Public Librarians' Views of the Public's Geospatial Information Needs

Abstract

Public librarians often interact with patrons seeking geographic information. This project investigated those interactions with a sense-making (timeline) survey instrument. Content analysis of the librarians' responses reveals a limited range of situations for which patrons seek geographic information in public libraries compared with peoples' geographic queries outside the public library. Further, librarians' expectations of clarifying geographic questions with patrons often lead to frustration and inadequacy on the part of librarians, rather than reaching closure with their patrons as they expected. Expected and actual formats for geospatial information are highly correlated, and digital geospatial products such as electronic maps are rarely employed in public library settings. Additional results include the determination that public library patrons appear to ask librarians fewer cause and effect or interpretation questions compared with their actual information needs. Implications for altering reference interviews to evoke the broader geospatial information needs that bring people to the public library are explored, as is the potential role of digital geographic data to support resolving patrons' information needs. We also present a series of recommendations for practice stimulated by these research results.