what is a library case study

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Twelve Case Studies: Analysis

Related resources, analysis of the case studies.

Dramatic developments are taking place in public libraries across the country–developments that are altering how libraries deliver information and interact with communities. As the information revolution sweeps not only across the nation, but around the world, public libraries have a unique opportunity to harness new technologies to provide resources that were unimaginable a few years ago. The Internet as a communications medium and World Wide Web technology are serving as links to bring people and communities together. But technology alone is not enough. In many regions, cities, and towns, it is the public library that stands as the community’s information nexus.

With networked communications technology, libraries’ horizons have expanded, but also challenges have multiplied. The Council on Library Resources, which for more than 40 years has identified library issues and developed new approaches to library operations, is interested in addressing the challenges public libraries face in an era of information revolution. Through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Council has established a program to study innovation in the use of information technology by public libraries to serve local communities. At the recommendation of the Council’s Kellogg Program Advisory Committee, the Council’s staff asked libraries to describe how they were serving their communities through technology. From the responses, the Advisory Committee selected 12 sites to study. Teams from the Council staff visited the sites; talked to directors, library staff, and users; and prepared case studies to describe how these libraries are working in and with their communities in the new era of electronic information. In this essay, Council staff present an analysis of findings in the case studies.

The Case Studies-General Observations

A case study is not a fully documented depiction of an organization. These 12 case studies represent the Council teams’ attempt to capture what they witnessed and learned on-site, supplemented by printed and Web information. The central theme in each story is the use of technology to expand and enhance the public library’s ability to serve the community’s needs. The studies illustrate how a few public libraries have articulated a vision and recruited other parts of the community to join them in providing new opportunities for the whole. These library efforts have not been without conflict or pain, and their effects are yet to be evaluated for the most part. But all began with a vision for the future.

Most importantly, we discovered that public libraries are continuing to serve important community functions, but that the future of these institutions is not assured. Many variables are at work in the public library sphere, including the uncertainties of funding, the costs of building and maintaining a digital telecommunications infrastructure, the increasing number and variety of information providers within communities, the rapidly changing nature of the technology itself, and the need for training library staffs and the public they serve. Quite fittingly, the final years of the twentieth century represent endings and beginnings for public libraries. The future of public libraries as we know them today cannot be assumed, for the roles they will play in the next millennium are not yet known. Moreover, these roles may take a variety of shapes and sizes–some of which have begun to evolve from the familiar past, and others of which have yet to be revealed.

In traveling to these libraries, we learned that there are no universal solutions for using information technology to serve communities or to provide greater public access to information. One common denominator, however, did emerge: The most vibrant public libraries look to the community at large to determine appropriate goals and objectives, and to partnerships with individuals and organizations in the community to carry out the objectives. There are other common components. In each example, these libraries have leadership with vision, common values about open and equitable access to information, funding (in relative terms) to create a new environment using information technologies, and community-centered strategies for making a transition into the increasingly digital information world.

Beyond these fundamental conditions and values, the libraries show a wide range of responses to the challenge of how to use technology innovatively and effectively. Each of the 12 libraries has its own story to tell, and the 12 stories are as different as the communities they serve. But innovation in the use of technology, we found, is a relative term. These case studies feature a sampling of innovative electronic services in public libraries in early 1996. If these studies are taken as a barometer of innovation in service, public libraries are only beginning to take advantage of the range of capabilities of networked information technology.

Serving Communities

Serving the local community has been the focus of the mission of the public library for years. As long as basic financial support is local, this focus on local needs will continue to drive public library services. How libraries determine local needs and how they respond to those needs varies widely.

The libraries we studied are located in communities that range from 15,000 to 2.5 million people. Common to all is a commitment by the library to the local community, not simply as an organization that provides information, but as a cultural and educational center. We heard what library staff and management said about their technological initiatives, but what we saw was far broader in scope. They are transforming their institutions to meet the needs of the future while keeping themselves grounded in traditional community library services and practices. In all cases, management and staff have positioned these libraries as important community centers. They have seen an opportunity to use technology to provide services to members of the community in new ways, even through it has meant substantial investments in computers and telecommunications infrastructure, software and electronic publications, and training initiatives. Library services in these cases are offered based on an assessment of community need–whether the assessment was documented through a strategic planning process or less formal means of discovery. Understanding community and translating community needs into objectives for library service have placed some of the libraries in a strategic position of readiness to take advantage of funding opportunities as they come along. These planning efforts have been meaningful for institutions large and small, with or without the development staffs or administrative infrastructure to seek and manage large grant-funded projects. We observed that libraries’ knowledge of the community and proactive planning efforts helped to ready them to use technology to reach new and larger audiences, and to address community needs by serving these audiences in new ways.

Need for Vision

Public libraries became ubiquitous features of the North American landscape when Andrew Carnegie donated money to thousands of communities for the construction of library buildings in the last years of the nineteenth century and the first 15 years of the twentieth century. The deal he struck required local governments to cover the cost of books and staff. Carnegie believed access to books and education would provide opportunities for motivated workers to improve their minds, and in the process, their economic conditions.

What would be a comparable contribution to American people today? If Carnegie were alive, would he connect every home to the Information Superhighway? Would he fund one virtual library, which the nation could access through the Internet and the World Wide Web? Would he invest in community-based information networks or Free-nets? Or, would he equip libraries to provide electronic information from inside or outside the library, wiring the old Carnegie library buildings for tomorrow’s technology? Would he build new branch library buildings to serve expanding urban and suburban populations? These questions are not fanciful but are aimed at the very heart of the question about the role of the public library. Is it a place where information resides or a conduit for information, or both?

