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Migrant’s library services: a theoretical and empirical study in Spain with guidelines for their creation

Luis Serrano Pérez (Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación y la Comunicación, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain)
Cristina Faba-Pérez (Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación y la Comunicación, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain)

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication

ISSN: 2514-9342

Article publication date: 21 December 2021

Issue publication date: 20 February 2023

290

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research study was to seek new forms of public libraries helping with the integration of migrants. It comprises a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliographic review and an empirical study involving the librarians and native and migrant users of public libraries in Spain leading to the design of guidelines for library services targeted at migrant users that can help foster the integration of this group of the population.

Design/methodology/approach

The bibliographic review analyses studies of whether migrant users see the public library as a place of meeting and interchange as well as a fundamental institution providing them with services, meeting their information requirements and offering them challenges and projects. The empirical investigation contrasts this theoretical information by administering three questionnaires (one for librarians, one for native users and one for migrant users, with a total of 45 items) focused on the relationship between public libraries and migration. A total of 20 public libraries over the territory of Spain were selected in accordance with diverse criteria, and a total of 233 completed questionnaires were collected.

Findings

The main results of the empirical research indicate that the greatest proportion of migrant users go to Spain’s public libraries on the recommendation of friends and/or relatives. They use them mainly as a place of study, visiting them at least twice a week, even though the representation of collections and specific services for this group is very sparse (only 5% of the collection of the libraries analysed are in a foreign language). On the other hand, the satisfaction expressed towards both the general services of the libraries and the help provided by their librarians is scored highly, getting mean scores of 4.45 and 4.40 out of 5, respectively.

Originality/value

This work not only includes an exhaustive bibliographic review of the relationship between public libraries and migrant users and an empirical investigation carried out in Spain with librarians, native users and migrant users, but also presents a decalogue of guidelines for the design of a range of services focused on the specific needs of the migrant population, thus favouring their integration in the host country.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was financed by the Consejería de Economía e Infraestructuras of the Junta de Extremadura and the European Regional Development Fund as part of the GR18044 aid to groups.

Citation

Serrano Pérez, L. and Faba-Pérez, C. (2023), "Migrant’s library services: a theoretical and empirical study in Spain with guidelines for their creation", Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Vol. 72 No. 3, pp. 250-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-07-2021-0111

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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