Comparative librarianship and Peter Johan Lor’s contribution: a research strategy to analyze influences, divergences and consonances

Abstract

The paper presents Peter Johan Lor’s book, International and comparative librarianship: concepts and methods for global studies (Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter Saur, 2019). As a result of a long research, the book shows the origins and the evolution of international and comparative librarianship as fields of study and research; it explains professional literature development on the subject; it deals with methodological aspects in terms of approaches, techniques and tools of comparison intended as a research strategy to analyze influences, divergences and consonances between different library contexts. Lor’s book is an opportunity for theoretical study but also a working tool, thanks also to the numerous examples that concern different geographic areas of the world and types of library as well as a variety of themes, functions and services. For its systematic approach, completeness and accuracy it is the most updated reference point for comparative studies, especially for library contexts, such as the Italian one, that are still too poor in reflections and real applications.