Overcoming social divisions with the public library
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2021-0244 |
| Published date | 25 April 2022 |
| Date | 25 April 2022 |
| Pages | 52-65 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Tomoya Igarashi,Masanori Koizumi,Michael Majewski Widdersheim |
Overcoming social divisions with
the public library
Tomoya Igarashi
Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba,
Tsukuba, Japan
Masanori Koizumi
Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba,
Tsukuba, Japan, and
Michael Majewski Widdersheim
School of Library and Information Management, Emporia State University,
Emporia, Kansas, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to describe the full picture of how public libraries contribute to
overcoming social division through their resources, programming and services.
Design/methodology/approach –A systematic literature review and analysis was conducted. Literature
was collected from LISA and LISTA, two primary databases of library and information science literature.
Through individual analyses and discussion among researchers, data from 47 documents were analyzed and
classified into three categories: “digital”,“economic”and “demographic”divisions. Examples from the
literature were used to illustrate how public libraries impact social division in each of these categories.
Findings –The three categories reveal that public libraries contribute to overcoming social division by
reducing inequality and promoting interaction among citizens. This is done by addressing digital, economic
and demographic divisions within society.
Originality/value –This study is the first to summarize in a comprehensive way how public libraries
contribute to reducing social division. By classifying how public libraries address this important social issue,
this study contributes to the literature about how social division can be overcome.
Keywords Social division, Inequality, Social capital, Democracy, Public library
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Inequality, social division and democracy
Piketty (2014) analyzed the statistical data of several countries and foun d that economic
inequality is increasing worldwide. While the size of the gap varies from country to country, it
has grown in every country since the end of the Second World War. Piketty (2014) also showed
that the formula r>gholds historically, where ristherateofreturnoncapitalandgis the rate of
economic growth. This means that the wealth produced by capital grows faster than the wealth
acquired by labor. In other words, wealthy people with capital become wealthier while workers
become relatively less wealthy. Since capital is largely inherited, the disparity is perpetuated not
due to individual ability but circumstance. A capitalist economy is inherently stratified and,
absent intervention, stratification increases. This has implications for communities. Citizens
belonging to different classes have different lifestyles and values (Gilleard and Higgs, 2020;
Marger, 2014). As inequality increases, citizens living in the same country come to hold very
different values. It has been pointed out that these widely differing values make dialogue and
compromise difficult, and that democracy is beginning to malfunction as a result (Reich, 2012).
In addition to strictly economic stratification, it has also been pointed out that society is
divided by race and age (Anthias, 2020;Bottero, 2005;Payne, 2006). These divisions also have
JD
79,1
52
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP20H04479, JP21J10661.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 21 December 2021
Revised 18 March 2022
Accepted 20 March 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 1, 2023
pp. 52-65
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-12-2021-0244
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