Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In this article I investigate the way free market ideology permeated the public space of the library. Employing concepts borrowed from critical theory (such as the central concept of commodification) and from the field of critical information literacy, I attempt to outline the manner in which the free market has impacted the public library, from the privatization of management and outsourcing, to more subtle forms of commodification such as the push for information, entertainment and consumerism, to the detriment of knowledge, education and citizenship. I conclude the article by summarizing some propositions from professionals in the field which are meant to decelerate the advance of the free market on the domain of the public library and to reclaim it for the community.
Author: Bogdan Vătavu
Institution: Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4409507825