Adaptive Service Research Articles

Establishing palliative care in tribal and rural Indian setting: A participatory action research approach.

e24085 Background: We established a palliative care center in the tribal area of Santhal Pargana, India, under a tertiary care facility, as a crucial step in addressing the palliative needs of oncology patients. This study assesses the center's inaugural year, focusing on referral patterns, morphine consumption, and pain management. Methods: Data from all patients visiting the palliative care outpatient department (OPD) in 2023 were prospectively collected and analyzed. The study focused on key palliative care indicators, including morphine consumption, patient referrals, and the mean Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) pain score after initial consultation. The PAR approach was utilized to tailor services to the community's needs. Results: The center observed an increase in patient referrals, from 8 new patients in January to 19 by December. The patient demographic primarily comprised individuals with head and neck cancer (43%), followed by breast cancer (28%) and gall bladder cancer (12%), alongside other types such as cervix, sarcomas, lung, and adult hematolymphoid malignancies. Bone metastasis was present in 46 (55.4%) patients at initial presentation. Morphine consumption demonstrated a notable rise, from 840 mg in May to 2860 mg in December, totaling 9800 mg for the year. The mean NRS pain score improved significantly from 6.5 in January to 4.3 post-initial consultation. The center maintained an overall median of 3 consultations per patient, and bereavement support was provided to 13 (15.7%) patients. Conclusions: The integration of the Participatory Action Research approach, specifically the CTC-5, was instrumental in the successful initiation and expansion of palliative care services within the center. The structured training, mentorship, and organizational restructuring, facilitated by the program, were crucial in establishing a modest palliative care infrastructure. This comprehensive approach not only enhanced care delivery but also ensured the sustainability and adaptability of palliative services, effectively addressing the gap in palliative care in rural, tribal settings.

КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНІ ЗАСАДИ РОЗВИТКУ ТУРИСТИЧНОЇ ІНДУСТРІЇ В УМОВАХ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ СИСТЕМИ УКРАЇНИ

The development of the tourism industry in the context of the transformation of the socio-economic system of Ukraine requires clearly defined conceptual frameworks aimed at adapting to new conditions and ensuring sustainable development of the industry. The purpose of the study is to define these conceptual foundations and to identify the key trends in the development of the tourism industry in the context of war and martial law in Ukraine. It is found that the tourism industry is beginning to revive after a sharp decline due to the war. The evidence reflected the trends in the recovery of the tourism business and its impact on the country's economy in the context of post-warrecovery. It is determined that for the successful development and recovery of the industry in times of crisis, it is necessary to adhere to the principles of sustainability and resilience, adaptability, integration, social responsibility, innovation, environmental balance and international cooperation. The study also identified current development trends, which include the growth of domestic tourism, improved security and adaptation of tourism services, active government support, the introduction of innovations and digital technologies, the development of social responsibility and volunteer programmes, as well as increased regional cooperation and international assistance. The study results showed that Ukraine's tourism industry is adapting to the war and the transformation of the socio-economic system by reorienting itself to the domestic market and ensuring the safety of tourists. The state and private companies are actively implementing innovations, digital technologies, support programmes and socially responsible initiatives to stimulate the development of the industry. Further research could focus on a more detailed study of individual factors influencing the macroeconomic environment of the Ukrainian tourism industry and their interaction

Optimizing 6G Network Slicing with the EvoNetSlice Model for Dynamic Resource Allocation and Real-Time QoS Management

This research paper focuses on thoroughly examining the challenges in 6G network slicing. To develop, evaluate performance characteristics for on-demand reallocation and instantaneously changeable QoS EvoNetSlice model. The study employs integrated evolutionary algorithms with artificial intelligence-enabled data analytics and multi-objective optimization to optimize network resources usage under minimum end-to-end delay, high transmission rates and optimal background data management. Firstly, the network resource allocation individuals should be based on the network traffic data, QoD (quality of demand) value for some applications and users’ behaviors. The performance degradation detection and quality of service (QoS) adaptation mechanism combined with a multi-layer objective fitness function for achieving good balance in conflict between conflicting objectives. Results indicate that EvoNetSlice improves the general efficiency of a particular network, adapts according to ever shifting requirements for QoS at any time and provides crucial statistics-focused data on network management. The importance of this work lies in developing the future 6G network’s technology. W the key issues, including resource optimization and real-time adaptation required to support modern 6G services, are considered by EvoNetSlice. Such an exploration is an essential element in developing flexible 6G systems that will define next-generation wireless communication.

