An Investigation of the ‘Creative Consultation’ Process and Methods to Capture and Transfer Good Practice in Public Libraries

摘要

This paper is based on early reflections from Sung’s Master’s dissertation and current Ph.D. research regarding the present ‘creative consultation’ practices in public libraries. Since the Ph.D. is in its early stages, this paper is an opportunity to offer a review of the main literature, related to consultation practices and theories.An awareness of the importance of effective consultation is increasing. This paper aims to discuss the key features of community consultation in public libraries, investigate how public libraries conduct community consultation, and examine whether user consultation has a positive impact in promoting library services. Textual and visual investigation of innovative consultation methods are provided with emphasis on Birchfield Library Community Consultation Project by Birmingham Libraries and The Art of Community Consultation by Bolton Libraries.Investigation of these approaches has prompted Sung to explore other participatory approaches to research, such as Participatory Action Research.