TY - JOUR
T1 - How librarians and firefighters built a special library in Champaign, Illinois, USA
T2 - a community informatics story
AU - Grisales Bohorquez, Claudia
AU - Ruan, Lian
AU - Williams, Kate
N1 - The authors thank all participants who generously shared their stories and reflections for this research. The authors also thank IFSI library staff, David Ehrenahrt, Diane Richardson, Shuyi Liu and their team of graduate students for facilitating information and providing invaluable insights into their work. The authors extend their gratitude to the Illinois Fire Service Institute for supporting firefighters, libraries and research, as well as to the anonymous reviewers, whose constructive observations helped improve this work. Finally, the authors thank the editorial team, who made this publication possible.
PY - 2023/2/2
Y1 - 2023/2/2
N2 - Purpose: This paper aims to understand how a special library helped firefighters in Illinois navigate the digital revolution by evidencing the elements and forms of work that made its innovative services possible. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the history of a special library through a community informatics lens, drawing from sociomaterial perspectives to highlight forms of work often invisible in digital innovation. Data was collected through documentary revision, oral histories and semi-structured interviews. Deductive-inductive coding and constant comparative analysis was used in the analysis. Findings: A historical narrative of the library between 1990 and 2021 highlights three sociotechnical innovations that assisted firefighters through the digital revolution: the facilitated collection, the co-created collection and the inside-out library. To develop these innovations the library drew from institutional relations, personal relations, grants, labor, knowledge of firefighters and technology. Various forms of articulation work brought these elements together to create innovative services. Originality/value: The role of special libraries in addressing the digital divide has not been sufficiently detailed so far; this paper is a contribution in that direction. It also has practical value for professionals working in specialized libraries and information centers.
AB - Purpose: This paper aims to understand how a special library helped firefighters in Illinois navigate the digital revolution by evidencing the elements and forms of work that made its innovative services possible. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the history of a special library through a community informatics lens, drawing from sociomaterial perspectives to highlight forms of work often invisible in digital innovation. Data was collected through documentary revision, oral histories and semi-structured interviews. Deductive-inductive coding and constant comparative analysis was used in the analysis. Findings: A historical narrative of the library between 1990 and 2021 highlights three sociotechnical innovations that assisted firefighters through the digital revolution: the facilitated collection, the co-created collection and the inside-out library. To develop these innovations the library drew from institutional relations, personal relations, grants, labor, knowledge of firefighters and technology. Various forms of articulation work brought these elements together to create innovative services. Originality/value: The role of special libraries in addressing the digital divide has not been sufficiently detailed so far; this paper is a contribution in that direction. It also has practical value for professionals working in specialized libraries and information centers.
KW - Community informatics
KW - Emergency Response
KW - Firefighting
KW - Invisible work
KW - Special library
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U2 - 10.1108/DTS-08-2022-0035
DO - 10.1108/DTS-08-2022-0035
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85186450632
SN - 2755-0761
VL - 2
SP - 42
EP - 59
JO - Digital Transformation and Society
JF - Digital Transformation and Society
IS - 1
ER -