Croatian Public Libraries Research Articles

A Study of Croatian Public Libraries: Challenges and Opportunities in Embracing Artificial Intelligence

ABSTRACT Artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually entering libraries worldwide. Croatian public libraries are also considering implementing selected AI-supported tools in some of their library operations and user-oriented services. Actual implementation has occurred sporadically/selectively for several popular library operations, but not for library management. AI-supported tools are perceived as time-saving aids that reduce the burden of repetitive tasks and enhance existing user services. Confidence among librarians in the current stage of AI development, as of May 2024, appears to be relatively low. The research study revealed a lack of advanced knowledge about AI among librarians. In terms of a strategic view on the future of public libraries, librarians are aware of potential changes in their roles and the possibility of job evolution or loss. AI is perceived as an important set of technologies for the development of Croatian public libraries.

Reading habits of Croatian adult library users during COVID-19 lockdown in 2020

COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 and consequent lockdown caused a number of changes in the everyday activities and lives of people globally. This paper looks into the change of reading habits of adult library users in Croatia. The online survey was administered through social media and mailing lists of Croatian public libraries, but part of the sample was obtained through snowball technique. The research was carried out in the period of February 15th to March 1st, 2021 resulting with the sample of 1.463 adult library users. The results were analysed by the SPSS statistical package utilising descriptive and inferential statistical methods (Chi-square, Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient). Results show that almost 50.0% of the sample experienced the change of reading habits (particularly reading books) during the 2020 lockdown and every third respondent believed that they started spending more time reading in 2020. The younger the respondents, the more likely they were to have their reading habits affected by the 2020 lockdown. The prolonged state of a pandemic requires continuous study of reading habits that keep changing and evolving. Sex and age differences detected in the sample should be taken into account by those who create reading policies or offer services that promote reading.

How can libraries support dementia friendly communities? The study into perceptions and experiences of Croatian public librarians

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is an incurable neurological disease with an unknown cause. Since AD is not only social and health challenge but also an economic and fiscal burden and its prevalence is expected to grow exponentially as world population gets older, in 2012 the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) recognized dementia as a global public health priority. Although librarians have not generally been recognized as professionals caring for persons with dementia, recent research indicates that public libraries can contribute to the development of dementia friendly communities by supporting social inclusion, self-efficacy and capacity building of persons with AD, and by providing support to their informal caregivers (CGs). The research reported in this paper aims to examine the role of Croatian public libraries in building a dementia friendly communities, in a country where information, health and social care systems for D patients and their CGs are not sufficiently developed (Rušac, 2016; Petr Balog et al., 2020). With the help of quantitative (online survey) methodology authors explore how Croatian public libraries tailor their spaces, collections, programs and services in order to enhance the everyday experience of persons with AD and their CGs.

The most borrowed books by Croatian authors in the public libraries of Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Pula

The aim of this paper was to explore the issue of library borrowing of books written by Croatian authors. The focus was on the most borrowed books. In the first part of the paper there is a literature review related to the topic, such as readers’ preferences and the importance of culturally diverse materials. Following the presentation of theoretical background, the second part of the paper presents the research findings. The research goals were as follows: 1) to explore how often the users of Croatian public libraries have borrowed books written by authors from Croatia in comparison to books by non-Croatian authors; 2) to explore the characteristics of the most borrowed books by Croatian authors (when they were published; the gender of the authors; if they are fiction, non-fiction or picture books; what their genres are). The public libraries in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Pula were included in the research. The findings indicate that there are about 10% of books by Croatian authors among the 2,000 most borrowed books in the listed libraries. The majority of the books are fiction books published for the first time after the year 2000.