The public library has been, and continues to be, both of these things and more. The debate about roles is important, however, because municipal or other local funding for public libraries is not likely to increase, at least, not in the current political and economic climate. More and more, public libraries must make difficult choices or seek external funds to pay for new programs. And the financial requirements for connecting community members to the Information Superhighway are immense. As they seek resources, library leaders are finding themselves in new and unprecedented relationships with public and private funding agencies of all kinds. Public library administrators have to make a clear and direct case for their institutions, and they must take the lead in articulating a vision of what the public library can mean to a community in the twenty-first century.

The libraries highlighted in the case studies are doing just that. The leaders of these 12 possess vision and know how to articulate it: Once articulated, the vision is implemented and refined by the entire staff, community leaders and supporters, volunteers, and institutional partners.

Common Values

One great advantage of public libraries is their neutrality within communities. They are public spaces that offer a place to learn on one’s own about any subject and without review by an authority figure. The library staff need not be consulted or involved in the pursuit of knowledge unless the patron wishes. Carnegie referred to the public library as the “people’s university,” and this conceptualization of the institution has continued in the public’s mind over the years. The collections in libraries allow for anonymous and unfettered inquiries into all subjects, and unlike a school, the public library has no predetermined curriculum or pedagogy. Individual curiosity and time are the only limitations on the knowledge that can be acquired. The neutral space has another advantage: It is available to individuals of all socioeconomic groups and all ages. The no-questions-asked policy makes it possible for anyone in the community to take advantage of the library’s services. The success of some library-centered community development projects we saw was attributed in part to the neutral and accessible position of the library within the community. The principle of open access for all to information has remained a steadfast conviction in the 12 libraries we visited as in thousands of public libraries around the country, even when that ideal is tempered somewhat by community standards and budget. For the most part, all library services in these sites have been offered without charge to members of the community, but in those few instances when charges have been levied, the services have been offered equitably to one and all. This attribute has distinguished public library service in the United States for the last 100 years. We observed library managers and staff within the 12 libraries working vigorously to perpetuate library traditions of free and equitable access to information within the electronic environment, even though the actual costs of information and access are not readily apparent to the public and have never been “free.”

Evolving Roles

For decades, public libraries have played a wide variety of roles within their communities, but the availability of electronic information and interactive communications technologies has enabled them to take on more and increasingly complex roles. Public libraries assume roles that make sense for the local communities. For example, across the nation libraries function as independent learning centers, popular materials centers, community information centers, preschoolers’ door to learning, research centers, cultural centers, and homework centers for youth. Libraries participating in the evolution to new forms of service through technology point out that much of the public has not understood the number or variety of roles the library has played in the past, and they point with some frustration to the number of new roles they should and could take on in the digital age if adequate resources were available. Library leaders are concerned, generally, that the expectations of the community for libraries and their own expectations for these institutions are greater than the resources will accommodate. In some places, librarians have expressed concern that digital library initiatives are usurping disproportionate resources when compared to the full range of services the library provides. Other librarians have cast such concerns aside and embrace the future that the digital world seems to be promising.

Although librarians talk a great deal about the new services they are providing, it may be that so far they are taking advantage of technology to enlarge and improve traditional services or to customize services that previously had been more generic. In delivering these new or enhanced services, are libraries playing new or significantly changed roles within their communities? For example, in sites we visited libraries have served as catalysts in community development, problem solvers for community organizations, or coordinators of community information delivery. In some communities these roles would be described as merely new names or extensions of what they have been doing all along. With electronic information and a community telecommunications infrastructure, there are many possibilities. It remains to be seen whether totally new roles for the public library will evolve as the technology evolves. The more important evolution may be library leadership’s own broadening vision of the potential roles libraries might play within their communities. At any rate, from our site visits we learned that technology is enabling libraries to take on roles and carry out tasks in ways that are more visible to the public and that the librarians themselves believe will be more effective.

The Challenge of Partnerships

Although libraries for many years have joined with other libraries to increase the efficiency and decrease the cost of information delivery, public libraries have turned to new types of partnerships to help broaden their resource base and reach more deeply into the community. What is changing is that these libraries are forging alliances and partnerships with organizations many of which have not, until now, been central to the workings of public libraries. Further, these partnerships involve organizations on an operational level in relationships that are more complex and often more mutually beneficial than that of funder and grantee. Such partnerships are making new and enhanced services a reality. Libraries are collaborating with telecommunications and corporate partners, new types of libraries, community organizations and agencies, schools, and others to provide new services, increase public access to information, and create community-based information resources. The collaborations have helped libraries establish new constituencies and build wider support (and even, in some cases, broaden and diversify the sources of funding). The challenge is to find partners who share the vision and who have the resources to invest in that vision.

The case study partnerships have been dynamic and varied–as varied as the libraries’ sizes and locales. In sites we visited, these alliances among libraries at regional or state levels have been and are increasingly important to the local library because the cooperative networking, training, and purchasing projects of these alliances are making information technology more affordable on the local level. On our visits we have seen public libraries join forces with their local telephone companies or cable television providers to take advantage of fiber optic network installation. Others have looked to nearby universities and colleges for technical expertise and networking experience. Libraries have benefited from alliances with local school systems, administrations, or individual schools. In one example, the public library has put together an alliance that includes a publicly owned utility company, the mayor’s office, a local university, and the community chamber of commerce. One urban area has reaped particular benefits from a partnership with a large bank and other corporate sponsors; a rural library received its first computer terminal as a donation from the local bank. Two libraries have partnerships with commercial information system developers to work collaboratively in the development of new or enhanced products for libraries. The point is that the partnerships–in whatever form they take–have proven to be advantageous for those public libraries that have pursued them with vigor and diligence and with a certain creative imagination.

