The meaning of service: Ambiguities and dilemmas for public library service providers

An ethnographic study was designed to understand the nature and the role of public library service in a specific context. Using mostly the theoretical frameworks of Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens, the study provides an analysis of the two basic systems of meaning that service providers bring to their interaction with users. Service is conceptualized as a set of organizational processes involving the production, distribution, control, and consumption of various types of resources. Research findings reveal that service providers experience various types of ambiguities and dilemmas stemming from the broad mission of the public library. Similar tensions regarding the nature of the institution were found in the social environment and at the institutional level. The study offers a framework for studying service practices in relation to social and historical issues.