Community of practice: systematic review in favor of public libraries

Abstract

In the current contecxt, marked by a health crisis, production and increasingly rapid dissemination of information and knoledge, it becomes more urgent for public libraries to adapt to the new challenges imposed on the social fabric. In the sense, the scarcity of financial and material resources, the lack public policies, among other factors, are accelerating the scrapping of these institutions that direct their actions towards education, culture, leisure, memory. This article aims to discuss the importance of the community of practices (COP’s) methodology. And, for that, it presents a conceptual path and applications animed at providing resources inherent to decision making in the making of public libraries, the network of Popular Libraries of Niterói, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In this way, the methodological path was defined from the sustematic review of the COP’s subsidizing the theoretical and practical understanding of library activities in these institutions and directing the construction of good practices, which helps in the recognition and social resonance of these libraries. It concludes the urgency of indertakings that adopt the dialogical process, the Exchange of experiences, the resonance with society and the engagement of sectors such as universities and the State, becoming essential factors for the maintenance, performance and development of public libraies.