COVID-19 and hospital activity: experience of the Nephrology Department of Ibn Sina Hospital-Rabat

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a major health crisis, responsible for a very high morbidity in the world. This context represented an organizational challenge and required an adaptation of health services. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the activity of the Nephrology Department of Ibn Sina Hospital of Rabat during the period of confinement of the COVID-19 pandemic.Material and methods Retrospective study of hospitalization, dialysis and consultation activities in the nephrology, and dialysis and kidney transplantation department, during the period of confinement in Morocco from March 12 to June 16, 2020.Results We have identified, for the considered period of three months, 65 patients hospitalized in the nephrology department versus 218 patients during the 3 months preceding the start of confinement in Morocco, which corresponds to a decrease of 70%. The mean age of the patients was 50 ± 16 years with a male predominance. Kidney biopsy was performed in 14 patients. Lupus nephritis was found in 5 patients. Twelve patients received a bolus of methylprednisolone, 7 patients required intravenous cyclophosphamide, and only 1 patient was treated with rituximab. One-hundred twenty-nine patients underwent dialysis, and 554 patients benefited from telemedicine during this period.Conclusion Data collected in this study highlights that the global pandemic due to COVID-19 had a great impact on the activity of our department. The continuity of care for our patients has been ensured by the implementation of telemedicine and the reorganization of our hospital activity.

OTT Platforms as a Means of Distributing Cultural and Entertainment Content in Ukraine

Introduction. The relevance of the topic is due to the importance of developing Over-The-Top platforms, which provide access to digital content via the Internet, bypassing traditional cable and satellite television and play an important role in the distribution of cultural and entertainment content to society. Purpose and methods. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the theoretical foundations and practical recommendations for organizing OTT platforms as a means of distributing cultural and entertainment content on the Internet. The methodological basis of the study is the systematic, interdisciplinary and historical approaches to the study of information and communication processes in the socio-cultural sphere. Results. The history of the origin of OTT services and the experience of their use at the global level are studied. The main OTT platforms in the Ukrainian market are analyzed and the advantages and disadvantages of each of them are identified. The trends and prospects for the development of OTT in Ukraine are studied and the factors influencing their popularity are identified. The most popular and convenient platforms that provide the highest quality content in accordance with its cost are highlighted. Conclusions. The scientific novelty of the research results lies in the generalization, systematization and development of the main theoretical provisions on the organization of OTT platforms in Ukraine, taking into account the factors of modern influence. The significance of the study is manifested in the development of scientific and practical recommendations that will contribute to the development of ways to distribute cultural and entertainment content through OTT services. The obtained results identify and analyze the main trends in content distribution, indicate the directions of modernization and adaptation of services for their owners.

A social network analysis approach to assess COVID19-related disruption to substance use treatment and informal social interactions among people who use drugs in Scotland.

To assess the extent of Coronavirus-related disruption to health and social care treatment and social interactions among people with lived or living experience of substance use in Scotland, and explore potential reasons for variations in disruption. Cross sectional mixed methods interview, incorporating a social network 'egonet interview' approach asking about whether participants had interactions with a range of substance use, health, social care or third sector organisations, or informal social interactions. Five Alcohol and Drug Partnership Areas in Scotland. 57 (42% women) participants were involved in the study, on average 42 years old. Five-point Likert scale reporting whether interactions with a range of services and people had gotten much better, better, no different (or no change), worse, or much worse since COVID19 and lockdown. Ratings were nested within participants (Individuals provided multiple ratings) and some ratings were also nested within treatment service (services received multiple ratings). The nested structure was accounted for using cross classified ordinal logistic multilevel models. While the overall average suggested only a slight negative change in interactions (mean rating 2.93), there were substantial variations according to type of interaction, and between individuals. Reported change was more often negative for mental health services (Adjusted OR = 0.93 95% CI 0.17,0.90), and positive for pharmacies (3.03 95% CI 1.36, 5.93). The models found between-participant variation of around 10%, and negligible between-service variation of around 1% in ratings. Ratings didn't vary by individual age or gender but there was variation between areas. Substance use treatment service adaptations due to COVID19 lockdown led to both positive and negative service user experiences. Social network methods provide an effective way to describe complex system-wide interaction patterns, and to measure variations at the individual, service, and area level.

