What's on : community events information on the web, an analysis of public and commercial provision in New Zealand

Abstract

In an effort to maintain relevance to their communities, public libraries have an opportunity to excel in the provision of community information (CI). Research on building social capital points clearly to CI as a factor in the development of healthier and more vital communities. Currently, studies have identified community event information (CEI) as a type of community information. However, there is no research that looks specifically at CEI or online provision of CI. This report describes the current development of online community event information in New Zealand. Public and commercial online community event information websites were compared using qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Categories for use in evaluating content features were developed and, in combination with online statistical tests, were used to assess public and commercial CEI websites. Qualitative evaluations and quantitative data point to differences in content and content features in CEI websites in New Zealand. In particular, there are differences between public and commercial services. Public CEI websites offer more inclusive event listings, which give equal representation to free and fee-based events, and all-ages and adult events. In addition, public websites scored higher on accessibility tests, indicating a desire to offer communities easier and more equal access to CEI. Given these findings, public library websites that demonstrate poor linking to CEI, might consider improving their identifiers and links to CEI, as a first step in building successful online CEI services.