoh Na 1 KANG WOOJIN 1 Jungkyu Park ORD ID 1

1경북대학교
2Florida State University

Excellent Accredited

ABSTRACT

Public library use is closely linked to the characteristics of the communities they serve. This study examines the relationship between community-level demographic and socioeconomic factors and library use. Community characteristics were measured using variables on population, employment, education, transportation, economy, and health. Based on data from the National Library Statistics System, library use was categorized into ‘materials and facilities use’ and ‘human resource-based service use’. A structural equation model was employed to analyze these relationships. The results indicate that materials and facilities use is affected by total population, aging rate, proportion of college graduates, and financial independence. Human resource-based service use is associated with total population, unemployment rate, share of temporary or daily workers, and illness rate. These findings highlight the need for public library policies to reflect both user needs and community demographic and socioeconomic conditions. Moreover, service strategies should be tailored, distinguishing between materials and facilities-based services and human resource-based services depending on community characteristics.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2024 are currently being built.

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