Strategies for public libraries in the 21st century

Abstract: Taking our reference point from the French cultural sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's idea of the Social field, in this paper we will seek to identify and discuss a number of characteristics which define the public library. As changes within the public library system are often instigated by external factors we will place special emphasis on an analysis of the status, which the library holds in society. On the basis of the above we will, while concluding, put forward our idea of strategies needed to make the public library visible in the 21st century.     

Home and away: constructing family and childhood in the context of working parenthood

Little is known about children's views and experiences of their parents’ work?life reconciliation and how these are negotiated in everyday family practices. This article examines families' experiences of work?life reconciliation from both children's and parents' perspectives, drawing on a qualitative longitudinal study with 14 families in Scotland. Such experiences have implications for the spatial and temporal construction of family and childhood in the UK, where working parenthood is increasingly the norm.     

Girls' friendships, ‘distinctive individuality’ and socio‐spatial practices of (dis)identification

This paper investigates girls' friendships (aged 14–15) at Hilltop school in England. Through the use of multi‐locational participant observation this paper identifies the significance of schoolgirl friendship in the production and contestation of femininity and compulsory heterosexuality. This paper focuses on one friendship group known as the ‘alternative’ girls. This paper illustrates how these young women invoke a discourse of ‘distinctive individuality’ (Muggleton, 2000 Muggleton D (2000) Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style Oxford: Berg  [Google Scholar]) in order to produce inclusionary and exclusionary boundaries of friendship. Central to an understanding of these friendships are the complex spatialities of young women's processes of (dis)identification (Skeggs, 1997 Skeggs B (1997) Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable London: Sage  [Google Scholar]).