Concept: The Journal of Contemporary Community Education Practice Theory
Concept: The Journal of Contemporary Community Education Practice Theory offers a lively independent forum for critical debate and exchange of ideas in contemporary Community Education. Community Education is seen in the broadest sense to include community work, adult education and youth work and takes place in a range of settings and agencies. We see the concept of community education as dynamic and diverse and do not seek to reflect a fixed view.
Education can and should be emancipatory. Yet, for many of our neurodivergent children, it can feel like torture. Common challenges faced by neurodivergent children in our schools include sleep deprivation, sensory overload, social isolation, and repeated questioning - all compounded by a sense of powerlessness and the inability to leave or change their environment. As much as we strive to do our best for our young, it sometimes feels as though, in our efforts to educate, we do more harm than good. There is no doubt that we’ve made significant progress in supporting neurodivergent children. It wasn’t so long ago that some children were forced to write with their non-dominant hand or subjected to physical punishment for failing to make the grade. However, despite this progress, inequality of outcomes for neurodivergent individuals persists. In extreme cases, some are even institutionalized in hospitals, or imprisoned due to a lack of appropriate and available support. Clearly, we still have a long way to go. Given the chronic underfunding of our education system, it feels increasingly important for individuals to come together, support one another, and collectivize their efforts for change. This poem is not about any one person. It is an amalgamation of my own experiences—as a child, parent, husband, educator, and a friend and confidant to other parents of neurodivergent children. I’ve been fortunate to be part of a self-organized parent support group for adults with neurodivergent children. There is something deeply powerful about learning from others with shared or similar experience - helping and being helped at the same time. Sometimes, it feels like you don’t have the energy to take on another responsibility, another evening spent meeting with other parents. But, in my experience, it is almost always worth it. The connection with others, the empathy for each other’s situations - it all helps to re-energize you for the fight ahead. As one of my fellow strugglers once said, 'I arrive with a problem, but always leave with a few new ideas to try and address it'. Moreover, participation in interest groups provides opportunities for collective action in support of our cause. This poem was used as a means of sharing the experiences of neurodivergent children with their teachers. This poem is dedicated to the parents and carers of neurodivergent children, their allies within the education system (of which there are many), and to all the neurodivergent children making their way through the school day - after day, after day.
Copyright (c) 2025 Stevie McKinlay https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
From Rhetoric to Reality: Tackling Poverty and Inequality Through a Just transition in Scotland
This article examines the intersection of poverty, inequality, and climate policy in Scotland. It argues that the shift to a low carbon economy offers a transformative opportunity to address structural social injustices that have persisted for decades. Drawing on government frameworks, civil society research, and comparative policy examples, the paper contends that Scotland’s just transition must embed social equity from the outset. It identifies income security, gender-responsive care infrastructure, participatory democracy, and fiscal justice as essential pillars of an inclusive transformation. The analysis demonstrates that poverty is a consequence of political design rather than individual failure, and that only a whole-economy approach can deliver both environmental and social sustainability.
Copyright (c) 2025 Satwat Rehman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Introduction to a seminar on the State of the Field in Community Learning and Development on Friday 13th June 2024, University of Edinburgh.
Today’s seminar comes out of the concerns the organisers of this event have about the narrow framing of the current independent review of Community Learning & Development. For example, the overview of the review states: Community Learning and Development (CLD) is a professional practice within education with delivery stretching across all stages of lifelong learning…The purpose of CLD is to provide early intervention and prevention to those experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, inequality of opportunity within the education and skills system. (Scottish Government, No Date) As a result of this perceived narrowing of the scope of CLD work, four of us working on CLD programmes in Scottish universities wrote an open letter (Galloway et al, 2024) to express our concerns and invite support from the field of practice. Our concerns are summarised by this extract from the letter: We argue that the learning and development components of CLD cannot be separated without losing the ethos and values of the profession in relation to social justice. We also note that within the terms of reference, ‘educational’ refers explicitly to learning and skills for employment, neglecting longstanding broader social justice aims for lifelong, life wide education as recognised formally by the Scottish Government.