Integration of Building Services in Modular Construction: A PRISMA Approach

Modular construction is gaining worldwide attention. Building services are the systems that make buildings comfortable and efficient. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems provide heating, cooling, lighting, energy distribution, and water services. Modular construction integrates building services into prefabricated modules at the manufacturing site, which are then transported to the construction site. A systematic review (SR) of building services integration within modular construction is thus necessary. Prior to the SR, a quantitative analysis of the retrieved 115 publications from the Scopus database was explored. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guide, 13 relevant publications from the Scopus database and via the Research Rabbit application were profiled. MEP systems integration approaches and research needs were examined. Recent literature emphasizes technology integration and sustainability, while early studies laid the framework for modular approaches. The findings highlight the potential of digital technologies like building information modeling (BIM) and recommend a holistic framework for the entire building’s lifetime, from design to operation. Future research directions include performance studies, modular building service adaptation, and industry-wide standards building. Researchers and practitioners seeking to improve modular construction methods and integrate complex building services will gain insights from this study.

Fidelity and acceptability of implementation strategies developed for adherence to a clinical pathway for screening, assessment and management of anxiety and depression in adults with cancer

BackgroundImplementation strategies are crucial to facilitate implementation success. To prepare and support implementation of a clinical pathway for screening, assessment and management of anxiety and depression in cancer patients (the ADAPT CP), six broad categories of implementation strategies; (1) Awareness campaigns, (2) Champions, (3) Education, (4) Academic Detailing and Support, (5) Reporting, (6) Technological Support, were developed. The aim of this paper is to describe the fidelity and acceptability of six categories of implementation strategies and any subsequent changes/adaptations made to those strategies.MethodsThe ADAPT CP was implemented in twelve cancer services in NSW, Australia, as part of a cluster randomised controlled trial of core versus enhanced implementation strategies. Fidelity to and any subsequent changes to the delivery of the planned six categories of implementation strategies were captured using the ADAPT contact log, which recorded the contacts made between the ADAPT research team and services, engagement meetings and monthly meetings. To explore acceptability and awareness/engagement with the implementation strategies, interviews with a purposively selected staff sample across both study arms were held prior to implementation (T0), six months into implementation (T1) and at the end of the 12-month implementation period (T2). Interviews were thematically analysed across the six categories of strategies.ResultsDelivery of all six categories of implementation strategies as planned was moderated by service context and resources and staff engagement. As such, for some implementation strategies, subsequent changes or adaptations to the content, mode of delivery, frequency and duration such as abbreviated training sessions, were made to optimise fidelity to and engagement with the strategies. Most strategies were perceived to be acceptable by service staff. Use of strategies prior to implementation of the ADAPT CP such as the engagement meetings and training sessions, positively impacted on ownership and preparedness to implement the ADAPT CP. Furthermore, ongoing support such as provision of additional training or monthly meetings facilitated increased awareness and engagement with the ADAPT program.ConclusionFlexibility in delivering implementation strategies, and ensuring staff engagement with, and acceptability of those strategies, can support implementation of interventions within healthcare settings.Trial registrationThe ADAPT CRCT was registered prospectively with the ANZCTR on 22/3/2017. Trial ID ACTRN12617000411347. https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372486&isReview=true

RESILIENCE OF EU HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS

The article highlights the critical role of health­care system resilience in responding effectively to public health crises, with a particular emphasis on financing, effectiveness, and preparedness. It delves into a comparative analysis of healthcare costs and system effectiveness in several EU countries, revealing that higher expenditure doesnʼt always equate to greater resilience. The article also highlights the lack of investment in preventing measures, even in econo­mically developed countries, resulting in minimal improvements in healthcare system resilience. It has been noted that there is no correlation between strict government measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and healthcare system effectiveness. The importance of synergy between government epidemic control actions and healthcare system resilience is emphasized. The key factors that influenced healthcare system resilience during the pandemic, including proactive prepa­redness, resource allocation, data analytics capabi­lities, communication, public trust, and adaptive policies have been identified in the research. To enhance healthcare system resilience, it is recom­mended to focus on financial resilience, healthcare personnel resilience, and health infrastructure resilience. Strategies to achieve this include effective governance, flexible financing, resource availability, and adaptable service delivery. The multifaceted nature of healthcare system resilience and the need for a comprehensive approach to its provision in the conditions of emergency situations in the field of healthcare are emphasized. The authorsʼ analysis reveals a complex interplay of factors that contribute to healthcare system resilience, which can be used by government officials as a roadmap for strengthening the healthcare systems in the context of future challenges.

