The Response of Public Libraries to the Informational Challenges Posed by the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper examines the response of public libraries to the informational challenges posed by the COVID 19 pandemic through the analysis of the functions performed by public libraries. The analysis of the scientific literature reveals that among the functions performed by public libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic such as providers of information resources and cultural services, information disseminators, educators and trainers, partners, information community builders, community supporters and internal planners such functions as information disseminators (sharing relevant information), information community builders (collaboration between libraries), community supporters (supporting members of the communities in which libraries operate) and educators and trainers (developing competences needed in crisis situations) are of particular importance to the response to the informational challenges during COVID-19 pandemic.