“You’re Not the Police. You’re Providing a Library Service”

Reflections on Maintenance and Repair in/of Public Libraries During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Holly Randell-Moon Charles Sturt University
  • Jane Garner Charles Sturt University
  • Simon Wakeling Charles Sturt University
  • Mary Anne Kennan Charles Sturt University
  • Philip Hider Charles Sturt University
  • Hamid R. Jamali Charles Sturt University
  • Yazdan Mansourian Charles Sturt University

Abstract

This paper explores how services gaps between public libraries, governmental authorities, and other institutions were addressed during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the labor of filling these gaps reveals the repair and maintenance work in and on the public good of the library. The site for this exploration is the project Australian Public Libraries During the COVID-19 Crisis: Implications for Future Policy and Practice, which used mixed-methods questionnaires and interviews to understand the library and information science (LIS) profession’s response to the pandemic. During the pandemic, public institutions labored to maintain services and repair any gaps arising from disrupted services. The extraordinary labor instigated by the pandemic can be used to theorize the ordinary labor of maintaining public institutions such as libraries and how notions of the public good are reaffirmed through individual and institutional acts of care. The maintenance and repair of public libraries as institutions with community service obligations reveals assumptions about essential services, which communities are disadvantaged, and the policing role of libraries. Understanding the repair role of libraries helps researchers and practitioners to theorize and conceptualize their work and service to the community in new ways.

Pre-print first published online 07/21/2023

Author Biographies

Holly Randell-Moon, Charles Sturt University

Holly Randell-Moon is a non-Indigenous senior lecturer in the School of Indigenous Australian Studies at Charles Sturt University. She has published in the areas of critical race and whiteness studies, communication, education, and the knowledge economy. She is interested in culturally responsive approaches to representing Indigenous Australian communities in library systems and diverse understandings of information literacy and digital citizenship.

Jane Garner, Charles Sturt University

Jane Garner is a senior lecturer at the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University. She publishes on topics relating to library services to disadvantaged groups, most specifically adult and child prisoner communities.

Simon Wakeling, Charles Sturt University

Simon Wakeling is a senior lecturer in the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University. His research interests include the role and function of public libraries, and scholarly communication, particularly the open access publication and dissemination of research outputs.

Mary Anne Kennan, Charles Sturt University

Dr. Mary Anne Kennan, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Charles Sturt University, conducts research that focuses broadly on scholarly communication including open access and research data management; the education of, and roles for, librarians and information professionals; and the practices of information sharing and collaboration in various contexts.

Philip Hider, Charles Sturt University

Philip Hider is Professor of Library and Information Management in the School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University. He has been researching in the field of Library and Information Science since the 1990s, specialising in the area of knowledge organisation, and Head of School for about 15 years.

Hamid R. Jamali , Charles Sturt University

Hamid R. Jamali is an associate professor at the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, Australia. His current research interests include scholarly communication, research evaluation as well as the role of public libraries.

Yazdan Mansourian, Charles Sturt University

Yazdan Mansourian is a senior lecturer in the School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University. He completed his PhD in Information Science at the University of Sheffield in 2006. Since then, his research interests have been shaped around the cognitive and affective aspects of Human Information Behaviour (HIB). Since 2017 he has focused on HIB in the realm of Serious Leisure to explore the role of joy and other positive emotions in engaging people with hobbies, amateurism and voluntary activities and how joyful experiences inspire people to seek, share and use information.

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Published

2023-07-21

Issue

Vol. 4: Assemblage, Inquiry, and Common Work in Library and Information Studies

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2023 Holly Randell-Moon, Jane Garner, Simon Wakeling, Mary Anne Kennan, Philip Hider, Hamid R. Jamali , Yazdan Mansourian

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