Persistent resilience of rural branch libraries while adapting to structural reforms and community networks in Estonia

This article examines rural branch libraries’ adaptations to formal and informal community networks. Special attention is paid to the micro-level modifications made due to structural reforms, i.e. municipality amalgamation and centralization of libraries. The evolutionary resilience perspective’s focus on ‘persistent resilience’ gives theoretical support for this research. This view brings to the forefront everyday encountering places and related informal networks. The qualitative empirical study is based on the content analysis of annual public library reports (2005–2022) and micro-level reflections of rural branch librarians in three shrinking counties in south-eastern Estonia. The study illustrates the resilience of branch libraries affected by austerity measures in the context of an ageing and declining population, where branch libraries could be closed or merged with other municipal services. Librarians make public library networks resilient by incorporating structurally expected citizen governance and accommodating for missing local services. The main idea of persistent resilience emphasizes not so much the assumption of citizen responsibility for missing services in difficult times, but rather the importance of institutional support for networks of everyday informal encountering places, where resilience is cultivated.