Your third place or mine ? Public libraries and local communities

It is in the interest of any society, and any government, to minimise inequalities, to maximise learning opportunities, and to stimulate both diversity and cohesion within local communities. Inequalities are socially expensive, educational under-achievement is wasteful. Both can be reenforced by closed, tight-knit communities that are culturally insular; or by fractured communities that fail to offer networks of support to those who need it. Social policy therefore needs dependable infrastructures that contribute to these values, and which help to situate these values in a rapidly changing ecology – the network society. One problem here has been a demonstrable preoccupation with new technologies in any discussion about what sort of information and communication infrastructure is desirable, at the risk of overlooking the importance of place.