Is the Library a Political Institution?: French Libraries Today and the Social Conflict between Démocratie and République

Merklen, Denis Is the Library a Political Institution?: French Libraries Today and the Social Conflict between Démocratie and République. Library Trends, 2016, vol. 65, n. 2, pp. 143-153. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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Alternative locations: http://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2016.0027

English abstract

Public libraries in the outlying suburbs of French cities, which are called banlieues, face many conflicts, occasionally violent. These conflicts take place within the context of important social, cultural, and political transformations that have accelerated during the last fifteen years. Librarians, faced with several competing conceptions of the political role of libraries, seem to waver among démocratie (democracy), République (French Republic), and aspects of libraries that feature in social conflicts in which the classes populaires (roughly translated as “working classes”) are protagonists. The author of this paper shifts from French (his usual language) to English to highlight the place of libraries in the political sphere of contemporary French society.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: public libraries, france, politics
Subjects: A. Theoretical and general aspects of libraries and information. > AZ. None of these, but in this section.
Depositing user: Stacy Konkiel
Date deposited: 14 Feb 2017 07:54
Last modified: 14 Feb 2017 07:54
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/30858

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