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

Abstract

The article is based on the dissertation Biblioteca Națională a României în slujba comunităților: o analiză calitativă pentru identificarea nevoilor utilizatorilor spațiilor libere pentru lectură [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.

Keywords

• national library of romania
• library spaces
• free reading spaces
• romanian culture
• knowledge society
• qualitative analysis
• user needs