Cloud menu: Cloud based network analysis for disease‐diet associations and recommendations

SummaryFood is one of the most underrated entities with respect to diseases. Food or Diet plays a vital role in healing or recovery of a patient which brings forth the need of analyzing disease and diets associations. The study of such associations is crucial for recommending appropriate diets to patients but is an arduous task due to the complex interdependencies as is evident in literature. Thus, it becomes necessary to automate the analysis and make it available as a service. The main aim of this work is to efficiently collate and analyze disease‐diet associations and provide it as an accessible and adaptable service using a combination of advanced techniques. Complex disease‐diet interdependencies are curated from the literature and transformed into a network offering various parameters for further analysis. The analysis is done using machine learning algorithms to predict accurate and robust recommendations. Cloud computing aids this analysis by providing sufficient resources and making it more accessible. Thus, the recommendations are constructed using amalgamation of techniques including network analysis, machine learning, and cloud computing. The deduced associations from the analysis of medical data using these technologies would aid doctors and healthcare institutions in decision making thereby improving the prognosis of a disease.

The role of pharmacist in community palliative care-a scoping review.

Dynamic and adaptive services that provide timely access to care are pivotal to ensuring patients with palliative needs experience high-quality care. Patients who have palliative care needs may require symptomatic relief with medicines and, therefore, may engage with community pharmacists frequently. However, there is limited evidence for pharmacists' involvement in community palliative care models. Therefore, a scoping review was conducted to identify pharmacists' role in community palliative care. A systematic search strategy was implemented across PubMed, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and Embase databases. Articles were screened by abstract and full text against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Five articles (two from Australia, two from England, and one from Scotland) met the inclusion criteria and described interventions involving pharmacists in community palliative care. This review has identified that the inclusion of trained pharmacists in community palliative care teams can improve the quality of care provided for patients with palliative needs. Pharmacists are able to undertake medication reviews and provide education to patients and other healthcare professionals on the quality use of palliative care medicines. Additionally, the underutilization of community pharmacists in palliative care, the need for further training of pharmacists, and improved community pharmacy access to patient information to deliver community palliative care were identified. Pharmacists can play a vital role in community palliative care to enhance the quality of life of patients. There is a need for greater pharmacist education/training, improved interprofessional communication, improved access to patient information and sustainable funding to strengthen community-based palliative care.

Clustering Analysis of Hotel Network Reviews Based on Text Mining Method

With the development of information technology, users use online platforms to post real-time online comments to express their preferences and opinions on goods or services. Online review information expresses users' behavioral habits and special preferences. In depth, analysis of hotel online reviews can improve the adaptability of hotel services to user needs. Effective mining of the vast user review data will provide value for the development of the tourism industry. Using text mining methods to process hotel review data, multiple clustering methods were compared and analyzed for positive and negative feature words from the perspective of user experience. It was found that the k-means++ algorithm had a better clustering effect on user network reviews and achieved better clustering and segmentation of user evaluation information. Unsupervised clustering analysis can be used to further classify online comment information into categories based on positive and negative reviews, providing intellectual support for improving the precision and personalized service quality of hotels.

TENET: Adaptive Service Chain Orchestrator for MEC-Enabled Low-Latency 6DoF Virtual Reality

TENET: Adaptive Service Chain Orchestrator for MEC-Enabled Low-Latency 6DoF Virtual Reality

Exploratory study on the adaptation of online services offered to people with disabilities, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim During the COVID-19 pandemic, many community organizations offering services to people with disabilities (PWD) changed their service delivery, switching from in-person to remote services. However, little is known about what it was like for organizations to quickly pivot their service delivery. The study explored barriers and facilitators to access community services for PWD and identified potential improvements to these services. Methods The study used a mixed method, multiple case study design, which included a convenience sample of 27 participants recruited from four community organizations delivering services to PWD. Participating staff and members participated in six different focus groups and completed a questionnaire about their level of satisfaction regarding the evolution of the services. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted on the focus group data and the data from the questionnaires were descriptively analyzed. Results The thematic analyses revealed four themes: “Succeeding in adapting the interventions to continue providing services”, “Enjoying a lot of new things about the new online modality”, “Key elements that have facilitated the transition” and “Facing some difficulties implementing online services”. The median satisfaction score demonstrated that the participants were satisfied with the services. The success of these organizational changes relied on the adoption of new methods and approaches to service delivery. Conclusion Through this study, barriers and facilitators that the organizations and their beneficiaries have experienced during the pandemic were identified as well as suggestions for improvement. The organizations consider maintaining online services beyond the pandemic to offer PWD easier access to community services.

