Mikas blogg

06 May
2007

Libraries and the public sphere

`` [...] libraries in their collective existence in democracies embody and enact much of Habermas’s classical definition of the public sphere. For instance:

• Libraries house and further rational discourse through the organization of collections coupled with the principle of unfettered information access.

• The field enacts the principle of critique and rational argumentation through the commitment to balanced collections, preserving them over time, and furthering inclusion through active attempts to make collections and resources reflect historical and current intellectual diversity.

• By their very existence libraries potentially verify (or refute) claims to authority in making current and retrospective organized resources available to check the bases of a thesis, law, book, article, policy etc. continuing the process of debate which lies at the heart of the public sphere and democracy.

• By policy and practice, my field has sought to reach out to those not served - or sometimes not wishing to be served! - to make access to information and education more widely and universally available. ´´

“On Libraries and the Public Sphere,” John Buschman. Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 2005)

THE LIBRARY AND THE SOCIAL FORUM

 The social forum goes to the library
 The forum and the library go together
 The happy marriage between the library and the forum

 Libraries and the public sphere
 The readers, the writers and the social forum 
 The social library and the public forum 

 Open Spaces: Libraries, Internet and Social Fora
 The Cosmopolitan Library 
 The Library - A World Social Forum?