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This paper aims to strengthen the cultural communication and educational function of the library, bringing newspirits and vitality into the development of the librarianship.

In this paper, the practical research on the living book service in university libraries has given concrete cases, the existing problems are analyzed in detail and some suggestions for improvement are extracted when putting forward, which can be used as the reference and be corrected by colleagues and related scholars in the same field.

There have been many research results on the topic of living book service, but there are few ones with promotional function. Living book service not only satisfies the readers' curiosity and enables them to obtain knowledge and experience they need, but also establishes a good relationship of communication and understanding between “Real Person Books” and readers. It resonates by face-to-face discussion of different life experiences, living experiences or beliefs, and it is also an innovation of the traditional library service mode.

Brand activities are taken as examples, and some thoughts and enlightenment on the living book service in the university library are put forward, helping us to better understand and evaluate the library activities.

The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative platform, namely the Metaverse, to enhance and revolutionize the concept of living library experiences. The fourth industrial revolution has disseminated many innovative human experiences since the rapid development of modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual/augmented realities, blockchain, cloud computing and so on. Various combinations of these technologies have triggered newer tools and platforms for human beings. One of these combinations, perhaps the most unique and holistic case, is the Metaverse, which promises to offer immersive experiences for users. Many stakeholders have been discussing alternative applications of Metaverse platforms, and many developers have attempted to optimize this new technology. Libraries, as the central hub of human intellectuality, will not be an exception to Metaverse integration.

The authors undertook a meticulous examination of an extensive array of scholarly works across various databases to construct a comprehensive literature review. This exhaustive exploration encompassed databases spanning disciplines such as education, psychology, sociology, economics, ICT and so on, and included renowned platforms like PubMed, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore, among others.

In this paper, the authors concentrate on an alternative form of libraries: “living libraries,” where people share their experiences, knowledge and wisdom with others like a living book. Moreover, the authors discuss how the Metaverse and living libraries intersect and create an alternative sharing platform. The paper presents several illustrative scenarios for diffusing living libraries into Metaverse platforms. Finally, the paper articulates the possible challenges that this intersection may present to the current condition.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers combining two innovative concepts: Metaverse and living library and suggests alternative scenarios for real-life experiences.

Public libraries are threatened. At least it can feel so when one reads about the reduced budgets and the decreasing use of libraries. When one looks at the changing nature of the information world, it can be seen that more and more information is available on the net and people can download music, films and even books. The purpose of this paper is not to concentrate on the threats posed to libraries, but instead try to see the possibilities.

With some new library models, which the author sees as progressive, some general conclusions are sought for the future of libraries.

The author's conclusions and recommendations include: looking at peoples' lives not at internal services; be customer‐oriented instead of being system‐oriented; realize that the focus of library service is moving from transactions to relations; emphasize that libraries are social places and living organisms; and realize that we are facing a paradigm shift which confuses both our staff and our users.

If librarians are able to rethink, remodel and renew the libraries, the libraries can be heading for The Golden Age in their history.

This study aimed to understand how parents and librarians describe their lived experiences in a modern children’s library that aims to create a triad bond through the organization of multiliteracy events and activities.

The study used a phenomenological case study approach using two semistructured interviews, the first with parents (n = 5) and the second with library staff (n = 5), to record their lived experiences in creating and attending literacy events and activities.

The findings indicated multiplicities of transformative and heterotypic spaces that juxtapose different yet compatible and vicarious experiences for librarians, parents and their children. The virtual and interactive features of the library fuel children’s curiosity and creativity and afford them authentic materials through a creative blend of local heritage and technology-mediated multimodal literacies. Moreover, the librarians engage in constant program evaluation and upgrades. The library environment creates a vibrant bio-network for disseminating literacy through creativity and ingenuity and affords an affinity space for community socialization.

This study has some limitations and delimitations. The data for this study were collected during the pandemic, which affected the sample size. Moreover, the children’s views were not considered, which could broaden our understanding of the phenomena. Furthermore, the study relied on interviews as the sole source of data; other sources, such as archival data and documents, could enrich the data and increase the study’s rigor. Finally, the study is confined to only one site.

The study found that a “living library” philosophy with an enthusiastic and attentive staff that caters to patrons’ interests draws parents and children to visit. Additionally, unexpected fun activities that occur when sufficient children are present keep them engaged and motivated to stay and learn more. The study suggests that librarians, architects, school leaders, policymakers and educators should consider how to conceptualize, design and experience a modern library space that prioritizes literacy activities and incorporates technology to inspire children’s innovations. The findings can be applied to both public and academic libraries.

The findings from this study could provide researchers, teachers, administrators, librarians and artificial intelligence with a viable orientation to envision new ways of reconceptualizing public and school libraries to create affinity spaces for the literate community, especially in a non-western context such as the United Arab Emirates.

The purpose of this study is to bring attention to the topics of colonization and decolonization in libraries by helping librarians to see how many library practices and policies are embedded in and arise from the dominant culture and can unwittingly function to subjugate the culture, language and worldview of indigenous peoples.

This column defines colonization and decolonization, demonstrates how and why libraries are agents of colonization and examines examples of practices and policies in need of decolonization.

While it may be challenging for librarians to detect colonizing elements in libraries because most of them are embedded in the dominant culture, it is possible to learn how to find them by listening to indigenous communities and gaining a better understanding of their worldview. Even so, decolonization is not an easy task because so much is already invested in the status quo and libraries often function with minimal or diminishing resources.

