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.