Understanding Public Libraries

Understanding Public Libraries: Management, Leadership and Ideology sets out a robust new analytical framework for understanding, managing and supporting public libraries. Drawing on the ideas of Marx and Maslow and their theories of dialectical materialism and cultural hegemony, experienced library leader John Pateman presents how this framework can be used in public libraries to create change and ensure their survival in the future.

Identifying three models of the public library – Management, Leadership and Ideology – the analysis from this book can be strategically employed to create an evidence base to demonstrate the social value of public libraries, which in turn can be used to defend the public library against financial cuts and create a business case for investment in public libraries, to ensure they are well funded and sustainable into the future.

Essential reading for practitioners, students and researchers in the library and information sciences, the ideological focus of this book importantly advances a scientific understanding of public libraries and ultimately poses and explores the vital question: whose interests should public libraries serve?

John Pateman worked in public libraries for 44 years in a number of different roles ranging from Library Assistant to Chief Librarian. He was Chief Librarian of three library systems in the UK: Hackney, a diverse inner London borough; Merton, a multicultural London suburb; and Lincolnshire, a large rural county. He was Chief Librarian and Chief Executive Officer at Thunder Bay Public Library. John was part of the UK Government Policy Group at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport that produced Libraries for All: Social Inclusion in Public Libraries – policy guidance for Local Authorities in England, October 1999. He was part of the research team which produced Open to All? The Public Library and Social Exclusion (2000), which influenced the Working Together Project (2004-2008) in Canada. John is on the editorial board of Open Shelf, the Ontario Library Association online journal, and contributes a regular column, ‘Open to All?’ that explores barriers to library use and how to reduce or remove them. He is the Director of the Cuban Libraries Solidarity Campaign and received the National Culture Award from the Cuban government for his work in support of Cuban libraries. John is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and a founding member and editorial collective member of Information for Social Change.