Some librarians, not accustomed to forging alliances, particularly with the corporate sector, have expressed concerns about demands that might be placed on them by the new partnerships. Most, however, have embraced the new alliances with enthusiasm and the hope that the partnerships will increase opportunities and programs. Partnerships generally require more work than anyone ever forecasts or readily acknowledges. But in looking to the future, public library leadership has identified partnerships as a way, despite all the uncertainties and risks, to make their vision of the future possible.

Libraries and Community-based Information Networks

Providing information to meet the needs of community members is not new, but libraries are working in less-familiar territory as they collaborate with a range of organizations to develop a network of information from many different information providers. Although public libraries have gathered and made available information about their local communities, the public was little aware of this activity until the advent of community-based information systems delivered in electronic form. In addition to simply gathering information, many public librarians see themselves as adding value to this information. Many are applying traditional library approaches to adding value and information in electronic form. Some of the libraries have organized or indexed the information created by other organizations to make it more useful, and made it accessible as a logical component of the local library system. A few have customized these resources by linking to them from logical places on their homepages on the World Wide Web. Many of the sites have carefully selected electronic resources that correspond to the interests and needs of the various segments of the community. Other libraries have geared their efforts not only toward increasing public access to this information, but toward making sure that the underrepresented and the underprivileged in their communities have the means to access it as well. In most cases, however, the electronic services provided mirror the services libraries have long provided. But more needs to be done to take advantage of the interactive capabilities of the technology that will enhance communication and facilitate problem-solving with and among segments of the community.

Libraries are accomplishing their community-based goals in many different ways. In some instances, the library system and the community-based information system (community network or Free-net) are not directly connected. Although they may serve related or overlapping missions, they may be financed and managed as separate organizations. This may reflect some libraries placing a higher value on retaining autonomy than on taking the risks involved with nurturing creative partnerships. In some libraries the concern is expressed differently: They regard alliances with community networks as a kind of social service that should remain outside their realm.

Thus, not every library has viewed its future as tied to the fortunes of the local community network or Free-net. But in many places, the public library has extended the definition of itself as an information provider and has assumed a new role by adding a community-based information network or Free-net to its palette of services. There is no single answer. What has worked in some communities may not work in others. The range of types of alliances formed to provide community information are as varied as the communities they serve, and the role of the public library within each alliance varies with the style and capacity for leadership within the library.

Staffing and Training

In every library we visited, and from conversations with many other public librarians, one of the concerns voiced most frequently is that the staff expertise needed to play a leadership role in the digital environment is not readily found among existing staff. Public libraries we visited have hired technical experts to join the staff, on occasion without a background in library and information science. Some public libraries have encouraged current staff to develop technical skills and leadership expertise; others still, in a few instances, have promoted technically proficient staff into key areas of information systems management.

All of the libraries cited the need to invest much more heavily in staff training. Practically every person on the staff of today’s public libraries needs to know more about computers, electronic resources, and working on teams, and many will need to learn about fund-raising. Although part of the necessary learning must be achieved by individual effort, the libraries recognize that they have an obligation to equip staff to work in a different kind of environment: one that fosters communication among staff at all levels, takes advantage of technology, and uses staff skills in different ways. Some libraries also have recognized that their technical experts could benefit from some training in traditional library functions and activities. The difficulty is that training budgets in public libraries have been, traditionally, very small. The need to retool the current staff is huge in comparison to the funds that can be obligated readily to this purpose. Nevertheless, these libraries are doing what they can to facilitate training, even if that means informal tutorials and exchanges of information among staff. Training is a priority in public libraries, but it may be among the hardest activities to fund, perhaps because of the difficulty of documenting and articulating in layperson’s terms its direct impact on the services received by the public.

Since many public libraries are already stretching to acquire hardware, software, and connections, as well as information in electronic form, they are not readily finding the resources to support comprehensive training. As public libraries become more familiar with technology and its uses, and as they expand their partnerships in the community, training possibilities may more easily present themselves and may be the outcome of new, innovative alliances. Nevertheless, library leaders need to be able to articulate effectively the need for training and to implement effective training strategies.

The Need for Buildings and Space

Opinions differ, even within the library community itself, about the need for building or expanding libraries in expensive urban real estate zones, especially as the availability of networked information expands rapidly. Library staff who see community members seeking human contact in a safe, warm place and who provide desperately needed services for the community’s children see clearly a need for physical library space. They despair when technology enthusiasts speak glowingly of virtual libraries and the development of virtual communities through the Internet as an alternative. If money were not an issue, both the virtual and the physical community centers could be fully developed, staffed, maintained, and promoted.

The case study libraries are both virtual libraries and community centers. They support the philosophy that to serve communities effectively today, public libraries must be both, despite the resulting strain on resources. Building and maintaining adequate physical space to carry out library services is an important issue: Of the 12, four libraries have completed recent significant main library renovations, four others have constructed (or will construct shortly) new central library facilities, and two will go to voters this year with bond referenda for new main library buildings. In addition, three of these public libraries are building new branches to serve growing suburban or neighborhood populations. Library administrators’ ongoing concerns for sufficient, attractive, and well-maintained facilities are exacerbated by the need to wire buildings for network connections and reorganize space for delivery of electronic information. At every site, technology has required some form of refurbishing and rearranging space.

