World Wide Web

Process (computing)

Interpretation (philosophy)

Public relations

Scope (computer science)

Operating system

Computer science

Business

Library classification

Political science

Artificial intelligence

General partnership

Programming language

Finance

Knowledge management

Perspective (graphical)

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

Innovations are critical for public libraries but rarely does any primary research study the scope and interpretation of the term “innovation” by public libraries. Also, few of the existing innovation typologies are based on data collected from public libraries. This study fills in the gap by eliciting 80 innovations reported by the administrators of 108 award-winning public libraries in the United States, and proposes the first organic classification of innovations for public libraries, with the following four types of innovations: Program (access-oriented/use-oriented), Process (efficiency-driven/effectiveness-driven), Partnership (internal/external), and Technology (web-based technologies/assistive technologies/artificial intelligence). Findings can advance the state of innovations in libraries.

What is innovative to public libraries in the United States? A perspective of library administrators for classifying innovations