A Note on Resilience Perspectives in Public Library Research: Paths Towards Research Agendas

Abstract

Resilience is the ability to cope with change. The concept of resilience originating in the natural sciences has been applied in a variety of disciplines, from physics through ecology and social ecology to psychology and cultural studies. In public library research, very little resilience research has been conducted. The derived concepts of community resilience and information resilience have been applied to a very limited extent, and primarily in relation to the role of public libraries in disasters and in information literacy initiatives toward refugees. This short paper provides a condensed overview of concepts of resilience, asserts that public libraries are suitable arenas for resilience research, points to areas of research necessary for resilience theory development within the public library sphere, and engages with resilience concepts such as community resilience, information resilience, and cultural resilience.