Reading choice in the public library: physiognomy, spaces and contexts of the Reading(&)Machine project

Abstract

The central theme of the article is the ‘choice of reading’ in the public library and aims to outline the characteristics and the contexts of the Reading(&)Machine project, promoted and developed by the SmartData @PoliTO and VR@PoliTO centers of the Polytechnic of Turin and the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Turin. Reading(&)Machine consists of: a) a recommendation system based on Artificial Intelligence tools; b) an immersive interface, augmented and enhanced, to access system suggestions; c) a hybrid, physical and digital environment, with which Reading(&)Machine becomes part of the library’s information ecosystem.
The ‘choice of reading’, mapped within the typologies of reading realized in the semiotic space of the library, is treated in the framework of the relationships between public libraries, librarianship, reading practices, analyzed using the conceptual lexicon of Paul Ricoeur, and the terms and concepts of ‘prefiguration’, ‘configuration’, ‘refiguration’.
The reference literature is mainly that produced in LIS studies, national and international, starting from the sixties of the twentieth century, and includes the description of some of the most relevant characteristics of the recommendation systems, in which the ‘choice of reading’ is suggested not by humans but by machines. In conclusion, some of the main implications aroused are briefly recalled.