Research into the concept of "library as place" attempts to understand the role of public library buildings as destinations, physical places where people go for various reasons ranging from the most obvious -- making use of the library's resources and services or seeking to fulfill an information or reading need -- to less easily identified reasons that may include using the library's building as a place to make social or business contacts, to build or reinforce community or political ties, or to create or reinforce a personal identity. This study asks: How are one rural U.S. county's public library buildings functioning as places? The answer is derived from answers to sub-questions about adult library users, user and staff perceptions of library use, and observed use of library facilities. The findings are contextualized using a framework built of theories from human geography, philosophy, sociology, and information studies. This case study replicates a mixed-methods case study originally conducted at the main public libraries in Toronto and Vancouver in the late1990s and first reproduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006 to explore the role of the public library as place in its community. The significance of this study lies in the redeployment of methods used in large urban settings in a rural, small-town environment. This study also expands on its antecedents by using thematic analysis to determine which conceptualizations of the role of the public library as place are most relevant to understanding this community's use of its public library buildings as places The study uses four methods to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from two user groups: surveys and interviews of adult library users, interviews of library public service staff members, structured observations - seating sweeps - of people using the libraries, and analysis of selected documents. The data analysis triangulates findings from each instrument to answer the research sub-questions. The overarching research question of how the libraries are functioning as community places is answered using thematic analysis derived from the study's conceptual framework to determine which of the previously identified roles public libraries play as place is most relevant in helping to understand how this county's public libraries function as places. The study expands on conclusions drawn from prior examinations of the library as place by finding that public realm theory contextualizes the relationships between library staff members and adult library users. The study finds that the libraries serve their communities as informational places rather than as third places, and that the libraries support the generation of social capital for their users.

Presented at COMO XXI, Columbus, Georgia, October 9, 2009.