leo appleton school of computing research conference 2016

Leo Appleton School of Computing – Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation (Centre for Social Informatics).Part time PhD student, 2nd year

Supervisors: Professor Hazel Hall (@hazelh), Professor Alistair Duff, Professor Robert Raeside

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“The value and impact of public libraries within the Information Society : their contribution to citizenship development.”

@leoappleton20

Background to this research

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Literature review themes

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• Role of the public library

• Value and impact as performance measures

• Exchange theory

• Information Society

• Social capital, Human capital, Transactional capital

• Concept of citizenship

Theoretical concepts

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• Borrowed theory

• Exchange theory and social exchange theory

• Information Society Studies• Information sector• Information flows• Information technology• Information overload

• Social capital• Public libraries creating and generating social

capital

Research questions

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To what extent is an individual’s position advantaged or disadvantaged as a result of using public libraries?

What is the impact of using a public library service on individual and community citizenship?

Methodology

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Focus group methodology

Longitudinal cohort approach to focus groupsEach focus group is convened 3 times during the course of the study

Scope of projectRepresentative of UK library users

Pilot focus group (Liverpool, 2014)

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Pilot findings

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“When I come in, I have a dead positive vibe, when I walk through the doors straight away, ‘cos I know that I only need to spend fifteen minutes in here, and I’ll have lost myself in a book…. You don’t care what’s going on!”

“I could be quite dramatic and say that reading saved my life!”

Pilot group discussion

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Empirical research

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Edinburgh

Liverpool

Newcastle

LincolnEssex

Devon

RedbridgeSutton

Focus group management

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Autumn 2015

Winter 2015

Spring 2016

Summer 2016

Autumn 2016

Winter 2016

Spring 2017

Summer 2017

Autumn 2017

Winter 2017

Liverpool #2 #3Lincoln #1 #2 #3Edinburgh #1 #2 #3Newcastle #1 #2 #3Devon #1 #2 #3Essex #1 #2 #3Redbridge #1 #2 #3Sutton #1 #2 #3

Themes from round 1

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• Access• Inclusion• Knowledge• Digital citizenship• Professional support• Societal impact

Knowledge

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Inclusion

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Access

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Digital citizenship

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Professional support

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Societal impact

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Initial conclusions

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What’s next?

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