The use of conversation-based programming in public libraries to support integration in increasingly multiethnic societies

This paper theoretically explores how conversation-based programming in public libraries might support meaningful interactions between immigrants and individuals from the dominant ethnic group, and as a result, facilitate integration. The theoretical lens consists of Intergroup Contact Theory and a social-psychological model of integration. Four examples of library-based conversation-based programming are given in order to illustrate and expand upon the theoretical discussion: the Women’s Story Circle at the Reykjavik Public Library in Iceland; Expat Dinners at public libraries in Denmark; the Memory Group at the Torshov branch of the Deichman Library in Norway; and the Språkhörnan programme at Malmö City Library in Sweden. Based on these examples, conversation-based programming shows potential for supporting integration through its ability to support, to varying degrees, equal status contact, common goals, intergroup cooperation and explicit social sanction, as well as the extensive and repeated contact needed for intergroup friendships to be established.