Libraries: The Information Commons of Civil Society

Abstract

"In this essay, I discuss the importance of social capital as a catalyst \nto rekindle civil society as well as the key role of the library as an \ninformation commons for engaging citizens and encouraging participation in \ncommunity life. For more than two centuries, libraries have served \ncommunities in the United States and abroad as information commons. In \nthat role, they have helped promote an informed citizenry, offering safe \nspaces for deliberation and exchange of a wide spectrum of ideas. For a \ndemocracy of the digital age to flourish, citizens need free and open \naccess to ideas more than ever. The salient tension of our times stems \nfrom those barriers that deny citizens their full information rights. In \nthe conclusion of this essay, I suggest an action agenda aimed at ensuring \nthat everyone has the opportunity to participate in a digital age \ndemocracy."

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 19 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.