Researching public library programs through Facebook events: a new research approach
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-08-2018-0137 |
| Published date | 08 July 2019 |
| Pages | 857-875 |
| Date | 08 July 2019 |
| Author | Mia Høj Mathiasson,Henrik Jochumsen |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Researching public library
programs through Facebook
events: a new research approach
Mia Høj Mathiasson and Henrik Jochumsen
Department of Information Studies,
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to report on a new approach for researching public library programs
through Facebook events. The term public library programs refers to publicly announced activities and
events taking place within or in relation to a public library. In Denmark, programs are an important part of
the practices of public libraries and have been growing in both number and variety within recent years.
Design/methodology/approach –The data for the study presented in this paper consists of Facebook
events announcing public library programs. In the study of this data, grounded theory is used as a research
strategy and methods of web archiving are used for collecting both the textual and the visual content of the
Facebook events.
Findings –The combination of Facebook events as data, grounded theory as a research strategy and web
archiving as methods for data collection proves to be useful for researching the format and content of public
library programs, which have already taken place.
Research limitations/implications –Only a limited number of Facebook events are examined and the
context is restricted to one country.
Originality/value –This paper presents a promising approach for researching public library programs
through social media content and provides new insights into both methods and data as well as the
phenomenon investigated. Thereby, this paper contributes to a conception of an under-developed researched
area as well as a new approach for studying it.
Keywords Public libraries, Research methods, Grounded theory, Social media content, Facebook events,
Public library programmes, Web archiving
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Since their early years, public libraries have been engaged in arranging and hosting
programs as part of their practices. In the USA, the tradition of public library programming
dates back to the late 1880s (Lenstra, 2018) and today, the number and variety of public
library programs offered is immense. As an example, the New York Public Library offers
more than 93,000 programs annually, serving “everyone from toddlers to teens to seniors”
(New York Public Library, 2018). In Denmark as well as in the USA, programs have been a
part of the practices of public libraries for many years and increasingly since the middle of
the 1960s (Thorsen, 1992). According to the annual national assessment reports on public
libraries, within recent years, the programs offered by Danish public libraries have grown in
both quantity and variety. From 2010 until 2015, the number of categories used to survey
and assess public library programs more than doubled: from 15 categories in 2010 to
34 categories in 2015 (Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces, 2010, 2015). However,
regardless of adjustments and additions, the existing categories used to survey and assess
public library programs appear to be too narrow and fail to grasp the complex variety of
programs offered. This problem seems symptomatic for the fact that little is known about
public library programs and that research on this phenomenon as a unified area of study is
limited. What is in fact a public library program? A recent example of an attempt to define
public library programs, can be found in the research project National Impact of Library
Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA). According to the NILPPA research project, the
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 4, 2019
pp. 857-875
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-08-2018-0137
Received 23 August 2018
Revised 14 February 2019
Accepted 17 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
857
Researching
public library
programs
problem of defining public library programs relates to the need of a general conception of
this phenomenon. Considering the lack of a general conception of public library programs
and looking back at the Danish situation, where the seemingly diverse and complex
variation of programs proliferate the existing categories used to survey and assess them, it
becomes clear, that more research is needed in order to define, assess and discuss public
library programs in the future. However, before developing any definitions, and engaging in
assessments and discussions, what is needed is an approach for researching public library
programs. How to research public library programs as a unified area of study? The aim of
this paper is to present an answer to the question of how to research public library programs
by reporting on a new research approach for doing so.
By the term publiclibrary programs, this paperrefers to publicly announcedactivities and
events, taking place within or in relation to a public library. Furthermore, public library
programs are social interactions in which library professionals and members of the
communityare involved. This definitionstresses the importance ofthe public announcements.
Many libraries announce their programs on their website and, additionally, on social media
sites such as Facebook. In Denmark, morethan 90 percent of public librariesuse Facebook as
a platform for communicating with their users(Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces,2015)
and the announcement of programs is a central feature here. This is one of the reasons why
the data for this study consists of Facebook events announcing public library programs,
found and collected from public library Facebook pages. The strategies for data collection,
data analysis and theory development presented are based on these writings on grounded
theory. Combining writings on grounded theory as formulated by sociologists Strauss and
Corbin (1990), Corbin and Strauss (2008) and sociologist Kathy Charmaz (2006, 2014) the
content of the Facebook events are analyzed and coded. Furthermore, methods of web
archiving are applied for collecting and preserving the Facebook events.
The questions raised in this paper are: What characterize Facebook events as data? How
can grounded theory be applied to the study of Facebook events? And how are methods of
web archiving contributing to this study? As these questions are answered, new questions
will be raised from reflecting on the approach. Ultimately, the research question is:
RQ1. Whether the combination of Facebook events as data, grounded theory as research
strategy and web archiving as methods for data collection make up a valuable
research approach, for studying public library programs in a digital age?
Literature review
In the following, existing writings on public library programs are introduced. Then follows
an introduction to studies of public libraries and their use of social media, especially
Facebook. Finally, different methods for studying Facebook content are presented in
relation to libraries and beyond.
Literature on public library programs
As a topic, public library programs is an under-developed research area. However, historical
writings have addressed this topic. Looking at especially American and British literature,
writings on public library programs can be found dating back to the 1920s, though at that
time, they were not termed “programs.”Going through some of the early writings on
“extension work”(McColvin, 1927; Leyland, 1938) and “extension activities”(Baguley, 1959;
Jolliffe, 1962), public library programs are framed as something extending or augmenting
the library and its services and broadening up its user base. Thus, public library programs
have historically been used as part of library publicity. Around the same time, programs
were closely associated with “educational activities”(Sydney et al., 1950; Smith, 1954;
Stevenson, 1963) promoting literacy through the access to books. The American library
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