Copyright (c) 2025 Stuart Moir https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Rediscovering community again and again and again!
Community is everywhere it seems. Again. This time round, it seems to have been rediscovered as the ultimate solution to the public disorder seen in various parts of the UK in recent times, though not so far in Scotland. The leader of Edinburgh District Council at the time no doubt had his fingers crossed when he talked about '[strengthening] our will to preserve the great community spirit and resilience we enjoy across our capital city'. Even King Charles, that well-known communitarian, has spoken of how he has been greatly encouraged 'by the many examples of community spirit that countered the aggression and criminality from the few'. Of course, there are many who would dispute the basis and sources of these and many other contemporary claims about the veracity of community. As Marj Mayo (1975) summed it up nearly half a century ago: It is not just that the term [community] has been used ambiguously, it has been contested, fought over and appropriated for different uses and interests to justify different politics, policies and practices.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mae Shaw https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood (2023)
I came across Matrescence by Lucy Jones when I was 9 months deep into my own period of postpartum fog. I hadn’t slept for more than 60 minutes at a time, my hair was falling out in handfuls, I was dehydrated, over-caffeinated, simultaneously over and under stimulated, I had not read a book since my baby was born or brushed my teeth more than once a day. I felt both at my most lonely and my most connected, pulled through by my partner, family and close female friends who had done it before me. I had, up to this point, reliably got through life with a mixture of conscientiousness, enthusiasm and perfectionism. I yearned deeply to become a mum but the reality was not what I expected. My love for my son was like nothing I had ever known, and yet, so was the anxiety. I was consumed with obsessively tracking everything he did in the hope I might finally ‘get it right’. I was supposed to be good at this. This was what I was ‘meant’ to do. However, despite all my preparation and research, my baby wouldn’t sleep, needed held constantly, had a bad latch and cried inconsolably in cafes across the city. In my state of extreme sleep deprivation and mental depletion not only was I seemingly getting everything wrong but I felt wrong too.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mel Aitken https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Meta-skills: exciting opportunity or neo-liberal retread?
The term Meta-skills has become prominent in education in the last decade and, in Scotland, has increasingly been seen at the forefront of policy agendas. Based on the idea of Metacognition, and so claiming to derive from evidence of Psychology and Cognitive Science, the Meta-skills concept seems to offer an exciting and quintessentially 21st century opportunity. Or does it? Is the idea coherent and evidence-based? Indeed, is it new or merely a rebranding of those key/core/transferable/soft skills that have been contested since the 1980s? Does it represent a further neo-liberal strategy to vocationalise education, prioritising making learners ‘ready for the market’? This paper asks what are Meta-skills and what do they have to offer (or threaten) to those working in adult education?
adult education, Meta-skills, training, neo-liberalism, community learning, employment.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rob Bray https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
This article is based on The Hamish Henderson Memorial Lecture given in the Scottish Storytelling Centre on 9th November 2024. I start with some general thoughts on what is culture, and cultural activism. Then I examine the cultural activism of Hamish Henderson (1919-2002) poet, songwriter, soldier and scholar. He was a world-renowned folklorist, a pioneering lecturer in the School of Scottish Studies, founded in Edinburgh University In 1951, and a leader in the folk song revival of the 1950s and 1960s. His activism was influenced by the ideas of Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist philosopher and writer (1891-1937) imprisoned and tortured by the fascist Italian state. Gramsci was also a very important influence on the Liberation movement in Latin American in the 1960s and 70s. I will discuss how the influence of Paolo Freire came to be embedded in the practice of the Adult Learning Project (ALP) in Edinburgh and share some examples of liberating cultural action which demonstrate the values and beliefs ALP shared with Henderson, Gramsci and Freire.
