Structural change of English public library policy: focusing on interest groups and their roles

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25330386
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Library and information science/Humanistic social informatics
Research Institution	Keio University
Principal Investigator	SUGA Chie 慶應義塾大学, 文学部(三田), 講師(非常勤) (80310390)
Project Period (FY)	2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥260,000 (Direct Cost: ¥200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥60,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Keywords	図書館学 / 公共図書館 / 図書館政策 / 市民団体 / 市民参画 / 抗議行動 / 図書館情報学 / イギリス / 利益団体
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The purpose of this research is to examine the actual situation of involvement in the policy process of citizens, its influence, relations with policy actors including governments, officials, and interest groups, focusing on protest to public library closures in the UK (England). The author conducted a series of observation surveys at policy-related meetings, and interviews with related people, and the results suggested that citizens have been changing from the passive existence as users to the one who actively involved in policy process. However, while citizens developing protest campaigns want to maintain libraries managed directly by local governments, the government side seeks citizens to engage themselves in service implementation and management due to financial reasons. It was shown that there was considerable disagreement between their opinions.