Many libraries have established public computer laboratories in their main buildings to provide access to the Internet for all–including those without the physical means of connecting to the library from home or office. Each of these libraries is committed to providing equitable access to electronic information from all library facilities including branches, but extending the full range of electronic services to branches is a steep financial and technical hurdle for multi-site library systems. These public libraries provide or have plans to provide electronic information to people who cannot visit a library building through dial-in or Internet connections. Not everyone has the means to connect to the libraries’ electronic services or visit a library facility. As a result, some libraries are creating partnerships with social service and other agencies and to install networked computers in shelters, senior citizen centers, half-way houses, recreation centers for youth, and bus terminals. Even in an era of increasing availability of networked electronic information, libraries must still confront the problems of space, buildings, and physical public access to ensure that the gateways to that electronic information are open to all.

Conclusions

In an environment in which technology offers hope for helping society to improve itself, it is understandable that library leaders would look to technology to make their institutions more relevant to the communities they serve. There is a fortuitous confluence between the services libraries in fact have offered to their communities and the opportunities offered by electronic information and new forms of delivery. Several of the libraries we visited have crafted programs that use technology to solve the most difficult problems of the community, such as literacy programs that are based on developing computer skills while learning to read or to communicate in English. Other libraries have developed special resources for the business community, recognizing that the equipment installed for that purpose will also be useful to others for many different purposes.

There is a difficulty, however, in that the public libraries’ most well known and appreciated features have little to do with technology. When asked to comment about the value of the public library in the community, most respondents to opinion surveys and polls, including a recent survey 1 and focus group conducted by the Benton Foundation for the Kellogg Foundation HRISM program, remark that the public library is the place where all citizens, without charge, can gain access to information, find recreational literature, or gather materials for children’s homework. But, there appears to be a mismatch between the mission of the library that is known and loved by the community at large and the vision of those who know about the potential of the library to serve vital needs of the local community.

Public libraries in North America are much admired by local citizens and are considered useful educational agencies and important for their services to children. The public opinion polls have confirmed this fact. These warm feelings about public libraries are found even among that segment of the population that does not generally use the public library. And this good will is also a fundamental weakness. People think of the public library as a good place for children, but they do not think in terms of the financial investment required to make the public library an important information resource in the community. Nor is the public library thought about as a leader in information policy.

The best public libraries–and these include the 12 we visited–understand that digital technology has the power to create a new or more highly evolved kind of community agency. The case studies offered here give insights into how a dozen library directors and their staffs have recognized that technology, properly applied, can strengthen and enhance a community by drawing in individuals and organizations who have not been part of the library’s family in the past. Personality and style differences of library leadership, the traditions and history of the institutions, and the make-up of the communities they serve are important factors, but the common elements among these library innovators are: community-centered strategies for library service, leadership with a vision of information technology serving the community, the ability to articulate this vision convincingly, and a belief that access to information is a fundamental right in a democratic society.

1 Buildings, Books, and Bytes: Libraries and Communities in the Digital Age . A report on the public’s opinion of library leaders’ visions for the future. Prepared by the Benton Foundation. Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. [Washington, D.C.] November, 1996.

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Distinguishing case study as a research method from case reports as a publication type

Kristine m alpi , mls, mph, phd, ahip, john jamal evans , phd.

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Received 2018 Oct 1; Accepted 2018 Oct 1; Issue date 2019 Jan.

Articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

The purpose of this editorial is to distinguish between case reports and case studies. In health, case reports are familiar ways of sharing events or efforts of intervening with single patients with previously unreported features. As a qualitative methodology, case study research encompasses a great deal more complexity than a typical case report and often incorporates multiple streams of data combined in creative ways. The depth and richness of case study description helps readers understand the case and whether findings might be applicable beyond that setting.

Single-institution descriptive reports of library activities are often labeled by their authors as “case studies.” By contrast, in health care, single patient retrospective descriptions are published as “case reports.” Both case reports and case studies are valuable to readers and provide a publication opportunity for authors. A previous editorial by Akers and Amos about improving case studies addresses issues that are more common to case reports; for example, not having a review of the literature or being anecdotal, not generalizable, and prone to various types of bias such as positive outcome bias [ 1 ]. However, case study research as a qualitative methodology is pursued for different purposes than generalizability. The authors’ purpose in this editorial is to clearly distinguish between case reports and case studies. We believe that this will assist authors in describing and designating the methodological approach of their publications and help readers appreciate the rigor of well-executed case study research.

Case reports often provide a first exploration of a phenomenon or an opportunity for a first publication by a trainee in the health professions. In health care, case reports are familiar ways of sharing events or efforts of intervening with single patients with previously unreported features. Another type of study categorized as a case report is an “N of 1” study or single-subject clinical trial, which considers an individual patient as the sole unit of observation in a study investigating the efficacy or side effect profiles of different interventions. Entire journals have evolved to publish case reports, which often rely on template structures with limited contextualization or discussion of previous cases. Examples that are indexed in MEDLINE include the American Journal of Case Reports , BMJ Case Reports, Journal of Medical Case Reports, and Journal of Radiology Case Reports . Similar publications appear in veterinary medicine and are indexed in CAB Abstracts, such as Case Reports in Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Record Case Reports .