Culture; Activism: Gramsci: Freire: Adult Education: Conviviality
Copyright (c) 2025 Stan Reeves https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Community Health and Multi-directional integration in Cables Wynd House, Leith: Community Development Approaches
In this article, I reflect on my experience of working alongside community activists trying to support community health and multi-directional integration in Cables Wynd House (‘the Banana Flats’), Leith, and how its reputation in the city may have presented difficulties. I bring together insights from Community Development, Migration Studies and other disciplines, as well as reflections on my own practice, and suggest a model for working towards community health and multi-directional integration in neighbourhoods on the receiving end of area-based stigma.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hannah Kirby https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Community Education, Populism and Deliberative Democracy
Politics have been transformed by populism in this past decade resulting in political culture becoming increasingly polarised and angry. This article aims to better understand populism by drawing on a range of perspectives in fields such as political sociology, psychology and psychoanalysis. The article accounts for populism’s rise by exploring factors such as financial crises, changing demographics, especially in relation to education, and the transformative impact of social media on political culture. The article also considers the role of emotive reasoning in shaping populism and political persuasion more broadly. Drawing on ideas associated with Jurgen Habermas, the article argues that deliberative democracy, when applied to learning environments in community education, provides a way of making politics less polarised and angry and more deliberative and dialogical.
Copyright (c) 2025 Gary Fraser https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Fear and Loathing in our Local Authorities: Reflections from behind the keyboard
On the Block is an occasional column which allows authors to express themselves in unconventional or provocative ways. In this issue we publish a piece by an anonymous author whose experience of working in a local authority leads to questions about the constraints of practice within the current context.
Copyright (c) 2024 Anonymous https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& how it came to control your life) (2024)
While there have been other books on the rise of neoliberalism[1] this book seeks to bring the concept of neoliberalism to a wider public. It aims to offer a readable, accessible guide, to make visible the key concepts of this ideology, how it has been promoted, and to develop an argument which opposes a political logic that in recent years has advocated these concepts as the new “common sense” - immutable principles for which there is no alternative.
Copyright (c) 2024 Margaret Petrie https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Exploring community engagement methods and approaches, a one-day workshop for anyone in the Fife area to build their skills in this environment, Glenrothes, November 2024.
Community Engagement: we hear it a lot, particularly from politicians when talking about controversial topics and projects: “We engaged with the community, and this is what they wanted”. In tourism, it can be used to find the balance between the social impacts of development – ensuring that what we, as development practitioners, do is in the community’s best interests. Responsible tourism looks at the social, economic and environmental factors; one of these is objective – money – you can count it. Another of these is theoretically measurable on both macro and micro levels, though tough to define - environmental. The final is very subjective and nearly impossible to measure with any proper level of accuracy – social. That’s where community engagement comes in.
Copyright (c) 2024 Matt Pointon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Theatre of the Oppressed and its Times: A talk by Julian Boal
I’m always impressed by someone who can stand up and speak coherently without notes. It’s an underrated art form, and one that Julian Boal performs with conviction and authenticity, all the while in a second language. He is promoting his new book, Theatre of the Oppressed and its Times (2023), at an event jointly hosted by Active Enquiry Theatre Company and the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House. I arrive at Boal’s talk intrigued by what it’s like to be the son of a revolutionary theatre practitioner, probably the most famous theatre maker ever.
Copyright (c) 2024 Sarah Ward https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
I opened the antique chest I inherited from my great-great uncle Alexander and began unravelling the strands of his life as an evangelical minister in late nineteenth-century Italy, bringing to light the cover-ups in Britain’s history of Empire and the ways in which a handful of families even today continue to shore up their wealth.
family history, slavery, wealth, inheritance, landed aristocracy, cover-ups
Copyright (c) 2024 Jean Barr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
State of the Field and Future of CLD in Scotland
I was asked to provide an input at Moray house on the state of the field of Community, Learning and Development (CLD). This was on 14th June and therefore, before the findings of the review called by the Minister for Higher and Further Education on how the CLD Service offers support and development to learners in Scotland’s communities (Scottish Government, 2023a). The following is a slightly amended version of that talk to provide greater reading clarity.
Copyright (c) 2024 Sinéad Gormally https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Over many years, Colin and Gerri Kirkwood have made a significant, distinctive and influential contribution to the practice of community-based adult education in both Scotland and the UK as well as further afield. In this article, they provide a brief introduction to the archive of their work which has recently been established at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
Copyright (c) 2024 Colin Kirkwood, Gerri Kirkwood https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Britain in Fragments: why things are falling apart Satnam Virdee and Brendan McGeever
There is little doubt that Britain is grappling with monumental economic and social challenges. The re-energised capitalism agreed between capital and labour after the Second World War has clearly failed to deliver in the manner key actors, including politicians and policy makers, thought and believed it would.
