Library stories: a systematic review of narrative aspects within and around libraries

Background.  Libraries are increasingly trying to communicate the library’s contributions and telling the library stories. Stories can be a component of impact assessment and thus add nuance to an assessment. Evaluations of libraries can include collecting and presenting stories of change, which can serve as evidence in impact assessments. The narrative field allows for many different approaches to a narrative perspective in the study of libraries, but the existing literature provides little overview of these studies.

Aim.  The purpose of this study is to introduce the narrative field and present a systematic review of the existing studies of libraries that use narrative approaches.

Method.  The methods in this study comprise of a systematic review of publications reporting narrative approaches to studying libraries. To retrieve the relevant studies Library and Information Science Abstracts, Scopus, Web of Science and Proquest Dissertation were searched.  Furthermore, we examined reference lists and performed citation searches. Study selection was performed by two reviewers independently. Using designed templates, data from the included studies was extracted by one author and confirmed by another.

Results. The database searches retrieved 2,096 records across the four databases which were screened in two steps resulting in 35 included studies.  We identify studies that introduce to narrative inquiries in library studies as well as studies using narrative approaches to the study of libraries.

Originality/value. Exploring narratives and stories for understanding and evaluating the library’s worth is a promising field. More work is needed, though, to develop theoretical and methodological frameworks. Several of the included studies can serve as examples of the potential of a narrative perspective in the study of libraries.