“Our Public Library”: Social reproduction and urban public space in Toronto

Frederiksen, Lia

doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2014.11.009

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Studies performed in a situation of planning [Frederiksen 2015], temporary closure [Usherwood 2002] or permanent liquidation of libraries [Koontz et al 2009] indicate first that the libraries were underestimated before its closure and that these institutions significantly contribute to the improvement of the quality of life. Secondly, the negative impact mainly affects disadvantaged groups, such as children, the elderly (less mobility, which makes it impossible to find an alternative to library services), people with lower education and financially vulnerable, as well as women.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Public Libraries a Commonplace? Users from Disadvantaged Groups, Their Cultural Participation Models and an Impact of Libraries

Paul¹

2019

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In the article, I presented the results of the study of the social impact of Mazovian public libraries, focusing on groups of users coming from disadvantaged backgrounds-older people, people in the worse financial situation and residents of villages and small towns. Surveys were carried out in 2017 on 1098 users of 38 Mazovian public libraries (rural and urban). Based on the data I concluded that there are some differences both in the models of public libraries' use in the analyzed groups, as well as in the range of the benefits of contact with libraries.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Public Libraries a Commonplace? Users from Disadvantaged Groups, Their Cultural Participation Models and an Impact of Libraries

Paul¹

2019

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“…In 2011, in a public and heated battle against local constituents and high-profile advocates wanting to protect 'Our Public Library', attempts to close branches and implement a 10% budget cut were thwarted. Commenting on this 2011 campaign, Frederiksen (2015) argues that libraries are ripe for contesting neoliberal urbanism as they are site of social reproduction: … public libraries are diverse public spaces for social reproduction where people are formed as workers and citizens, but through which they can also contest neoliberal downloading and offloading public provisioning and social service. (p. 150) Libraries are simultaneously socialised spaces and central to knowledge production/ dissemination in an urban economy (Rao, 2012).…”

Section: Library Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Enabling dissent’: Contesting austerity and right populism in Toronto, Canada

Thomas

Tufts

2016

Econ. labour relat. rev.

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Following the 2008 financial crisis, austerity measures have been introduced in many national contexts to reorganise public sector work and redesign labour laws and labour policies. At the same time, right-populist discourses and movements have arisen in ways that give both legitimacy and voice to the politics of austerity. Toronto, Canada, provides a world-renowned case of populist experimentation at the metropolitan scale, as the actions of Mayor Rob Ford typified this nexus of austerity and populism. Set in the context of Ford's term as Mayor of Toronto (2010-2014), this article asks how the combined rise of austerity and right populism creates both new challenges and new opportunities for public sector labour in urban spaces. We argue that public sector unions are central in both the making and unmaking of populist austerity and identify potential trajectories for organised labour in the face of the continuation of austeritydriven politics. JEL Codes: H76; J45, J48, J51

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“…Internationally, girls and women experience educational inequality (UNESCO, 2016). And, since cuts to public libraries and library closures disproportionately affect women (Frederiksen, 2015), and women also make up the majority of librarians (Kelly, 1977;Norcup, 2017) cuts, closures and questions around the relevance of libraries are gendered matters. So too are instrumental accounts of the value of the library which present a narrow picture of its significance (see, for example, Crawford & Irving, 2013;Shenton & Dixon, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Libraries in women’s lives: everyday rhythms and public time

Spencer-Bennett

2020

Educational Review

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This paper asks how libraries have rhythmed women's education and everyday lives. It draws on women's narratives of library use in a multicultural suburb of Birmingham, UK. It shows that women's use of libraries exists in rhythmic relations with other times and places, both public and private. The narratives reveal the value of the library in offering space for women to claim time for themselves in the Lefebvrian "weak time, the stops, silences, blanks". Routines, cycles and continuity of use over various scales are important in women's engagements with libraries. Memorable too are particular moments. Punctuating the quotidian rhythms of library use, these moments are individual stories of rupture; times of great significance in women's lives. Changes to library provision have, therefore, rhythmic consequences, with reduced opening hours and library closure bringing arrhythmia. Through the library, women are linked to particular histories and they enter into shared rhythms, within both the present and the past. Libraries, this paper argues, offer not only an important public space but also public time. 1

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“Our Public Library”: Social reproduction and urban public space in Toronto

Cited by 17 publications

References 57 publications

Are Public Libraries a Commonplace? Users from Disadvantaged Groups, Their Cultural Participation Models and an Impact of Libraries

Are Public Libraries a Commonplace? Users from Disadvantaged Groups, Their Cultural Participation Models and an Impact of Libraries

‘Enabling dissent’: Contesting austerity and right populism in Toronto, Canada

Libraries in women’s lives: everyday rhythms and public time

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