Copyright (c) 2024 Keith Popple https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Uniting Threads: The dual dimension of Mutual Aid: Perspectives from Greece
This article draws inspiration from the ongoing debate on mutual aid, particularly its emergence as a community-based and led response during the Covid-19 pandemic. One perspective views mutual aid as a positive collective practice, effective for immediate, small-scale needs but inadequate for addressing large-scale systemic inequalities. Advocates of this view propose that mutual aid should operate under state guidance to complement centrally orchestrated responses to systemic issues. In contrast, the opposing side challenges this view, asserting that mutual aid is inherently an emancipatory practice. It aligns with the core principles of anarchism, including anti-capitalism, anti-statism, and anti-authoritarianism. Owing to this ideological alignment, these proponents argue that mutual aid should not be supplementary to the state; doing so would risk transforming it into a form of charity. This article aims to enrich the broader dialogue on mutual aid by introducing a dichotomous framework for its understanding. This framework categorises mutual aid into two distinct types: Organic mutual aid, which arises 'naturally' from immediate communal needs but lacks the political impetus to confront hierarchical power structures. Political mutual aid, born out of political motivation with the objective of challenging both official and unofficial hierarchical power structures. To elucidate the necessity of this dichotomous framework in grasping mutual aid's dual dimension, I will delve into both recent and past experiences of mutual aid in Greece. However, before advancing this proposal, it is essential to examine the underlying reasoning behind the two perspectives in this debate.
Copyright (c) 2024 Athanasios Angelopoulos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Re-Envisioning Community Gardens: Exploring the value of community gardens in supporting young people’s development through informal education
After feeling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to outdoor spaces as sites for learning, growth, and connection has grown in importance for young people’s learning through play, creativity, and risk-taking. In addition, government cuts to youth and community work alongside restrictions within formal education, demonstrates a greater need to protect and re-envision how we view spaces like community gardens as valuable learning grounds for young people to access outside schools. This article aims to demonstrate the importance of learning in the outdoor environment of community gardens. Drawing on data from both Youth Workers and young people, it will advocate for the significance of community gardens for the growth and progression of young people through positive education development using informal learning techniques. It concludes that informal education is vital for young people's educational growth and development, particularly in outdoor settings like community gardens focusing on hands-on experiences and learning through play and the senses. After advocating for the importance of community gardens, it outlines how funding for youth and community sectors like community gardens could be increased and prioritised to maintain active sites outside of schools.
Copyright (c) 2024 Pippa Edwards https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Golden Thread: Strengthening Community Education professionals' practice in Higher Education through Shared Principles and Values
Abstract: The community education team at the University of the West of Scotland engaged in a critical planning day that sparked rich dialogue and critical debate. This article reflects on the insights and evaluations from this session, aiming to unify the community of practice in higher education around core principles and values. The goal is to establish a consensus on these shared values and principles, supporting future co-production, scholarship, and the development of the programme at UWS. Central to our identity are the shared values of social justice and human rights, aligning with both community education policy and the civic engagement principles of the University. This paper highlights our commitment to these 'ideals' and their influence on our teaching, learning, and assessment practices. Our work is grounded in theoretical foundations from John Dewey, Antonio Gramsci, and Paulo Freire, emphasising community, democracy, cultural hegemony, and critical consciousness. These principles guide our critical civic praxis and our collective approach to teaching and community engagement. Higher education plays a crucial role in promoting diversity, social inclusion, and community. By fostering grassroots activism, we aim to empower and engage in democratic processes and challenge regressive ideologies. Our objective is to inspire students to embrace these values and sustain movements for social change.
Community Education, Community Learning & Development, Higher Education, Principles and Values, Youth Work, Adult Education.