As a qualitative methodology, however, case study research encompasses a great deal more complexity than a typical case report and often incorporates multiple streams of data combined in creative ways. Distinctions include the investigator’s definitions and delimitations of the case being studied, the clarity of the role of the investigator, the rigor of gathering and combining evidence about the case, and the contextualization of the findings. Delimitation is a term from qualitative research about setting boundaries to scope the research in a useful way rather than describing the narrow scope as a limitation, as often appears in a discussion section. The depth and richness of description helps readers understand the situation and whether findings from the case are applicable to their settings.

CASE STUDY AS A RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Case study as a qualitative methodology is an exploration of a time- and space-bound phenomenon. As qualitative research, case studies require much more from their authors who are acting as instruments within the inquiry process. In the case study methodology, a variety of methodological approaches may be employed to explain the complexity of the problem being studied [ 2 , 3 ].

Leading authors diverge in their definitions of case study, but a qualitative research text introduces case study as follows:

Case study research is defined as a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a real-life, contemporary bounded system (a case) or multiple bound systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information, and reports a case description and case themes. The unit of analysis in the case study might be multiple cases (a multisite study) or a single case (a within-site case study). [ 4 ]

Methodologists writing core texts on case study research include Yin [ 5 ], Stake [ 6 ], and Merriam [ 7 ]. The approaches of these three methodologists have been compared by Yazan, who focused on six areas of methodology: epistemology (beliefs about ways of knowing), definition of cases, design of case studies, and gathering, analysis, and validation of data [ 8 ]. For Yin, case study is a method of empirical inquiry appropriate to determining the “how and why” of phenomena and contributes to understanding phenomena in a holistic and real-life context [ 5 ]. Stake defines a case study as a “well-bounded, specific, complex, and functioning thing” [ 6 ], while Merriam views “the case as a thing, a single entity, a unit around which there are boundaries” [ 7 ].

Case studies are ways to explain, describe, or explore phenomena. Comments from a quantitative perspective about case studies lacking rigor and generalizability fail to consider the purpose of the case study and how what is learned from a case study is put into practice. Rigor in case studies comes from the research design and its components, which Yin outlines as (a) the study’s questions, (b) the study’s propositions, (c) the unit of analysis, (d) the logic linking the data to propositions, and (e) the criteria for interpreting the findings [ 5 ]. Case studies should also provide multiple sources of data, a case study database, and a clear chain of evidence among the questions asked, the data collected, and the conclusions drawn [ 5 ].

Sources of evidence for case studies include interviews, documentation, archival records, direct observations, participant-observation, and physical artifacts. One of the most important sources for data in qualitative case study research is the interview [ 2 , 3 ]. In addition to interviews, documents and archival records can be gathered to corroborate and enhance the findings of the study. To understand the phenomenon or the conditions that created it, direct observations can serve as another source of evidence and can be conducted throughout the study. These can include the use of formal and informal protocols as a participant inside the case or an external or passive observer outside of the case [ 5 ]. Lastly, physical artifacts can be observed and collected as a form of evidence. With these multiple potential sources of evidence, the study methodology includes gathering data, sense-making, and triangulating multiple streams of data. Figure 1 shows an example in which data used for the case started with a pilot study to provide additional context to guide more in-depth data collection and analysis with participants.

Key sources of data for a sample case study

VARIATIONS ON CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY

Case study methodology is evolving and regularly reinterpreted. Comparative or multiple case studies are used as a tool for synthesizing information across time and space to research the impact of policy and practice in various fields of social research [ 9 ]. Because case study research is in-depth and intensive, there have been efforts to simplify the method or select useful components of cases for focused analysis. Micro-case study is a term that is occasionally used to describe research on micro-level cases [ 10 ]. These are cases that occur in a brief time frame, occur in a confined setting, and are simple and straightforward in nature. A micro-level case describes a clear problem of interest. Reporting is very brief and about specific points. The lack of complexity in the case description makes obvious the “lesson” that is inherent in the case; although no definitive “solution” is necessarily forthcoming, making the case useful for discussion. A micro-case write-up can be distinguished from a case report by its focus on briefly reporting specific features of a case or cases to analyze or learn from those features.

DATABASE INDEXING OF CASE REPORTS AND CASE STUDIES

Disciplines such as education, psychology, sociology, political science, and social work regularly publish rich case studies that are relevant to particular areas of health librarianship. Case reports and case studies have been defined as publication types or subject terms by several databases that are relevant to librarian authors: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ERIC. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) does not have a subject term or publication type related to cases, despite many being included in the database. Whereas “Case Reports” are the main term used by MEDLINE’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and PsycINFO’s thesaurus, CINAHL and ERIC use “Case Studies.”

Case reports in MEDLINE and PsycINFO focus on clinical case documentation. In MeSH, “Case Reports” as a publication type is specific to “clinical presentations that may be followed by evaluative studies that eventually lead to a diagnosis” [ 11 ]. “Case Histories,” “Case Studies,” and “Case Study” are all entry terms mapping to “Case Reports”; however, guidance to indexers suggests that “Case Reports” should not be applied to institutional case reports and refers to the heading “Organizational Case Studies,” which is defined as “descriptions and evaluations of specific health care organizations” [ 12 ].

PsycINFO’s subject term “Case Report” is “used in records discussing issues involved in the process of conducting exploratory studies of single or multiple clinical cases.” The Methodology index offers clinical and non-clinical entries. “Clinical Case Study” is defined as “case reports that include disorder, diagnosis, and clinical treatment for individuals with mental or medical illnesses,” whereas “Non-clinical Case Study” is a “document consisting of non-clinical or organizational case examples of the concepts being researched or studied. The setting is always non-clinical and does not include treatment-related environments” [ 13 ].

