The Public Library and The Citizen: Institutional and Communication Issues
This article discusses communicational and institutional questions raised by the ongoing transformation of the public library and its relationships to users and the broad public. Based on the empirical study of stakeholders’ accounts from the Marc-Favreau library in Montreal, our analysis reveals a complex interweaving of institutional, communication and participatory issues, both conflicting and converging at times. From a theoretical standpoint, this assessment leads us into questioning the very notion of citizen library, as well as concepts such as third-place library, cultural democratization and democracy, and cultural citizenship.