THE PUBLIC LIBRARY: a democratic institution at the service of citizens
Abstract
Since their appearance in the 19th century, modern public libraries have built themselves into openly democratic institutions at the service of all citizens. Their fundamental characteristic has been the free access to information without restrictions of age, belief, ideology, race, amongst others and the provision of services which are predominantly free. Public libraries are the best expression of democratic societies and generate forms of social inclusion and full social insertion. A citizen who possesses information can acquire a critical and creative vision of his environment and a greater possibility of participating in society. In this article we extract from UNESCO manifestos some international instruments in whose principles and goals the public libraries seek support. We also sketch a rapid overview of the information society and its inter-relation with public libraries. We present some programmes proposed by the European Union, Spain and Latin America. Finally after the fatal 11th September, we point to the dangers of censorship and the violation of the intimacy of public libraries and reassert the importance of intellectual liberty.Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Published
2002-06-30
How to Cite
Cuzcano, A. E. (2002). THE PUBLIC LIBRARY: a democratic institution at the service of citizens. Informação &Amp; Sociedade, 12(2). Retrieved from https://periodicos.ufpb.br/index.php/ies/article/view/141
Issue
Section
Artigos de Revisão
License
Os originais aceitos e publicados tornam-se propriedade de INFORMAÇÃO & SOCIEDADE, sendo vedada sua reprodução total ou parcial, sem a devida autorização da Comissão Editorial, exceto para uso de estudo e pesquisa.