Privilege and public provision in the intellectual welfare state

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/00220410510607462
Pages463-470
Published date01 August 2005
Date01 August 2005
AuthorBarbara Kyle
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
60 YEARS OF THE BEST IN INFORMATION
RESEARCH
Privilege and public provision in
the intellectual welfare state
Barbara Kyle
Social Sciences Documentation
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper, originally published in 1956, is to examine the assumptions
about people’s needs for and rights to information which lie behind the establishment of privately and
publicly owned libraries, to consider how far these assumptions are valid, and finally to discuss the
proper part to be played by privately owned libraries in the national library service.
Design/methodology/approach – Identifies and reflects on the assumptions in quotations from
charters and terms of reference of a variety of libraries and from official statements about library
provision.
Findings Publicly supported libraries should satisfy the demands of the general reader for
everything that is in print, including foreign material, and in doing so should give greater
consideration to the geographical and temporal convenience of the reader in the case of both reference
and loan material; that all demands on the interlibrary loan system should be met where possible from
the stock of publicly supported libraries: that special libraries should give priority to the demands of
their special clients but that they should consider increasing services to outsiders on a fee basis.
Originality/value – Suggests that it would be possible, when assessing the different categories of
library, to have slightly varying criteria in mind and each librarian would be able to gauge the quality
of his services by reference to explicit particular ends.
Keywords Libraries, Personalneeds, Information management
Paper type General review
The December issue of the Library Association Record, published as this paper
was going to press, contains an article by R. H. Hill and S. P. L. Filon entitled
“The Incorporation of Special Libraries in the National Interlending System”, in which
a number of proposals is put forward; if these recommendations are generally
approved they will make still more necessary some consideration of the assumptions
and difficulties I discuss.
My purpose in this paper is to examine the assumptions as to people’s needs for
and rights to information which lie behind the establishment of privately and
publicly owned libraries, to consider how far these assumptions are valid, and finally
to discuss the proper part to be played by privately owned libraries in the national
library service. I shall begin by identifying these assumptions in quotations from
charters and terms of reference of a variety of libraries and from official statements
about library provision.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
This article was first published in Journal of Documentation, Vol. 12 No. 1 (1956), pp. 15-23. It has
been included in this issue as part of a series of articles celebrating 60 years of the best in
information research in Journal of Documentation.
Privilege and
public provision
463
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 61 No. 4, 2005
pp. 463-470
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220410510607462

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