While there have been studies writing about specific aspects of bias and colonization in libraries, there is not much attention paid to the bigger picture of this topic. For example, the idea that the book-based culture of libraries conflicts with some facets of indigenous oral cultures is not widely discussed elsewhere, but it is addressed in this column.

Native peoples living within their cultures find themselves the focus of increased attention and are renewing their own ties in a cultural renaissance. Non‐Natives are becoming more intrigued with both scholarly and popular interpretations of some aspects of Native cultures. Those Native Americans living outside the culture are trying, in varying degrees, to recover old ways, thus attempting to reverse generations of assimilation. It is with the latter group that this article is concerned: the non affiliated Native Americans who are intellectually and/or spiritually as well as physically removed from traditional teachings. What kinds of assistance can libraries provide to Native Americans wishing to reclaim their cultural legacy?

Research into the library as place investigates the role of public library buildings as destinations, physical places where people go for various reasons ranging from making use of the library's resources and services or seeking to fulfill an information or reading need to less easily identified reasons that may include using the library's building as a place to make social or business contacts, to build or reinforce community or political ties, or to create or reinforce a personal identity. This study asks: How are one rural US public library system's newly constructed buildings functioning as places? The answer is derived from answers to sub-questions about adult library users, user, and staff perceptions of library use, and observed use of library facilities. The findings are contextualized using a framework built of theories from human geography, sociology, and information studies.

This case study replicates a mixed-methods case study conducted at the main public libraries in Toronto and Vancouver in the late1990s and first reproduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006. It tests methods used in large urban settings in a rural, small-town environment. This study also expands on its antecedents by using thematic analysis to determine which conceptualizations of the role of the public library as place are most relevant to the community under investigation.

The study relies on quantitative and qualitative data collected via surveys and interviews of adult library users, interviews of library public service staff members, structured observations of people using the libraries, and analysis of selected administrative documents. The five sets of data are triangulated to answer the research sub-questions.

Thematic analysis grounded in the conceptual framework finds that public realm theory best contextualizes the relationships that develop between library staff members and adult library users over time. The study finds that the libraries serve their communities as informational places and as familiarized locales rather than as third places, and that the libraries facilitate the generation of social capital for their users.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the lived experiences of Australian public library staff during the COVID-19 library closures. The study examines the effect of mandated physical library closures on staff well-being, along with the challenges they faced as library operations moved to a remotely delivered model. The paper includes an examination of staff perceptions of their library's value in the lives of their users.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 Australian library staff from three library networks. A process of inductive coding resulted in a thematic description of the participants' experiences of continuing to work during a period of where their libraries were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Australian public library workers experienced many challenges that affected their well-being during the period of library closures. These included challenges relating to moving library programming to a virtual delivery model, managing significant change in their work lives, managing the emotions of self and others, and concern for the well-being of library users. Positive outcomes relating to skill development and innovative thinking were also reported.

The operational responses to the COVID-19 library closures in Australia and elsewhere have been well reported. This paper takes a different approach by examining the emotional and well-being outcomes for public library staff during these periods of closure.

What are the responsibilities of libraries, if there is any, in the personal process of constructing cultural identity? The purpose of this paper is to find answers to this question and pose several others such as: Can the author define a standard for creating group identity, for instance, by involving or integrating tools and experiences from the area of bibliotherapy? How can libraries support their patrons to work with their tradition, on their tradition, i.e. to create their own cultural identity?

The author provides with proposals to develop library services to meet new expectations that are raised by the increasing importance of bridging communities of different cultural backgrounds.

By expanding the scope of bibliotherapy, the author might assist in solving social problems and international tensions. The author should consider the possibility of running projects involving historians, culture experts and bibliotherapists to build a shared digital corpus and design specific tools for research and constructing common narratives. To find common cultural references in a multicultural environment is a challenge that requires openness in many fields. Public libraries are mainly at the frontline. There are some old responsibilities that need to be refined under the changing circumstances; new tasks and principals might emerge.

Despite the role of libraries in creating cultural identity is emphasized by a couple of relevant IFLA and UNESCO documents, there are no specific guides on methods to implement. A few ideas have been outlined in this paper about how libraries could contribute to bringing cultures together and challenge prejudices and stereotypes.

To most minds libraries exist at the periphery of debates over education and educational reform. However, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how, in 1910, the Melbourne Public Library (now the State Library of Victoria) was central, rather than peripheral, to a conflict which focussed on the role of the library in education and how the library and its collection could best be organised to meet this purpose. It will be argued that libraries and the way they are organised act as indices of the dominant views about education and can be seen as social and educational artefacts. As artefacts they encapsulate community beliefs about how learning could best occur at a given time and what knowledge was esteemed, made available and to whom.

To illustrate this point of view and illuminate the broader issues, this paper will use a particular set of events and a particular group of protagonists in Australian history as a case study.

This case study illuminates conflicting ideas about the place of libraries and the organisation of their collections in early twentieth‐century society and demonstrates how these ideas continued to have an impact on the place of libraries in educational reform agendas in Australia in the following decades.

The argument reported as “the disaffection in the library” was both philosophical and practical and illuminated ongoing debates surrounding the place of the library in education. The outcome influenced the shape and place of libraries in Australia and demonstrates broader concerns at work in Federation Australia.

The paper casts a new light on the relationship between libraries and education and the place of libraries in the educational process. The network of influence in Federation Australia and the impact of this on the development of institutions and professions in Australia is also examined.