Hawke Research Institute
This project has been funded by the University of South Australia and
builds on previous work undertaken by the Centre for Work and Life that
revealed that libraries provide adolescents with access to various
developmentally appropriate activities including extra-curricular
education, social interaction and independence.
Libraries mediate the key institutions of work, home and community for young people. Adolescent library users indicate that libraries are a valuable space for them when home is unavailable or unwelcome, primarily through work-related parental absence. They can do homework, interact with peers and adults and use on-line services, free from the constraints of a school environment. They experience independence and autonomy while simultaneously being supervised by responsible adults when their parents are unavailable. Libraries aid young people's exercise of citizenship.
This project will use data already collected by the Centre and collect
more data in two case study sites to:
1) Understand the role libraries play in creating and facilitating
opportunities for adolescents
2) Understand how libraries mediate work-life issues for adolescents and
their care-giver(s)
3) Understand how work-life issues in different socio-economic settings
shape libraries capacity to create opportunities for adolescents
4) Gain insight into the ways libraries respond to changing client needs
and their role in generating and sustaining local social capital in
different SES settings.
Justin Swalling, a second year student gained a summer scholarship
(2009/10) and worked with the Centre on a theoretical overview
of relevant scholarship on young people and their relationship to public
libraries, which will contribute to the
framework that will shape the collection and analysis of
data.
Dr Pip Williams and Dr Jane Edwards plan to develop an application for a further project in this area for the November 2010 Australian Research Linkage round.
Edwards, J. & Williams, P. (2010) The role of libraries in helping adolescents and their families juggle the demands of work and life. Proceedings: 12 to 24s@your public library in Australia and New Zealand Conference, Beenleigh Qld 11-12 June 2010. Alan Bundy (ed), AusLib Press: Adelaide pp. 3-8
