The Female-Friendly Public Library: Gender Differences in Adolescents' Uses and Perceptions of U.S. Public Libraries

Agosto, Denise E.; Paone, Kimberly L.; Ipock, Gretchen S.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/4576 Copy

Description

Title

The Female-Friendly Public Library: Gender Differences in Adolescents' Uses and Perceptions of U.S. Public Libraries

Author(s)

• Agosto, Denise E.
• Paone, Kimberly L.
• Ipock, Gretchen S.

Issue Date

2007

Keyword(s)

• Gender
• Public libraries

Abstract

This article reports the results of a written survey of ninety-seven female and male adolescents, ages fourteen through seventeen, at two U.S. public libraries. In addition to exploring gender-related variance in the reasons for which teenagers use public libraries, the survey investigated how frequently the respondents needed information relating to twelve major topic areas and how useful they considered public libraries in helping them to find information relating to these topics. For the most part, the results indicated no significant gender difference in the respondents’ reasons for using libraries or in their frequency of information needs. The only major gender difference was the girls’ tendency to rate libraries as more useful in helping them to meet their personal information needs, making public libraries “female-friendly spaces” for adolescent girls. The authors conclude with suggestions for helping both female and male adolescents realize the full potential of public libraries and public library services.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/4576

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2007 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

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