The social and digital roles of Spanish public libraries after the economic and the sociosanitary crises: perspectives and challenges

Abstract

The successive economic and health crises that have marked the past decade have transformed the situation of Spanish public libraries. The objective of this work is to identify the impact, repercussions, and challenges after these crises and to try to describe both the role that public libraries must fulfill from this moment on, as well as the main training, organizational, and service needs that they must address. The applied methodology is mixed, applying several qualitative research techniques such as interviews with experts and discussion groups with library professionals together with a review of documents and good practices. The results reveal how the accumulation of negative effects has generated very diverse impacts, depending on various factors such as the size of the municipality, the degree of institutional support, or the job profiles of library staff. The social function of the library has been valued, as well as the work of inclusion and digital training, which after the pandemic is conceived in a unitary way. Likewise, there is an increase in the gap between libraries because the forms of response to crises depend on their context due to the absence of regional or national policies that support and harmonize the provision of minimum services or basic professional training. It is concluded that there is a need to articulate a new model of public libraries according to the current requirements of society and the general digital transformation.