The National Library of Romania in the Service of Communities

a Qualitative Analysis to Identify the Needs of the Users in the Free Reading Spaces

Authors

  • Mădălina Lefter National Library of Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26660/rrbsi.2019.15.34.75

Keywords:

National Library of Romania, library spaces, free reading spaces, Romanian culture, knowledge society, qualitative analysis, user needs

Abstract

The article is based on the dissertation Biblioteca Na?ional? a României în slujba comunit??ilor: o analiz? calitativ? pentru identificarea nevoilor utilizatorilor spa?iilor libere pentru lectur? [The National Library of Romania in the service of communities: a qualitative analysis to identify the needs of the users in the free reading spaces], held in June this year, at the final stage of the Master Program Management of Information in Contemporary Society. The research took place in 15th-26th of April, 2019. Our approach is unique, as the official activity reports published by the National Library are lacking the qualitative studies which would have helped establishing the directions of development of the services dedicated to different types of users. The quantitative reports officially reveal that the users tend to favor the free reading spaces in spite of the reading rooms. These statistics lead us to the idea that the library must operate changes in its public policies, considering new services and healthy conditions for 54,000 free spaces users per year. Who are these people? Where are they coming from? What do they need? What caused the change in their preferences? What does the National Library offer in these spaces to help people and what must it continue to do, to maintain its active place in the knowledge society and a determined role in the Romanian culture? The aim of our work is to answer these questions, or at least to approximate them.

Author Biography

Mădălina Lefter, National Library of Romania

PhD student, University of Bucharest

References

Biblioteca Națională a României (2018a) Raport anual de activitate [Annual Activity Report] [online], available: http://www.bibnat.ro/dyn-doc/Raport_anual_BNR_2018.pdf [accessed 3 June 2019].

Biblioteca Națională a României (2018b) Regulamentul de acces al utilizatorilor la colecțiile curente și la serviciile Bibliotecii Naționale a României [Regulation for users` access to current collections and to the services of the National Library of Romania] [online], available: http://bit.ly/rrbsi342019m [accessed 1 June 2019].

Biblioteca Națională a României (s.a.) Ghidul bibliotecii [The Library Guide] [online], available: http://www.bibnat.ro/Ghidul-bibliotecii-s8-ro.htm [accessed 3 June 2019].

Cicovschi, A. (2018) Românii se întorc la lectură. Piața de carte atinge maximul ultimilor 7 ani [Romanians return to reading. The book market reaches the maximum of the last 7 years], in Adevărul [online], 11 iunie 2018, available: http://bit.ly/rrbsi342019i [accessed 25 May 2019].

Constantinescu, M. (2018) Ghid de identificare a publicațiilor pseudoştiinţifice [Guide for identifying predatory publications] [online], available: http://bit.ly/ghidpseudo [accessed 6 November 2018].

Gibouin, S. (2016) La Bibliothèque: le lieu des liens [The Library: the place of connections] [online], available: http://bit.ly/rrbsi342019j [accessed 25 May 2019].

Institutul Național de Statistică (2017) Activitatea unităților cultural artistice [The activity of cultural and artistic institutions] [online], available: http://bit.ly/rrbsi342019k [accessed 25 May 2019].

Peticilă, M. (2018) Care este procentul de analfabetism funcțional în România? [Which is the percentage of functional illiteracy in Romania?] [online], available: http://bit.ly/rrbsi342019l [accessed 25 May 2019].

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Published

2019-12-01

How to Cite

Lefter, M. (2019). The National Library of Romania in the Service of Communities: a Qualitative Analysis to Identify the Needs of the Users in the Free Reading Spaces. Revista Română De Biblioteconomie și Știința Informării = Romanian Journal of Library and Information Science, 15(3-4), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.26660/rrbsi.2019.15.34.75

Issue

Section

Research articles