An Actor Network Analysis of Libraries as Informal Learning Environments

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Collecting and Sharing Information: Libraries, Museums, Partnerships, and the Public

Abstract

This paper focuses on the comparative analysis of two studies of libraries as informal learning environments, arguing for a trans-local dialogic approach, where researchers deliberately engage in sustained critical dialogue across multiple sites, projects and countries to understand how literacies are accessed and acquired within and across informal spaces in different contexts. We demonstrate how two researchers, one in Australia and another in Singapore, working on separate studies collaborate through place-centred, immersive and sustained conversation, engaging with concepts of mobility, stability and combinability from Actor Network Theory (ANT) to anchor cross-study discussions of libraries, literacies and change. The analysis shows how comparative analysis, coupled with deliberate stakeholder engagement, can raise new insights at local and global levels.

Authors

• Chin Ee Loh

• Sue Mary Nichols, University of South Australia