Additional notes on the idea of public libraries

Abstract

The article dwells on three main topics: access to knowledge, social well-being and the role of libraries in a “smart” society. With regard to the very first one, the author examines the educational attainment – and inadequate information literacy – in the adult population of Italy. The notion of common good, together with those of public good, private good, social good and merit good contribute to determine the concept of social well-being, and to introduce the idea of the library as a public service focused on access to knowledge – a public service that has to be included in the social welfare policy. With regard to the so called smart cities, in recent surveys among OECD member countries, Italy ranks lowest for reading and mathematics proficiency.
For all these reasons public libraries must analyze their user's need in order to reposition themselves and their role in the society.