Palfrey and library advocacy

Abstract

The article offers a critical analysis of John Palfrey’s Bibliotech: why libraries matter more than ever in the age of Google (New York: Basic Books, 2015), recently translated by Elena Corradini and published in Italy by Editrice Bibliografica. The first part illustrates Palfrey’s book aims, addressees and content organization. The second part critically discusses the paramount theme of the relationship between public and private sphere when it comes to access, organisation and preservation of knowledge. The book sheds light in unconventional ways on each key player’s responsibility, and effectively pleads for the need to safeguard a ‘public option’ in the information and knowledge field.