Reimagining “Palaces for the People”: A Critical Review of Public Libraries’ Engagement with the Asocial Society

Abstract

The “loneliness epidemic,” a public health crisis characterized by reports of higher levels of social isolation and loneliness, has been attributed to features of modern living, including urbanization and the increase of one-person households. Public library workers are contending with individuals navigating this crisis. Findings are presented from a state-of-art literature review focussed on recent English-language, peer-reviewed studies (n=235) of public library programming, services, technology and policies in the context of trends in the contemporary asocial society. Across published research, public libraries fostered connection through the following means: encouraging feelings of belonging, creating connections through technology, reinforcing cultural identities, creating safe physical spaces, addressing issues of accessibility, creating new educational programming, and creating new recreational/social programming. The findings allow for a reimagining of the roles of public libraries but not without a reckoning about workplace culture and workloads of library staff.