A Study on Research Trends in Public Library Research in Korea Using Keyword Networks

The purpose of this study is to draw a network among the keywords used in public library studies in the LIS field in Korea using a social network analysis method. To achieve the purpose, this study (i) analyses the keywords used in LIS peer-reviewed journal articles on the subject of public libraries, (ii) finds the important keywords of public library studies based on network perspectives, and (iii) compares the keyword network of public library studies for the most recent five years with the keyword network of public library studies of different time periods. Through a keywords analysis of public library studies, the following research trends have been found: (a) Korean public library studies have mainly focused on management issues; (b) there has been much discussion about library cooperation between public libraries and other kinds of libraries; (c) the subjects of research related to evaluation have been diversified as a result of influence from the fields of management and business; (d) scholars became interested in special users; (e) many studies paid attention to human resources issues in public libraries; (f) there have been many studies that are focused on small libraries; and (g) considerable research has been related to lifelong education, in particular, during 2001-2009. In addition, through comparison of the keyword network of public library studies for the most recent five years and the keyword network of public library studies for different time periods, the researcher finds that (i) keywords have both similarities and differences, and (ii) socio-environmental factors influence the research trends.