Key users of Polish digital libraries
| Date | 03 August 2012 |
| Published date | 03 August 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471211252238 |
| Pages | 543-556 |
| Author | Mirosław Górny,Jolanta Mazurek |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Key users of Polish digital
libraries
Mirosław Go
´rny
Department of Information Systems, Institute of Linguistics,
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland, and
Jolanta Mazurek
The Ko
´rnik Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ko
´rnik, Poland
Abstract
Purpose – The article concerns efforts to identify the key users of Polish digital libraries.
Design/methodology/approach – The research was based on a questionnaire containing 19
questions, on subjects which included ways of using the library, reasons for using it, and which types
of publications were most often used. Use was also made of statistical data collected on the library’s
server. An attempt was made to characterize the dominant groups of digital library users, taking a
user’s interests as the main determinant. The analysis focused on age, sex, level of education, and size
of town where users reside. An attempt was also made to determine approximately the total number of
users.
Findings – Approximately 60 per cent of users are amateur historians with an interest in the history
of their place of residence or genealogists interested in the history of their family. The remaining 40 per
cent consist mainly of academic researchers and students. The number of regular readers – those who
use the library at least several times per year – is approximately 30,000. There will probably be a
significant rise in the number of users in the amateur historians and genealogists category. One of the
factors that may affect the number of users is the expansion of information technology infrastructure
in rural areas. This will undoubtedly cause a significant rise in the number of internet users, although
the number of digital library users will probably increase only marginally as a result of this. A second
factor is the spreading of internet skills in the over-70 age group. In a few years’ time that group will be
more numerous. The group that affords the greatest prospects for expansion is students. Firstly this is
a group that numbers two million people in Poland, and secondly they require universal access to
textbooks. A cause for concern is the minimal interest in digital libraries shown by teachers and school
pupils.
Research limitations/implications – This is the first stage of research into the function
performed by digital libraries in Polish society.
Originality/value – This is the first study carried out in Poland to answer the question of who uses
digital libraries, to what extent, and why.
Keywords Digital libraries,Library users, User studies, Poland
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The creation of digital libraries in Poland signified an unprecedented shift in the
organisation of access to the collections of writings which have been built up over
centuries. In a relatively short time, the general reader gained access to documents and
publications which had previously been accessible in practice only to a very narrow
group of specialists. This concerns especially newspapers from the 19th century and
the first half of the twentieth, as well as numerous address books, leaflets and old
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Key users of
Polish digital
libraries
543
Received May 2011
Revised June 2011
Accepted July 2011
The Electronic Library
Vol. 30 No. 4, 2012
pp. 543-556
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640471211252238
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