Conceptual modelling of the public sphere in public libraries
| Published date | 09 May 2016 |
| Date | 09 May 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-06-2015-0079 |
| Author | Michael M. Widdersheim,Masanori Koizumi |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management |
1
Conceptual modelling of the public sphere in public libraries
1. Introduction
Librarians and library researchers have associated public libraries with a Habermasian
public sphere (Öffentlichkeit). Recently, it has even been suggested that a transnational public
sphere is emerging, one sustained by libraries (Morrison 2010). To substantiate these claims, it
is important that library researchers clearly explain what they mean by a public sphere and how
public libraries relate to it. The public sphere has been mentioned in library literature for over
two decades, suggesting that the concept has a latent importance to the field of library studies.
As of yet, however, connections between public sphere theory and public libraries remain vague.
Braman (2009), for example, points out that more work is needed to theorize library-state
relations, and Webster (1995, 2014) and Buschman (2003) express ambivalence about the
vitality of public sphere institutions in the face of state-sponsored marketization. Given the
recent closings of public libraries in several nations (Evjen 2015), the value of public library
services is a live issue that could be better explicated by way of a public sphere framework.
This study is an attempt to clarify how public libraries relate to the public sphere. To do
this, we first identify the dimensions of the public sphere in public libraries. This is
accomplished through an analysis of public sphere theory, a review of previous library literature,
and qualitative content analysis of annual reports from an urban U.S. public library system. We
then use the dimensions we find to construct a model of the public sphere in public libraries.
Our model has three arenas of public sphere discourse: Governance and Management,
Legitimation, and Commons.
This study of the public sphere is significant for several reasons. First, it clarifies an
undertheorized area that is of central importance to the library studies field. Examination of the
public sphere as it relates to libraries uncovers the ideals that are fundamental for understanding
the purpose and value of public libraries in society. This study thus touches on empirical as well
as normative aspects of public libraries. Second, this study is distinctive because it introduces a
data-based, empirical research methodology into this area of inquiry. Previous references to the
public sphere and public libraries have been speculative and conjectural in nature, but our study
explains an abstract sociological concept accurately and in depth and connects it to libraries
using real-world examples. The model we present is valuable to both library practitioners and
library researchers. Practitioners can use our model to orient library services and strategic
planning, while library researchers can use the model to identify areas of inquiry. A public
sphere perspective of public libraries is attractive because it focuses on how public libraries can
be governed and legitimated in socially just ways. A public sphere framework may present an
effective way to articulate the social and political value of public libraries.
2. Habermas and the Public Sphere
The public sphere concept is most commonly associated with the work of Jürgen
Habermas. Habermas (1989a) tracked the development and eventual collapse of critical public
debate in France, Germany, and England from the 17th century to the early 20th century. In its
heyday, the public sphere was a form of sociality characterized by open, intellectual discourse by
private actors. In addition to raising topics related to art and culture, the debate and deliberation
that formed the public sphere served as a counterdiscourse to absolutist governmental power.
These discourse contexts developed in tandem with the emergence of capitalist markets and
nation-states in early modern Europe.
The public sphere was first presented by Habermas as a historical social category, one
situated in a particular moment in time and place. Since then, however, the concept has been
used beyond early-modern and European contexts to understand discourse and politics on
national and international scales. To what degree and in what forms the public sphere exists in
modern societies, if ever it did, are central questions surrounding the public sphere concept, and
they have prompted unyielding debates in fields such as history, communication, and political
theory. The traditional narrative of the liberal public sphere has been criticized as simplistic and
idealistic (Webster 2014). Library and information studies literature has also focused on these
questions, and any model of the public sphere in public libraries must be careful not to succumb
to similar criticisms of idealization.
What is the public sphere? Communicative interactions that count as public sphere
discourse must meet three necessary and sufficient conditions related to publicness: openness,
debate, and common concern (Habermas 1989a, 36-37). The condition of openness means that
anyone in principle can engage in communication regardless of who they are, what they own, or
what they believe. The condition of debate means that discussion is based on reason and
justification—that the force of the better argument prevails, not a member's relative social capital.
One principle of debate is that any topic is thematizable. Finally, the condition of common
concern means that private citizens raise issues of mutual interest that transcend their own
particular positions. Moreover, they come to interpret for themselves what is in the common
interest rather than allow these interests to be dictated to them by ecclesiastical or state
authorities. The degree of publicness or Öffentlichkeit—to what extent public sphere discourse
To continue reading
Request your trial