An Integrated Study on "Libraries as Place":A New 21st Century Model of Paradigm for Japanese Libraries

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26330374
• 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: Kobe Women's University
• Principal Investigator: KUNO Kazuko 神戸女子大学, 文学部, 准教授 (80635524)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KAWASAKI Yoshitaka 京都大学, 教育学研究科, 名誉教授 (80149517) ; YOSHIDA Yuko 筑波大学, 図書館情報メディア研究科, 教授 (30292569)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 場としての図書館 / 第三の場（サードプレイス） / 社会関係資本 / 公共図書館 / 欧米の図書館 / 学校図書館 / 児童図書館 / 北欧の図書館

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study has historically and empirically elucidated the values and development of “Libraries as Place,” which has been highly evaluated throughout the 21st century. It takes a holistic and integrated approach to combine the interdisciplinary and leading-edge studies on “Libraries as Place” preceded in the U.S. and Europe with a wide-range of field works in Japan and overseas. The results suggest that Japanese public libraries and school libraries should be local “third places” that are crucial for effectively creating and developing social capital, civic engagement, life-long learnings and civic information centers that enrich people’s everyday life.

Free Research Field

図書館情報学