Table 2 Summary of the two main... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Summary of the two main discourses related to the librarians' work, their collections and cultural capital

	Optimism	Hesitation
Work	“ACM removes redundant tasks from librarians, saving time for professionally rewarding tasks”	“ACM has deprived librarians of their most pleasant tasks, particularly book selection”
Work	“By taking power away from individual librarians, ACM makes selection work more democratic”	“ACM has taken ownership from librarians regarding their collections”
Collections	“ACM makes collections circulate more rapidly and efficiently and takes the best out of them”	“ACM disfavours slowly circulating materials, such as classics or small-scale or niche materials”
	“ACM is more neutral and reliable than humans in knowing what patrons want”	“ACM reinforces the tastes of the masses; collections compiled by professionals are of higher quality”
	“ACM is hyperfunctional and removes the need for large collections”	“ACM might remove the need to become exposed to different kinds of materials in the library”
Definitions and justifications of cultural capital	ACM can make libraries true “comfort zones” for the patrons and adapt perfectly to their tastes and existing cultural capital	By echoing patrons' existing tastes, ACM pushes public libraries further from offering versatile materials useful for developing cultural capital
	ACM embraces efficiency ideals and can help defend public libraries in an era of cuts in the public sector	There is a risk that ACM will end up narrowing collections towards more commercial and popular materials
	Public libraries should build cultural capital by offering patrons materials that assuredly fit their existing tastes	Public libraries should build cultural capital by exposing patrons to a broad and rich variety of cultural objects

	Optimism	Hesitation
Work	“ACM removes redundant tasks from librarians, saving time for professionally rewarding tasks”	“ACM has deprived librarians of their most pleasant tasks, particularly book selection”
Work	“By taking power away from individual librarians, ACM makes selection work more democratic”	“ACM has taken ownership from librarians regarding their collections”
Collections	“ACM makes collections circulate more rapidly and efficiently and takes the best out of them”	“ACM disfavours slowly circulating materials, such as classics or small-scale or niche materials”
	“ACM is more neutral and reliable than humans in knowing what patrons want”	“ACM reinforces the tastes of the masses; collections compiled by professionals are of higher quality”
	“ACM is hyperfunctional and removes the need for large collections”	“ACM might remove the need to become exposed to different kinds of materials in the library”
Definitions and justifications of cultural capital	ACM can make libraries true “comfort zones” for the patrons and adapt perfectly to their tastes and existing cultural capital	By echoing patrons' existing tastes, ACM pushes public libraries further from offering versatile materials useful for developing cultural capital
	ACM embraces efficiency ideals and can help defend public libraries in an era of cuts in the public sector	There is a risk that ACM will end up narrowing collections towards more commercial and popular materials
	Public libraries should build cultural capital by offering patrons materials that assuredly fit their existing tastes	Public libraries should build cultural capital by exposing patrons to a broad and rich variety of cultural objects