What Is A Hybrid Library? Evidence from Scotland And Brazil

The term “hybrid” has been used relating to hybrid library professionals, libraries that combine an academic and corporate purpose or a library and museum’s purpose, use of hybrid instruction methods, or a library that combines public and private spaces, reactions of libraries to hybrid open access, and hybrid professionals. The objective is to study hybridity within Brazilian and Scottish public libraries, understanding that management of these libraries is controlled in different ways. This research uses exploratory qualitative methods on a Case Study. We examined the products and services offered by each case of study in their community, assessing the hybridity of each institution. We have categorized the findings into Brazilian and Scottish public hybrid libraries, in order to analyze users’ and librarians’ understanding of the characteristics of social changes, their training in the use of hybrid libraries to adapt them to this context, social inclusion actions, the interaction between technology, physical structure and humans, community development actions, and accessibility. We have found that the development of hybrid libraries of the United Kingdom is significantly more advanced than observed in the Brazilian context. However, given the perception of differences in the indexes between libraries in Brazil and the United Kingdom, there is Brazil’s concern for the transformation of public libraries into hybrids. The Scottish style of hybrid libraries is primarily concerned with access to technology and services.  Arguably, the term “hybrid library” means quite different things in the two countries.