LIBRARY ONLINE SERVICES DURING COVID-19: THE EXPERIENCE OF LIBRARIES IN CROATIA AND UKRAINE

The purpose of the article is to identify activities in providing online services during forced quarantine on the example of public libraries’ activities in Croatia and university libraries in Ukraine. The study aimed to identify, analyse, and characterise online services offered by libraries to establish remote customer service during the forced quarantine. The results of the study are presented in three sections. The first analyses the work of Croatian public libraries; the second, presents the experience of Ukrainian libraries; in the third, there is the case of the Scientific Library of Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts is displayed. The scientific novelty of the article is to identify practices for providing online services by libraries in Croatia and Ukraine during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The study shows that Croatian public librarians, as well as Ukrainian librarians, have demonstrated they can quickly adapt and use digital technologies on behalf of their supporters. Libraries went from developing imaginative practices to create online spaces in a matter of weeks. The result was a massive amount of produced content like workshops for children and adults; streamings of online events, organisation of virtual exhibitions, and collecting verified reference sources for research and learning. Another one of the impacts of this crisis was the accelerated development of digital library services, including online membership registration and the acquisition of e-books by public libraries. Public response was more significant than ever, including following, commenting, and sharing digital content created or shared by public libraries. The study found that the challenges of the COVID‑19 pandemic have intensified the digitisation of Ukrainian libraries and led to changes in activities. University libraries quickly adapted to remote work, offering their users a variety of remote services. The authors hope that the considered practices will contribute to disseminating better experience of libraries during quarantine in general and online services in remote maintenance in particular.

Online Activities of Croatian Public Libraries During COVID-19 Spring Lockdown

"Online Activities of Croatian Public Libraries During COVID-19 Spring Lockdown." International Information & Library Review, 52(4), pp. 318–319

Public Libraries in the Eyes of the LGBTIQ Community: The Case of Croatia

ABSTRACTThe achievement of social justice, which implies the development of collections and the design of services for different user groups, is an objective present in the mission of public libraries. Since the 1950s, Croatian public libraries have been continuously developing collections and services for different user communities. However, one user community has remained largely unrecognized – LGBTIQ people. Therefore, the aim of the research presented in this paper is to examine the importance of the role of public libraries in the life of the LGBTIQ community in the Republic of Croatia. With a sample of 259 respondents, information behaviors, attitudes and experiences of LGBTIQ people in relation to public libraries have been examined via an online survey. In particular, this study explored the extent to which members of public libraries differ from non-members. The obtained results should contribute to a better understanding of the information needs and behavior of members of sexual minorities and help bring this group of users closer to (Croatian) public libraries by ensuring that libraries more adequately respond to their needs.

Croatian public libraries in time of crisis

Croatian public libraries faced complex processes in society at the turn of the 20th into the 21st century – a time of transition and transformation in Croatia. During this period, Croatia shifted towards democracy and modernization. Its constitution (now seen as a geopolitical and cultural entity), extraordinary conditions of war disaster in the Homeland War 1991–1995, and conditions of the post-war period all presented unique challenges for public libraries in Croatia. In addition, Croatian libraries have also been influenced by characteristics of the information society that occurs trans-nationally and trans-societally (among all globalization processes and permeating all aspects of life with information and communication technology). Croatian libraries had to transform their traditional role of lending books and acting as cultural heritage institutions to follow international modern library trends in the information age as multifunctional information, educational, cultural and communication centres of their local communities. The aim of this article is to give a historical review of public libraries’ accommodation to these turbulent changes in Croatian society, as well as in the world in the last few decades.

Croatian library leaders’ views on (their) library quality

The purpose of this paper is to determine and describe the library culture in Croatian public libraries. Semi-structured interviews with 14 library directors (ten public and four academic) were conducted. The tentative discussion topics were: definition of quality, responsibility for quality, satisfaction with library services, familiarization with user perspective of library and librarians, monitoring of user expectations and opinions. These interviews incorporate some of the findings of the project Evaluation of library and information services: public and academic libraries. The project investigates library culture in Croatian public and academic libraries and their preparedness for activities of performance measurement. The interviews reveal that library culture has changed positively in the past few years and that library leaders have positive attitude towards quality and evaluation activities. Library culture in Croatian libraries is a relatively new concept and as such was not actively developed and/or created. This article looks into the library culture of Croatian libraries, but at the same time investigates whether there is any trace of culture of assessment in them. Also, this article brings the latest update on views, opinions and atmosphere in Croatian public and academic libraries.