Analyzing Subnational Immunization Coverage to Catch up and Reach the Unreached in Seven High-Priority Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2019-2021.

Yearly national immunization coverage reporting does not measure performance at the subnational level throughout the year and conceals inequalities within countries. We analyzed subnational immunization coverage from seven high-priority countries in our region. We analyzed subnational, monthly immunization data from seven high-priority countries. Five were Gavi eligible (i.e., Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen); these are countries that according to their low income are eligible for support from the Global Alliance on Vaccine and Immunization, while Iraq and Jordan were included because of a recent decrease in immunization coverage and contribution to the regional number of under and unimmunized children. DTP3 coverage, which is considered as the main indicator for the routine immunization coverage as the essential component of the immunization program performance, varied monthly in 2019-2021 before reaching pre-pandemic coverage in the last two months of 2021. Somalia and Yemen had a net gain in DTP3 coverage at the end of 2021, as improvement in 2021 exceeded the regression in 2020. In Pakistan and Iraq, DTP3 improvement in 2021 equaled the 2020 regression. In Afghanistan, Syria and Jordan, the regression in DTP3 coverage continued in 2020 and 2021. The number of districts with at least 6000 zero-dose children improved moderately in Afghanistan and substantially in Somalia throughout the follow-up period. In Pakistan, the geographical distribution differed between 2020 and 2021.Of the three countries with the highest number of zero-dose children, DTP1 coverage reached 109% in Q4 of 2020 after a sharp drop to 69% in Q2 of 2020. However, in Pakistan, the number of zero-dose children decreased to 1/10 of its burden in Q4 of 2021. In Afghanistan, the number of zero-dose children more than a doubled. Among the even countries, adaptation of immunization service to the pandemic varied, depending on the agility of the health system and the performance of the components of the expanded program on immunization. We recommended monitoring administrative monthly immunization coverage data at the subnational level to detect low-performing districts, plan catchup, identify bottlenecks towards reaching unvaccinated children and customize strategies to improve the coverage in districts with zero-dose children throughout the year and monitor progress.

Adaptation of a specialized cardiac centre to patient management and health care services in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis: The Bahrain experience

BackgroundHospitals worldwide had to implement several measures to control SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, particularly in cardiac center. However, the extent to which these adapted measures have been perceived by the nurse care provider as effective needs to be explored in order to identify the most successful measures that can be considered in future health care crises. AimTo explore the adaptation of patient management and cardiac health care services at a specialized cardiac center in the Kingdom of Bahrain during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsA cross-sectional study was employed among nurses working at the main cardiac in Bahrain centre using a convenience sampling method along with the Patient Management and Cardiac Health Care Services questionnaire. ResultsA total of 214 nurses were enrolled in the study. Most participants were females (89.3 %) with a mean age of 34.6 ± 7.9 years. The majority of participants have experienced a reduction in the number of hospitalized patients (87.4 %) during the Coronavirus-19 pandemic. According to the participants, smartphone applications were used to overcome face-to-face consultations (52.8–65 %) and the appointments were changed to phone consultations (60.7 %). Outpatient and diagnostic services were the most affected services (95.8 % and 94.4 %, respectively). In contrast, the emergency and critical care units were the least affected services (56.6 % and 30.8 %, respectively), (p ˂ 0.001). ConclusionEssential cardiac services continued to function during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, several diagnostic and outpatient services were disrupted. Thus, there is an urgent need for developing a protocol for care of patients admitted in cardiac center during health crisis times.

