Public Libraries in the Service of Culture

Abstract

It is clear to see that a library built for the general population is expected to serve new roles in the 21st century. The most likely role taken up by the library is to live on as a cultural centre. The paper reviews the compliance of the websites of major Hungarian public libraries (county libraries) with expectations for cultural websites. While the paper takes more recent trends into consideration, the Minerva Quality principles served as a good starting point. The paper evaluates the websites in question after testing them in practice. The focus of the research is on the technical aspects of a functional cultural site, as well as considering what type of information is in the contents apart from information on the library’s services. The focus is on evaluating the sites from the users’ side. While local differences are always present, it is clear to see that most county libraries made efforts to suite the new requirements. The paper discusses major trends and anomalies as well, for the latter possible explanations and solutions are also mentioned.