Access to knowledge between book and library

Abstract

The paper reproduces Giovanni Solimine’s last academic lecture, held in streaming on May 28, 2021. The lecture develops around main themes on which the author focused in his long academic career: the library, the function of books and reading, the skills in the knowledge society, the way in which culture develops and circulates on the web. Solimine has dedicated many publications to these issues, including his last four books published by Laterza between 2004 and 2020 (La biblioteca: scenari, culture, pratiche di servizio; L’Italia che legge; Senza sapere: il costo dell’ignoranza in Italia; La cultura orizzontale). In his lecture, the author takes up and updates the main reflections contained in his volumes which, according to him, seem to belong to a unique design that has taken shape over time, just like a journey where each new stage finds its origin in the conclusions of the previous stage.