An insider's history of libraries

Abstract

The reviewed book – Alberto Petrucciani's Libri e libertà: biblioteche e bibliotecari nell'Italia contemporanea (Books and freedom: libraries and librarians in contemporary Italy) – includes a number of already published essays along with a few new ones. The first part is about The history of libraries: why? how? while the second part – Moments and problems – gets into the core of the library profession since the foundation, in 1930, of the Associazione dei bibliotecari italiani (Italian librarians' association). Eventually, the third part examines the figures of some historical Italian librarians.
Petrucciani believes in a sort of continuity and coherence of the library profession since its birth (that he sets in the age of the Risorgimento) up to this time. Nevertheless – in the reviewer's opinion – this is a rather utopian ideal, although a charitably one now that our national consciousness seems so dismayed. Italian history (even Italian libraries' history) is not only made of discouraging political events, but of unequaled cultural prosperity as well. Still, it is also true that a a distinctive Italian feature is a serious lack of access to culture, interpreted as the ability of understanding reality. That's the reason why the following words don't sound bombastic at all, and perhaps can help us to understand the deep meaning of the title: «This book is dedicated to everyone – old and young – has fought and will fight the everlasting ball and chain of our country: illiteracy and ignorance».