Both CINAHL and ERIC acknowledge the depth of analysis in case study methodology. The CINAHL scope note for the thesaurus term “Case Studies” distinguishes between the document and the methodology, though both use the same term: “a review of a particular condition, disease, or administrative problem. Also, a research method that involves an in-depth analysis of an individual, group, institution, or other social unit. For material that contains a case study, search for document type: case study.” The ERIC scope note for the thesaurus term “Case Studies” is simple: “detailed analyses, usually focusing on a particular problem of an individual, group, or organization” [ 14 ].

PUBLICATION OF CASE STUDY RESEARCH IN LIBRARIANSHIP

We call your attention to a few examples published as case studies in health sciences librarianship to consider how their characteristics fit with the preceding definitions of case reports or case study research. All present some characteristics of case study research, but their treatment of the research questions, richness of description, and analytic strategies vary in depth and, therefore, diverge at some level from the qualitative case study research approach. This divergence, particularly in richness of description and analysis, may have been constrained by the publication requirements.

As one example, a case study by Janke and Rush documented a time- and context-bound collaboration involving a librarian and a nursing faculty member [ 15 ]. Three objectives were stated: (1) describing their experience of working together on an interprofessional research team, (2) evaluating the value of the librarian role from librarian and faculty member perspectives, and (3) relating findings to existing literature. Elements that signal the qualitative nature of this case study are that the authors were the research participants and their use of the term “evaluation” is reflection on their experience. This reads like a case study that could have been enriched by including other types of data gathered from others engaging with this team to broaden the understanding of the collaboration.

As another example, the description of the academic context is one of the most salient components of the case study written by Clairoux et al., which had the objectives of (1) describing the library instruction offered and learning assessments used at a single health sciences library and (2) discussing the positive outcomes of instruction in that setting [ 16 ]. The authors focus on sharing what the institution has done more than explaining why this institution is an exemplar to explore a focused question or understand the phenomenon of library instruction. However, like a case study, the analysis brings together several streams of data including course attendance, online material page views, and some discussion of results from surveys. This paper reads somewhat in between an institutional case report and a case study.

The final example is a single author reporting on a personal experience of creating and executing the role of research informationist for a National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded research team [ 17 ]. There is a thoughtful review of the informationist literature and detailed descriptions of the institutional context and the process of gaining access to and participating in the new role. However, the motivating question in the abstract does not seem to be fully addressed through analysis from either the reflective perspective of the author as the research participant or consideration of other streams of data from those involved in the informationist experience. The publication reads more like a case report about this informationist’s experience than a case study that explores the research informationist experience through the selection of this case.

All of these publications are well written and useful for their intended audiences, but in general, they are much shorter and much less rich in depth than case studies published in social sciences research. It may be that the authors have been constrained by word counts or page limits. For example, the submission category for Case Studies in the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) limited them to 3,000 words and defined them as “articles describing the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating a new service, program, or initiative, typically in a single institution or through a single collaborative effort” [ 18 ]. This definition’s focus on novelty and description sounds much more like the definition of case report than the in-depth, detailed investigation of a time- and space-bound problem that is often examined through case study research.

Problem-focused or question-driven case study research would benefit from the space provided for Original Investigations that employ any type of quantitative or qualitative method of analysis. One of the best examples in the JMLA of an in-depth multiple case study that was authored by a librarian who published the findings from her doctoral dissertation represented all the elements of a case study. In eight pages, she provided a theoretical basis for the research question, a pilot study, and a multiple case design, including integrated data from interviews and focus groups [ 19 ].

We have distinguished between case reports and case studies primarily to assist librarians who are new to research and critical appraisal of case study methodology to recognize the features that authors use to describe and designate the methodological approaches of their publications. For researchers who are new to case research methodology and are interested in learning more, Hancock and Algozzine provide a guide [ 20 ].

We hope that JMLA readers appreciate the rigor of well-executed case study research. We believe that distinguishing between descriptive case reports and analytic case studies in the journal’s submission categories will allow the depth of case study methodology to increase. We also hope that authors feel encouraged to pursue submitting relevant case studies or case reports for future publication.

Editor’s note: In response to this invited editorial, the Journal of the Medical Library Association will consider manuscripts employing rigorous qualitative case study methodology to be Original Investigations (fewer than 5,000 words), whereas manuscripts describing the process of developing, implementing, and assessing a new service, program, or initiative—typically in a single institution or through a single collaborative effort—will be considered to be Case Reports (formerly known as Case Studies; fewer than 3,000 words).

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Modern Library Design

A public library helps bridge the digital divide through modern library design., historic building, new opportunities.

The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central location is the library system’s hub and a striking example of Beaux Arts architecture. The building opened in 1927 and originally featured reading rooms and other public spaces along with restricted areas that included administrative offices, mechanical rooms, and an enormous four-story room that stored approximately one million books on six tiers of stacks.

Despite the building’s large size, only a third of its space was open to the public. The need for an addition or expansion became evident in the 1960s, but efforts to add on to the historic structure repeatedly ended in disappointment. In 2006 the library’s leadership began exploring ways to repurpose space within the existing building, rather than pursuing an expansion.

The primary goal was to create more public spaces that would help bridge the city’s “digital divide,” the growing gap between residents who had convenient, affordable internet access and those who did not. Providing powerful wifi access, meeting spaces, and other resources would create more opportunities for the city’s residents. The library’s leadership hoped to accomplish these goals without expanding the building’s footprint.

