Social representations of public libraries: the voice of users in the interior and capital of Minas Gerais

Abstract

The research investigated the social representations of users of a public library in Belo Horizonte and two cities in the interior of Minas Gerais, located in the Mucuri and Jequitinhonha Valleys. The Theory of Social Representations, inaugurated by Serge Moscovici, provides ample material for reflection and analysis of social phenomena insofar as it starts from the premise of making the unfamiliar familiar. This study is based on this theory, as it investigated the social role of public libraries through the social representations their users have of them. Its objective was to identify and analyze the social representations of public libraries and, based on a critical analysis of the factors that underlie the construction of these representations, to understand the contemporary performance of these institutions and their potential development in the face of community demands. In addition to this general objective, we sought to understand the social role played by public libraries; to investigate how the social representations of the public library by its users influence their relationship with the institution; to recognize how institutions can be represented beyond material conditions, space and their organization chart, configuring themselves as places of knowledge production and meeting; identify how understanding these representations can help local governments improve policies and guidelines for the development of public libraries; and produce a qualitative picture of public libraries in Minas Gerais, helping to consolidate the subject as a field of research in Information Science. In order to grasp the representation, we opted to use different forms of investigation - questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observation. In order to understand what is common in the social representation of the public library among users from communities with different characteristics, we decided to research the largest public library in the state, located in Belo Horizonte, and two libraries located in the interior of the state, one in the municipality of Águas Formosas and one in the municipality of Rio do Prado, considering the social and economic characteristics that distinguish the two realities, the interior and the capital. A total of 50 users took part in the research, who answered the questionnaire and 3 users took part in the semi-structured interview. The research concluded that the most prominent social representations regarding the public library are book, meeting place and democratization of access. The social role played by libraries goes beyond the useful sense of access to information and demonstrates subjective meanings evidenced by the encouragement of reading, a place of knowledge, a meeting place and a place of leisure.