Library User Metaphors and Services: How Librarians look at their Users

During the last 40 years, the library profession has used different metaphors to characterise their users, e.g. the user as a citizen, a client, a customer, a guest, and a partner. The book is about the background and distribution of those metaphorical descriptions and how they have influenced services in libraries. Through illustrative examples, the book will animate librarians to rethink the appropriateness of their prevailing user categories.