Social Networking Phenomenon and Its Use in Libraries / Fenomen društvenih mreža i njegova primjena u knjižnicama

AbstractSocial media phenomenon has changed the way people communicate. Facebook has become the world’s most popular social networking site. It did not take long for libraries, as cultural and educational institutions, to recognize its importance and start using it for the promotion of their activities and improvement of their services. The purpose of this research is to determine the frequency and types of Croatian public libraries’ presence on Facebook. The paper analyses the nature of their presence, metric indicators, and activities on selected Facebook applications. The results are compared to previous studies conducted in Croatia and in the world. The conclusion brings a number of fundamental recommendations concerning the presence of public libraries on Facebook. Key words: Croatia; Facebook; public libraries; Social Networking Sites.---SažetakFenomen društvenih medija promijenio je način komunikacije pojedinaca, ali i ustanova. Facebook je postao najkorištenija svjetska društvena mreža, a knjižnice, kao kulturne i obrazovne ustanove, ubrzo su prepoznale njegovu važnost i počele ga koristiti kako bi promicale svoje aktivnosti i unaprijedile poslovanje. Cilj je istraživanja utvrditi učestalost i načine na koje se hrvatske narodne knjižnice koriste Facebookom. Analizirane su vrsta prisutnosti, metrički pokazatelji i aktivnosti knjižnica na pojedinim aplikacijama. Rezultati su uspoređeni s prethodnim istraživanjima provedenim u Hrvatskoj i u svijetu. U zaključku se daje nekoliko temeljnih preporuka vezanih uz prisutnost narodnih knjižnica na Facebooku.Ključne riječi: društvene mreže; Facebook; Hrvatska; narodne knjižnice.

Public Libraries and Linguistic Diversity: A Small Scale Study on the Slovak Ethnic Minority in Eastern Croatia

One of the key missions of the twenty-first century public library is to foster inter-cultural dialogue and favour cultural diversity by reaching out to all members of the local community, especially multicultural populations. This paper will present a fragment of data gathered in a multi-phase exploratory study whose aim was to survey multicultural services of Croatian public libraries and collect and analyze data about information needs and behaviour of long-established national minorities in this country, and measure the level of their satisfaction with the library services. This paper focuses on the Slovak national minority in Osijek-Baranya County, their information needs and perceptions of libraries as a source of everyday information and reading material in their mother tongue. Data was gathered with the help of quantitative methodology. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed through Slovak cultural associations and the Central Library for the Slovak Minority. A total of 112 questionnaires were returned, making a response of 56%. Because 2, 155 members of this national minority are registered in this region the study covered ca. 5% of the whole population. Descriptive statistics and variant analysis were used to analyze data. The study has confirmed that respondents, members of the long-established Slovak national minority in Osijek-Baranya County, have the need for diverse information and reading material in their mother tongue: only 8.9% said that they do not need information resources in Slovak. As expected, the large majority indicated that they need these materials to stay in touch with their cultural and linguistic heritage (79.5%). Also, results showed that only 24.1% respondents use the public library as a source of information and reading material in Slovak, following newspapers and magazines (67.9%), Slovak cultural associations (63.4%), personal contact (54.5%) and the Internet (42%). The importance of this research lies in its implications for development of library services to multicultural communities in Croatia as well as offering suggestions for improving the collection building in Croatian public libraries, in particular regarding material in languages and scripts of long-established minorities. Authors also hope that this study will encourage librarians in Croatia to systematically collect and analyze information about their local community minorities, especially their library and information needs.

