Bibliotheken in digitalen und physischen Räumen informationeller Weltstädte

Abstract

Informational cities are prototypical regions of the knowledge society. In informational cities, public libraries play important roles as parts of the knowledge infrastructure of those cities. For 31 identified informational world cities, we analyzed empirically the core services of their public libraries. As method we applied content analysis of the libraries' web pages. We divided the library services into two main groups, namely digital library and physical library. Many libraries present e-resources (above all, e-books, e-journals and bibliographical databases) free of charge to their customers. Libraries offer digital reference services mainly via e-mail and web forms. Their appearances in social media are dominated by posts in Facebook and Twitter. Nearly all analyzed public libraries represent attractive architectural landmarks in their region. Besides children's spaces the libraries consist of physical spaces for learning and meeting and (to a lower degree) of modular working spaces. The majority of the libraries offer Wi-Fi inside their buildings; and more than half of all investigated libraries work with RFID technology. There are two core values of the prototypical library in the knowledge society: 1st (core value of digital library): to provide citizens, companies and administrations in their city and their region with digital services, namely e-resources as well as reference services, and to communicate to their customers via social media; and 2nd (core value of physical library): to offer physical spaces for meeting, learning and working, as well as for children (and other groups) in a building which is a landmark in the city.