Augmenting context with power information for green context-awareness in smart environments

The increase in the use of smart devices has led to the realization of the Internet of Everything (IoE). The heart of an IoE environment is a Context-Aware System that facilitates service discovery, delivery, and adaptation based on context classification. The context has been defined in a domain-dependent way, traditionally. The classical models of context have been focused on rich context and lack Cost of Context (CoC) that can be used for decision support. The authors present a philosophy-inspired mathematical model of context that includes confidence in activity classification of context, the actions performed, and the power information. Since a single recurring activity can lead to distinct actions performed at different times, it is better to record the actions. The power information includes the power consumed in the complete context processing and is a quality attribute of the context. Power consumption is a useful metric as CoC and is suitable for power-constrained context awareness. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed work, example contexts are described, and the context model is presented mathematically in this study. The context is aggregated with power information, and actions and confidence on the classification outcome lead to the concept of situational context. The results show that the context gathered through sensor data and deduced through remote services can be made more rich with CoC parameters.

Stable matching with evolving preference for adaptive handover in cellular-connected UAV networks

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can effectively and reliably complete aerial tasks in various fields. However, the high-speed mobility of UAVs and the 6G ultra-dense heterogeneous network architecture in future will lead to frequent handover of UAVs during aerial tasks in cellular networks, increasing the potential service interruption rate. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to address the lack of service adaptability in the overall time-space dimension. To achieve the seamless handover in highly dynamic and stochastic scenarios, we firstly transform the handover problem into a stable matching model. We then extend the stable matching of single time slot to the overall time-space dimension, and transform the dynamically changing time-space information into the preference relations evolution. By flexibly adapting the evolution of the preference lists to current network topology, we propose a Dynamic Stable Matching based Adaptive Handover (DSMAH) algorithm to find stable matching efficiently in a dynamic environment. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve a better trade-off between communication quality, handover frequency, and convergence speed and significantly improves the stability of the cellular-connected network as compared to benchmark schemes. The proposed scheme not only effectively addresses the challenges posed by frequent handovers and ping-pong effect, but also shows its notable advantages in dynamic environments.

The Role of Urban Services, Climate Services and Insurance Services in Urban Climate Change Adaptation Processes

The increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme events associated with climate change represent a pressing issue on a global and local scale. While waiting for the desirable effects of mitigation measures, the scientific community, governments, and private businesses should increase their commitment to adaptation as a transition strategy. As a response to emerging risks, the adoption of non-structural (or “soft”) adaptation solutions—which concerns the organizational and intangible aspects of systems—represents a valid and complementary option to infrastructural (“hard”) interventions in contexts of high uncertainty. In line with this approach, the paper reports the results of ongoing research on the strategic role of Urban Facility Management (UFM) services in supporting cities in the adaptation process to climate change effects. It also highlights the potential contribution of insurance brokers and investigates competencies, responsibilities, and information flows in Urban service processes. The results of this analysis converge in a proposal for re-designed service delivery models that meet emerging needs and make the integration between urban, climate, and insurance services operative to achieve an innovative “Adaptation services” system. The hypotheses and the proposals are tested by observing a case study—an Italian medium-sized municipality—where implementing Adaptation services models triggers new relationships between public and private stakeholders and forms of collaboration with insurance suppliers

Unveiling Community Resilience: The Integral Role of Public Libraries

This research scrutinizes the instrumental contributions of public libraries in augmenting community resilience. The study deploys a methodological framework predicated on comprehensive literature examination and empirical investigation by focusing on the National Taiwan Library and the New Taipei City Library as paradigmatic instances. Employing a multi-layered approach of case studies and in-depth interviews with various library staff, the study aims to (1) formulate a nascent conceptual architecture of community resilience, (2) identify the multifaceted strategies public libraries employ to bolster resilience, and (3) articulate specific functional roles libraries execute in this resilience ecosystem. Empirical data coalesce into six salient categories: (1) Knowledge Curation, Skill Development, and Lifelong Learning; (2) Community Network Dynamics; (3) Human-Place Connections; (4) Infrastructure and Foundational Resources; (5) Innovation and Diversification; and (6) Public-Governmental Interface. Libraries surface as agile orchestrators in intricate socio-environmental nexuses, utilizing adaptive service models that leverage emergent community networks, enhancing intrinsic and extrinsic resilience. The roles libraries fulfill in community systems are manifold: they act as (1) Adaptive Sustainers in volatile conditions, (2) Socio-Organizational Mediators in community networking, (3) Stewards of Cultural Integrity, (4) Facilitators of Inclusive Information Access, and (5) Navigators in Collaboration with governmental and social entities. The findings contribute rich scholarly and practical perspectives on how public institutions fortify socio-ecological resilience.