公共图书馆的社会任务:包容还是排斥?

在美国和英国，公共图书馆本着为居民提供资料以及情报接触这一理念，有效地为贫困者或者弱势群体融入社会行使着其效能。反观日本，公共图书馆的设置情况，反而扩大了情报落差，造成了情报的贫富分化。图书馆的情报化当然应该积极地加以推动，然而作为前提条件，图书馆设立（不论农村还是大城市）却十分重要。

The Public Library: An Agency for Social Inclusion or Exclusion

In the United States and Britain, public libraries play an important role in closing the distance between the privileged and the underprivileged by providing access for information and knowledge. However, public libraries in Japan play a contradictory role by widening gaps between the information-rich and the information-poor. Despite the constant calling for infonnationization of public libraries, a good placement of these libraries is a prerequisite.