By Catherine Johnson, Associate Prof in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario, "Public Libraries' Contribution to Community Social Capital."
excerpt: "Having a place to go - especially in poorer neighbourhoods - that is welcoming, where there are people to help you find the information you need and where you can get to know or mingle with other people from your neighbourhood has a postive effect on people's level of trust, civic engagement and community involvement" (pp. 30-31).
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I am the editor for the LIS Scholars at Work column, appearing in each issue of Access, the quarterly magazine of the Ontario Library Association. See previous issues (as pdfs). Spring 2013 coming soon.