Abstract
Assesses the role of public libraries with particular reference to the services they provide to socially excluded groups in society and drawing on the works of John Stuart Mill and Jurgen Habermas. Discusses the way in which Mill’s reworking of utilitarianism and the emergence of Habermas’ concept of the ‘public sphere’ influenced the formation and development of the public library and the definition of its role in terms of social inclusion and exclusion. One of the major strengths within the public sphere of the recreational role of the public library is seen to be its impartiality, something upon which Habermas laid great emphasis. Concludes that the major problem facing public libraries in the future is the very real danger that the redefinition of the educational and informational roles of the public library into a ‘faked version’ of the public sphere will lead to a diminution of service provision in its recreational and cultural roles.
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