Library and Information Science Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 May 20;16(10):1780. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16101780.
Public libraries constitute a ubiquitous social infrastructure found in nearly every community in the United States and Canada. The hypothesis of this study is that public libraries can be understood as important supports of walking in neighborhoods, not only as walkable destinations, but also as providers of programs that increase walking in communities. Recent work by public health scholars has analyzed how libraries contribute to community health. This particular topic has not previously been researched. As such, a qualitative, exploratory approach guides this study. Grounded theory techniques are used in a content analysis of a corpus of 94 online articles documenting this phenomenon. Results show that across North America public librarians endeavor to support walking through programs oriented around stories, books, and local history, as well as through walking groups and community partnerships. While this exploratory study has many limitations, it does set the stage for future, more rigorous research on the contributions public libraries and public librarians make to walking in neighborhoods. The principal conclusion of this study is that additional research is needed to comprehensively understand the intersection between public librarianship and public health.
公共图书馆是美国和加拿大几乎每个社区都普遍存在的一种社会基础设施。本研究的假设是,公共图书馆不仅可以作为步行目的地,还可以作为提供增加社区步行活动的项目的重要支撑,从而被理解为社区步行的重要支撑。最近,公共卫生学者分析了图书馆如何促进社区健康。这个特定的主题以前没有被研究过。因此,本研究采用定性、探索性的方法。扎根理论技术用于对记录这一现象的 94 篇在线文章的语料库进行内容分析。结果表明,在整个北美,公共图书馆员通过围绕故事、书籍和当地历史的项目,以及通过步行团体和社区伙伴关系,努力支持步行。虽然这项探索性研究有许多局限性,但它确实为未来更严格的研究奠定了基础,以了解公共图书馆和公共图书馆员在社区步行方面的贡献。本研究的主要结论是,需要进行更多的研究,以全面了解公共图书馆学和公共卫生之间的交叉点。