" We really began looking at the possibilities: What was the potential for this building to give more? "

- Siobhan Reardon , President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia

" We wanted to give more space back to the public, and it all started with trying to figure out how to move a million books. "

- James Pecora , Vice President of Property Management

Translating ideas into reality

Tackling an extensive renovation in a beloved historic building is no easy task. For five years, the local Spacesaver consultant worked with library staff and the architectural team to bring the architect’s vision to life. His services were backed up by Spacesaver’s world-class engineering and manufacturing expertise.

Off-site book storage

The first step was to figure out how to store nearly one million books while also keeping them accessible. Spacesaver provided shelving for the library’s off-site location, creating a solution that allowed staff to promptly retrieve and replace volumes on request.

On-site book storage

In an effort to keep as many volumes on site as possible, the local Spacesaver consultant designed three high-density shelving systems in the library’s lower level. The systems were custom manufactured to fit around structural columns and varying ceiling heights to create a solution that makes optimal use of the available space.

Spacesaver high-density shelving systems in the library’s lower level kept materials accessible on site while also freeing up space for modern uses.

The art walls.

The “bookshelves” or art walls in The Common presented a number of creative challenges for Spacesaver’s engineers. Working from conceptual drawings, they figured out how to integrate monitors and glass panels into the shelving, and they designed shelves that fit around structural columns and appear to extend through the ceiling. An in-house project manager scheduled weekly calls with the local sales representative, the engineering team, the general contractor, and the architecture team to ensure that all aspects of the project were proceeding as planned. Several months before the installation date, the Spacesaver team provided a prototype ahead of time to ensure a perfect fit.

The end result is an inspiring space that invites all city residents to learn, collaborate, and explore new opportunities.

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Storing Special Collections in a Library

Library Floor-Loading Considerations for Future High-Density Shelving

Remodeling a Campus Library with Moveable Shelving

George Washington Library

Preserving Texas History with Spacesaver Archives Storage

Undergraduate Library Design

Case Study: Red Hook (N.Y.) Public Library: One Small Win Creates Huge Ripples of Change

Location: Red Hook, N.Y. | Staff Size: 5.4 FTE | Service Area: 14,000 Ì Download PDF

• By leading Community Conversations and listening to residents, the Red Hook LTC team realized they could address a problem and improve how the community worked together by fixing the town’s stoplight. Choosing to act on this was a critical decision; it sent a signal that change was possible and that people’s concerns mattered.
• People were so energized by the forward progress that they wanted to keep going. The library is now working with residents and other partners to establish a community center.
• The LTC team’s efforts have inspired residents to get involved in ways they weren’t before. The library is playing a convening role, but in many cases, residents are developing solutions to problems.

The Village of Red Hook, New York—population 1,961—sits about 100 miles north of New York City near the Catskills and Hudson River Valley. It is home to Bard College, a nationally ranked liberal arts college that is the town’s largest employer.

When the discussion around community aspirations began in 2014, most residents reported how much they loved living in this community. A couple of issues quickly rose to the top that needed to be addressed, including one iconic one: the town’s only stoplight.

Every day, 14,000 vehicles passed through the light, which sat at the intersection of two state highways. The light’s timing was off, leading to wait times as long as seven minutes. Seeking to avoid the long delay, drivers frequently chose to cut through residential neighborhoods, endangering kids and adults who were walking and riding bikes in the streets.

The light had been a problem as long as people could remember. Everyone knew it, yet the earliest it was expected to be addressed was 2017—three years after this story begins. For a small town, this little traffic light was a big issue. Everyone in town knew it was a problem, but the sense of urgency was never fully communicated to the state. So it sat near the bottom of a long line of state-funded public infrastructure problems.

But a seemingly small act— people coming together in 2015 to talk, share ideas and x a problem—forged a new “can-do” narrative in Red Hook in which residents take ownership of their community in a different way. This substantial change was made possible by the efforts of a small group of leaders, organized by Red Hook Public Library, a small community library with only 4,500 cardholders.

Progress Made

Today, years ahead of schedule, the stoplight is fixed, but that’s just the beginning of this story. The work the library initiated to x the light became a catalyst for a variety of changes in improving the quality of life in Red Hook, making this small community better mobilized, better connected and more prepared to tackle complex challenges. Red Hook Public Library is now working in partnership with community groups, community leaders, Bard College and residents to take on a variety
of issues.

• The library is working to establish a community center to give more people opportunities to come together.
• And, seeing the benefits of their work, the library is helping to make connections between groups and encouraging others to take on community engagement work so more people can work toward the betterment of the community.

Being a part of changes like these also marked a big shift for the library.

“[Before, the library] was completely off people’s radars,” said Erica Freudenberger, who became library director in 2010. “It was this musty old building that was best to be avoided.”

The Journey

Freudenberger wanted to change the perception of the library and add more value to the community.

Shortly after being named library director, she started attending local Rotary and chamber of commerce meetings and joined a group of local leaders called Red Hook Together. Started by Erin Cannan, associate director of the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement, Red Hook Together met about every five weeks “as a way to address some of the ‘town and gown’ issues,” Cannan said.

At the first meeting Freudenberger attended, several people said they wished the community had a gathering place to help residents stay more informed about local issues.

“I said, ‘The good news is we have such a place.’ No one knew or believed me,” Freudenberger said. “That wasn’t their experience of the library. It was really about recognizing that we had to change the perception of who we were or what we were in the community. We started partnering with organizations and doing a lot of collaboration.”