Copyright (c) 2024 David Wallace, Jamie Hopkins, Alan Cusak, PHD https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
University Sponsored Adult Community Education: Exploring Motivations to Expand Diversity
Community education offered by colleges and universities is an underexplored element of higher education. Community education includes non-credit and non-credentialing experiences that are offered by an institution for the benefit of the community. These courses, workshops, seminars, etc. can range from highly formal, such as adult basic education, to the highly informal, such as game nights in a college student center (Fletcher, 1989). The purpose of community education is the development of individuals in a community, whether to an expressed end or for the purpose of building human capital through socialization (Fletcher, 1989; Sole & Wilkins, 1976; Western et al, 2005).
Copyright (c) 2024 T. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
A Playful Approach to the Five Ways to Wellbeing
In 2008, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) was commissioned to develop a set of evidence-based actions that would improve personal wellbeing and consequently, demonstrate 'real economic wellbeing' (Aked et al, 2008). Acknowledging the importance of personal, social, cultural, environmental, and economic determinants of health, the NEF replicated the ideals of the 5-a-Day campaign using advice from the World Health Organization to promote the need to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day, due to the significant health benefits this brings (NHS, 2022).Consequently, the NEF developed a new and creative approach to health promotion and developed the Five Ways to Wellbeing (Aked et al, 2008), which encourage us to Connect… Be active… Take notice… Keep learning… Give. These five simple steps can be followed every day to enhance mental health and wellbeing (Mind, 2023).
Copyright (c) 2024 Alison Tonkin, Julia Whitaker
In April 2025 there will, I hope, be celebrations across Scotland and beyond to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Alexander report, the Challenge of Change and five decades of community education practice. I shall certainly be raising a glass to a man and a publication that put Scottish community education on the map, not just of Scotland, but internationally. This article traces some of the international influence of the Scottish approach that emerged since the report was published, and in particular of its association with the wider field of community development. I have too often felt that Scots at home, not least policy makers, have not recognised the influence Scottish practice and scholarship has had internationally. In my view, it has been and remains, huge. I hope this article will remind readers of that. And if it reaches the eyes of Scottish policy makers and funders, that they enhance investment in this vitally important work as part of any strategy to support communities to address the challenges of change.
Community Development through Leisure Adult Learning:
Community education groups can play an important role in reducing social isolationism among mature adults. The current study describes one such organization that has played an important part in the lives of about 30 mature women who have an average age of 76. Through semi-structured interviews, a thematic analysis showed that the organization has played a critical role in their social interactions, creating deep bonds among the women. What began as a group dedicated to education evolved into a strong social support network that has provided important social capital development for participants.
community education, leisure education, mature adult learners, adult education, community organizations, community development
Copyright (c) 2024 Michael T Miller, Kenda S Grover
Train Tracks and Tailored Learning: Is this the end of the line for government funded community education?
The number of people participating in state funded ‘community learning’ has diminished over the last decade from a figure of 657,200 in 2013/14 to just 274, 090 in 2022/2023. Although there are many different interpretations of what community learning is, this article’s key concern is for learning being offered ‘in’ and ‘for’ local communities. From next year, at least from a UK government funding perspective, ‘Community Learning’ will be no more in England. From August 2024 the new term of ‘Tailored Learning’ will be adopted instead, despite having scant provenance within adult learning. Such a name change suggests a neo-liberal political ideology and strengthens the current argument that adult learning which is paid for by the state should be for employment purposes, or a steppingstone to employment only. Will the new term act as a marker of increased focus on meeting individual needs, or will learning be increasingly tailored to meet employer needs? It can of course be argued that ‘Tailored Learning’ will seek to achieve both ends but, even if this is the case, the pendulum may well have swung even further towards state-funded adult learning being the facilitator of a relationship between the individual and employers. With an election looming, ‘Tailored Learning’ could either be a short-lived or a long-term change. On the surface, a change of name and re-categorisation of purposes does not mean that adult learning cannot continue to take place ‘in’ and ‘for’ communities. However, it does take adult learning further along the tracks of ‘efficiency’ and ‘utility’ and is therefore worthy of continued critical debate.
