The Public Library : An Agency for Social Inclusion or Exclusion(Lifelong and Continuing Education in Libraries)

Abstract

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 informationization of public libraries, a good placement of these libraries is a prerequisite.