• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.299-324
• /
• 2018

This study analyzes the processes and the needs of public library services for multicultural populations based on cooperation between public libraries and local organizations. In-depth interviews with public librarians and officers of local organizations were conducted for this case study. Result shows that cooperation was inevitable because there was not enough library personnel compared to the amount of services they have to provide, and the librarians did not have proper skills to serve the diverse populations. Public libraries were cooperating with many local organizations including the Multicultural Family Support Center. Gatekeepers of ethnic communities were playing important roles in promoting and inviting participants for library programs. Many children and young adults with immigration background gained positive views on reading and libraries after participating library programs based on cooperation between public libraries and local organizations, which was recognized as the best achievement of cooperation by many interviewees. Despite many good results of cooperation, how to get to the majority of diverse populations who are not library users yet is still a question mark. Interviewees for this study all agreed that current library service has limitations and insisted a whole new method to invite immigrants and their families to public libraries should be created.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.57-75
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of information literacy of the marriage immigrant gatekeepers in Korea. To do this, 51 gatekeepers who live in Busan and Gyeongnam Province were surveyed and the result was compared with the result of another study that was conducted regarding 189 ordinary marriage immigrants living in Busan and Gyeongnam Province in 2009 and used the same survey instrument. As a result, the level of information literacy of the gatekeepers was superior to that of the ordinary marriage immigrants. Also, 14 gatekeepers were interviewed to investigate how they had higher level of information literacy than that of ordinary marriage immigrants. Through analysis of the interviews, "information use environments of the mother country" didn't support their information literacy, but "higher education level", "Korean language skills and bilingual/multilingual abilities", "experiences of information literacy education", "information-friendly home environment", "positive attitude toward life and active social participation" and "active utilization of several information service providers and media" could be the backgrounds of higher information literacy of the marriage immigrant gatekeepers. At the end of this study, some suggestions are made for improving the information literacy of the ordinary marriage immigrants.