Library User Metaphors and Services - How Librarians look at their Users

How do library professionals talk about and refer to library users, and how is this significant? In recent decades, the library profession has conceived of users in at least five different ways, viewing them alternatively as citizens, clients, customers, guests, or partners. This book argues that these user metaphors crucially inform librarians' interactions with the public, and, by extension, determine the quality and content of the services received.
The ultimate aim of this book is to provide library professionals with insights and tools for avoiding common pitfalls associated with false or professionally inadequate conceptions of library users.

About the author

Carl Gustav Johannsen, Royal School of Library and Information Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Product details

• Authors: Carl G. Johannsen, Carl Gustav Johannsen
• Publisher: De Gruyter Saur
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.09.2015
• EAN: 9783110419658
• ISBN: 978-3-11-041965-8
• No. of pages: 174
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 12 mm x 236 mm
• Weight: 382 g
• Illustrations: 15 b/w tbl.
• Series: Current Topics in Library and Information Practice; Current Topics in Library and Information Practice; ISSN
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Book trade, library system