community learning, tailored learning, neo-liberalism, employment
‘The Impact of Community Work: How to Gather Evidence’ (2020) by, Sue Briggs, Kirsty Forrester, Ed Garrett, Karen McArdle and Catherine McKay
‘The Impact of Community Work: How to Gather Evidence’ is a book which I would highly recommend to anyone with an interest in community work. In one sense the book does what it says on the tin and successfully makes the case as to why gathering evidence and measuring impact matters in community work. The book also doubles up however, as an introduction to both community work and community based social research. In terms of impact and evidence, Concept readers will be aware that community work is an intensely governed activity in which community work practitioners must justify what they do to different audiences which includes management, government, inspectors, funders and of course communities themselves. “It’s not enough to just do the work” as an inspector from Education Scotland once told me; “we also need evidence that the work makes an impact”. Inspectors often refer to “impact” as the “so-what” question, namely, so what practical and measurable difference is your working making. ‘The Impact of Community Work’ will enable readers to address that “so what” question and is written as a ‘practical’ and ‘how to guide’, which is neatly divided into two parts - ‘Thinking about Impact’ (Part One) and ‘Methods of Gathering Evidence’ (Part Two).
The sustainability of any democratic polity relies on the active participation of its citizens in civic and political affairs. Therefore, if we value democracy, it is important to be clear about how people become active participants so it can be sustained and developed. There are a range of conceptual ideas that social scientists use to explain how people develop an interest in politics and become political actors. In this article I will draw on my doctoral thesis to explore one of these ideas, the concept of political socialisation, and to highlight the key role that music played in helping some young people become politically active and critically conscious citizens. I will conclude by arguing that educators should recognise and harness the transformative power of music to help people learn about democracy and their role in it.
Understanding the world through accessible cultural resources
Using accessible cultural resources to understand the world is not a new concept. It is, however, a complex and multi-layered activity with historical routes in many different aspects of the sciences. The activity is clearly subjective, both in terms of the research subject and the cultural resources accessed. My cultural reflections span a period from the early 1960s to the present. I will try to structure this article by firstly outlining some of the personal cultural inflection points that influenced my choice of subject matter to research, and give a brief outline of the areas I spent time researching. Secondly, I will outline the type of cultural resources that I used for my research and, to conclude, I will reflect on how accessing cultural resources has, and still does, positively influenced my life.
As the world careers into perpetual destruction fired by a greed for power and land leading to war, violence, hunger and pollution of the planet, people are marching across the world in horror and incredulity at the unimaginable suffering of Palestinians - as well as many Israelis of course. Every decade brings its own struggles, accompanied by strikes, demonstrations, rallies, protests, sit-ins, flash mobs, whatever. Over our lifetimes I, and countless others, have lost count of the number of demonstrations we have participated in to make our voices heard. We are used to hearing speaker after speaker (often male) blowing their own trumpets and making stirring speeches with which the majority of us agree. However, organisers of protests would do well to think seriously about ways in which to include music and song in marches and rallies. Why? What is the purpose of political song? I firmly believe in the necessity of political song as an integral part of public protest; to uplift and inspire the cause and, in so doing, enrich our culture. I'd like to think that younger musicians, as artists, feel strongly enough to acknowledge and support popular struggles through their music and song. I witnessed how cultural events flourished during the Scottish Independence campaign leading up to the Referendum in 2014, when the National Collective was active and bursting at the seams with young people entertaining us. Makes you think!
Arts and Culture for all in Public Libraries
I have worked in community library services for the past 27 years and have seen the role of libraries in promoting and supporting cultural activity change and develop significantly over the period. All libraries are generally defined as a physical space that holds specific resources for use by its members. A typical definition of a public library can be found at collinsdictionary.com: 'a building where things such as books, newspapers, videos and music are kept for people to read, use or borrow'. When I began working in public libraries, much of my role supported this simple definition. The majority of my work involved the maintenance and development of library collections and the ways in which they could be more easily accessed by users. Over the years, the priorities of front-line staff in libraries have moved away from a collection-centred approach towards an approach that is more community-centred. There have been a number of factors that have contributed to this change in emphasis but, from my perspective, they all have their roots in libraries adjusting to community demand.
library; culture; resources; community-centred