Organizational aspects of digitization projects in the Croatian public libraries

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to present findings from research in the Croatian public libraries on organizational aspects of digitization projects.Design/methodology/approachThis research article is based on research done in 152 public libraries in Croatia invited by e‐mail to participate in the web survey, which was chosen as the most appropriate tool for investigating geographically dispersed libraries.FindingsFindings from the survey indicate a modest number of public libraries engaged in digitization projects. These results can be attributed to unfavorable conditions for initiation of digitization projects. Almost half of public libraries plan to launch digitization projects as soon as necessary conditions for digitization become favorable. Digital content available in the surveyed public libraries already received a positive feedback from users. Instead of mass digitization, public libraries chose systematic digitization of selected library collections. To improve the quality of digitization of library material public libraries need better financial support, additional training of library staff and better infrastructure. The findings indicate that public libraries in Croatia are strongly dedicated to development of digital collections as soon as necessary conditions for launch of their digitization projects are met.Originality/valueThe article contributes to the growing body of knowledge about organizational aspects of digital collection development and digitization in public libraries as well as about the benefits digital collections can provide for libraries in general.

Gifts in Croatian public and academic libraries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide information on handling gifts‐in‐kind in Croatian public and academic libraries. It also recommends what should be done to improve practice with gifts for collections.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the author's research conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire that was sent to Croatian public libraries (n=139) and academic libraries (n=73) in May 2011. After a two‐week period, a total of 84 responses was received (40 public libraries and 44 academic libraries). In statistical analysis, some variables are tested by χ2‐test to show whether differences between public and academic libraries are statistically significant.FindingsThe majority of Croatian libraries do not have gift policy statements. Gifts do have a significant part in collection building, especially in Croatian academic libraries, but are not always handled in the right way (i.e. according to IFLA's guidelines). This paper shows the quantity of gifts in the libraries, librarians' reasons for not accepting some gifts, librarians' methods in dealing with gifts, and their way of communicating with donors or potential donors.Originality/valueThis paper gives results of the first complete study of gift policies in Croatian public and academic libraries. In conclusion, a need for a written gift policy in Croatian libraries is emphasized and some recommendations are given.

Public libraries and popularisation of science

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the findings from the research carried out among the directors of Croatian public libraries about cooperation between public libraries and the academic community and about promotion of science in Croatian public libraries. Owing to their number, strategic position in society and the skills and knowledge of librarians, public libraries have an opportunity to cooperate more intensively with the scientific community, expand their holdings with science‐related content and to offer new services. Some already cooperate with the Croatian scientific community by participating in joint research projects and in promoting science. Although cooperation with the scientific community is not among their priorities, Croatian public libraries are enthusiastic to continue with this type of activity.Design/methodology/approachThe first part of the paper offers an introduction followed by a short review of the current position of public libraries in society and possibilities for strengthening their position by cooperating with the scientific community (in the second part of the paper). The third part introduces the research among the directors of Croatian public libraries followed by the presentation of the findings of the same research. An online survey consisting of 19 closed questions was used as a method of research. An e‐mail invitation to participate in the research was sent to all public libraries in Croatia.Practical implicationsThe outcome of the research may serve as an orientation to the members of the Croatian academic community when planning new cooperation with public libraries and vice versa. The findings of the research may also serve as an orientation to the directors of Croatian public libraries when considering expansions of their holdings with new material related to science and in the development of new offline and online services.FindingsThe strategic position of public libraries in society makes them of interest for promotion of results of developments in many areas of human endeavour, including science, by using their holdings, services and premises. According to the research findings, public libraries participate actively in popularisation of science by using their existing holdings and services. Public libraries in Croatia are promoting science actively and are participating in scientific projects led by scientific institutions. Their holdings contain popular science titles, and they offer services to facilitate access to scientific information. Public libraries included in the survey plan to continue with the promotion of science, as they believe that this activity is important for them.Originality/valueThe paper aims to advance understanding of the role of public libraries in Croatia and their role in promotion of science, and contributes to the growth of library and information science literature on topics related to public libraries.