Multicultural library services : research into information needs and behaviour of linguistic minorities in Osijek-Baranya County

Abstract

Budući da bi narodne knjižnice trebale, prema domaćoj i međunarodnoj legislativi, postojećim kulturnim strategijama i stručnim smjernicama, zadovoljavati potrebe svih svojih korisnika, pa tako i onih koji pripadaju manjinskom stanovništvu, u radu se analiziraju informacijske potrebe i ponašanje pri pretraživanju informacija pripadnika triju najbrojnijih manjina u Osječko-baranjskoj županiji te mjeri stupanj njihova zadovoljstva knjižničnim uslugama. Istraživanje polazi od pretpostavke da pripadnici manjina, unatoč višegeneracijskom životu u Republici Hrvatskoj, imaju potrebu za informacijama i građom na majčinskom jeziku, ali i da nedovoljno (u kvantitativnom i kvalitativnom smislu) u tu svrhu koriste knjižnice jer svoje informacijske potrebe češće zadovoljavaju drugim izvorima. Rezultati istraživanja mogu pomoći narodnim knjižnicama u osmišljavanju nabavne politike, s posebnim naglaskom na nabavu građe i izvora na jezicima (i pismima) manjina koje žive u njihovom okruženju, i planiranju usluga i programa koji će odgovarati na stvarne potrebe manjinskog stanovništva.According to Croatian and international laws, existing cultural strategies, and professional documents and guidelines, public libraries should strive to meet the needs of all their users (including minority groups). These were the reasons for the research and analysis of the information needs and behavior of three biggest linguistic minorities in Osijek-Baranya county. Special emphasis is put on the level of their satisfaction with library services. The authors of the paper start with the hypothesis that minority members, although living in Croatia for many generations now, still have the need for information, newspapers and other publications in their mother tongues. The authors also believe that the participants of the study (the members of Hungarian, Slovak and Serbian minorities) use libraries insufficiently, while fulfilling their information needs elsewhere. The results of this research can help public libraries in designing their collection development policies, with special emphasis on acquiring publications in minority languages and scripts, and also in planning services and programmes which will meet the needs of minority groups