NOWHERE TO GO AND NOTHING TO DO: HOW PUBLIC LIBRARIES MITIGATE THE IMPACTS OF PARENTAL WORK AND URBAN PLANNING ON YOUNG PEOPLE.

This paper provides the findings of research in ten communities across four Australian states exploring how adults and adolescents experience work, home and community, and examines two best practice public libraries which have explicitly considered the needs of adolescents in their design and services. It is demonstrated that public libraries, by providing often displaced young people with legitimate space and resources, can uniquely sustain their psychosocial development and confer enduring benefits for them and their capacity for citizenship, for their families and the wider community. This is particularly significant for young people from a lower socioeconomic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]