Teenagers’ perception of a contemporary library

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reveal teenagers’ perception of a contemporary library. The research is carried out in accordance with the original study conducted by the author. Written answers given by Latvian teenagers (n=61) to the open-ended question “What should a contemporary library be like?” were analysed using NVivo software. All the respondents were 14-16 years old students (Form 8 or Form 9) from five comprehensive day schools of big cities of Latvia. The study resulted in a mind map, containing three hierarchy levels with 51 categories and subcategories in total. Five main categories for classifying teenagers’ associations are as follows: “library and technologies” (n=48), “in formation resources” (n=48), “premises” (n=39), “general description” (n=19) and “user- -friendly staff” (n=11). Most of the associations classified as “library and technologies” are devoted to a perception of a library as a place providing public access to computers and internet. Meanwhile “information resource” mainly contains references to a library as a place where printed books are kept. The study results show that it is vital to perform activities in order to change teenagers’ perception of a contemporary library as a physical space which mainly operates as an access point to computers and printed books.