For this reason, the library jumped at the chance to be part of the Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) initiative, a partnership between the American Library Association and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. LTC aims to strengthen the role of libraries in helping communities solve problems and work together more effectively. As part of the initiative, Harwood trained and coached 10 library teams, made up of library staff and community partners. Over two years, teams learned to apply Harwood’s Turning Outward approach, a practice or discipline of understanding a community in a deep way and then using that knowledge as a reference point for choices and actions.

Freudenberger said she and the rest of the Red Hook team, which included Cannan, “felt very smug” going into the LTC project, thinking they were used to working collaboratively, listening to the community and getting results.

“We thought we were outwardly focused, but we weren’t,” Cannan said. “We were willing to be partners with people because we wanted to get something out of the partnership. It was transactional.”

After an initial three-day training with The Harwood Institute and ALA in May 2014, Red Hook’s LTC team knew it needed to connect deeper with the community in a way that wasn’t quid pro quo. The group decided to go door-to-door in the small town asking people four basic questions using Harwood’s Ask exercise:

1. What kind of community do you want to live in? 2. Why is that important to you? 3. How is that different from how you see things now? 4. What are some of the things that need to happen to create that kind of change?

Brent Kovalchik, Village of Red Hook deputy mayor and a member of the LTC team, partnered with a Bard student to do most of the canvassing.

Residents welcomed the chance to share, Freudenberger said.

“People were really eager to let us know what they thought,” she said. “To have someone ask them what they thought and listen to what they had to say— that was very powerful.”

People shared many common concerns. They wanted a safer, better connected community. The town’s stoplight surfaced as one concrete way to help make that kind of community a reality.

“The stoplight was a pretty popular response to these questions,” Kovalchik said. “People wanted safe, walkable space and also a vibrant, economically viable village. The traffic light affected both the vibrancy of the village—people were just getting angry at the light—but also increasing the risks of conflicts with motorists and pedestrians.”

“While the mayor and everyone knew it [the stoplight] was a problem, I don’t think they realized to what extent people were really concerned about it,” Freudenberger said. “When we made it clear it was a priority, it became an action item. The mayor’s office got on it.”

The library’s engagement of the community resulted in laser- like attention to this issue. With support from the mayor’s office, the library encouraged people to contact their state representatives and the Department of Transportation and ask them to prioritize fixing the stoplight. The mayor made additional calls to accelerate the repair.

“It empowered people to take action and also encouraged us on the government level to put it up on a higher priority to address,” said Kovalchik. “Now it’s fixed.”

The library never explicitly publicized its role in harnessing community momentum to repair the stoplight.

“It wasn’t about saying, ‘We’re leading the charge’ or taking the credit,” said Freudenberger. “That’s not the point. The point was to make it happen.”

Freudenberger said while she thought she was Turned Outward because she had been engaging with the community since starting her role at the library, she was not.

She is asking different questions now.

“With LTC, we are looking beyond that,” she said. “Instead of thinking of ourselves as separate institutions, we are thinking of ourselves as a large ecosystem and asking, ‘What are the issues in our community? What really matters to people, and what should we be working on?’”

By the time Freudenberger and her colleagues met with other libraries at a gathering in January 2015, she realized a switch in her viewpoint had happened gradually.

“Outreach is when we go out and tell people about all the great stuff we’re doing at the library,” she said. “Engagement is going out and asking people what their dreams are for the community, then identifying what needs to happen in order to achieve those dreams.”

She listened to other library groups describe their outreach.

“I realized that [what they were describing] was exactly where we were seven months ago,” she said. “Our viewpoint had been changing, and it didn’t occur to me until that point.”

Putting the community first, as opposed to focusing first on how to promote the library, has, ironically, elevated the library.

“It’s been very liberating in a lot of ways,” Freudenberger said. “The more valuable we are to the community, the less I have to talk about the library, because other people do. When other people talk about how valuable we are, it’s much more credible than me saying it.”

Kovalchik said the experience of talking to residents through the Ask exercise “opened my eyes to a lot of things. We make decisions on the village level based on what we hear on the streets, but there are also a lot of assumptions.”

“When we are able to bring more people into the process, they feel they have more ownership in what is going on,” he said. “It’s a better way of working.”

Moving Forward

Hearing residents’ concerns about a lack of activities for teens and young adults in the community, the library, Bard College and Red Hook High School teamed up to provide science, technology and programming seminars in the high school, and then on a mobile program that took the program to rural areas without easy access to the library.

Bard students host summer science camps for younger students at the Red Hook library, and the library pays their stipends. The library and college were also part of a community art exhibit meant to appeal to Red Hook’s young adults.

According to the LTC team, the library’s knowledge of the community has become the lens through which they now evaluate their choices about how to support Red Hook. The stoplight started a momentum that transformed the library into a critical player in solving problems throughout the community. They are continuing their efforts to help Red Hook become better connected, including work on developing a community center.

At a Red Hook Together meeting in spring 2015, nearly a year after their LTC training and more than four years after Freudenberger started promoting the library at her first meeting with this group, the conversation was very different.

“Four and a half years ago, everyone was trying to imagine a place where everyone could go, and now at least six or seven of the people [at the meeting] said they wanted their organizations to be more like the library,” she said. “It was huge, a really significant shift that was a really, really cool and amazing moment. That signaled the biggest shift for our library, that the perception had changed that dramatically.”

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