A Study of Academic Library through the Prism of Knowledge Use and Problem Solving Networks

Abstract The article describes a social network approach to understanding the relationships between academic library employees: knowledge use network and problem solving network with the division into strong and weak ties. The author collected the data based on a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire on a selected population of library staff in a major academic library in Poland. Then, collected data was analyzed through the non-parametric network statistics tests (quadratic assignment procedure [QAP] and multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure [MRQAP]) to test dependencies occurring in social networks of librarians. The results show a relationship between knowledge use and problem solving based on strong and weak ties between librarians, with the beta for weak ties higher than for strong ties. The network methodology is becoming a critical research approach used to understand the informal structures and complexity of the academic library. Thus, it is a valuable tool in the hands of library directors.