Conference Program

At a time of democratic backsliding, widening inequalities, and growing barriers to knowledge access, public institutions face the challenge of creating environments where participation and shared responsibility are experienced rather than proclaimed. This communication asks: how can public libraries function as commons-based infrastructures that embed democracy in everyday learning practices?

The analysis draws on findings from the European Union Erasmus + funded project LibCommon (Universities and Libraries as Commons-Based Innovative Environments for Learning, Civic Engagement and Democracy). Methodologically, the communication presents a qualitative case study from the Catalan context, combining semi-structured interviews with cultural policy experts and field visits to two contrasting library models: the Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez in Barcelona and the Bibliobuses of the Xarxa de Biblioteques Municipals de Barcelona.

The comparative approach enables an examination of how commons-based principles are operationalised across fixed and mobile infrastructures. The Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez exemplifies institutional openness through participatory and inclusive design. Initiatives such as Ràdio Maconda, a professional community radio studio enabling collective cultural production, demonstrate how libraries can redistribute cultural authority, lower symbolic barriers, and foster co-creation. Through project-based methodologies supported by professional equipment and staff facilitation, users create podcasts and radio programmes on cultural, social and literary topics. The studio collaborates with schools and local groups, hosting interviews, book-club productions and youth-led projects. This initiative expands literacy beyond traditional format, strengthens media literacy and fosters civic engagement, transforming the library into a platform for collective expression.Radio Maconda also increases participation among diverse groups and reinforce the library’s role as an inclusive, socially responsive cultural hub.

The Bibliobús model, by contrast, embodies territorial inclusivity by extending professional library services to small and rural municipalities lacking permanent infrastructure. Bibliobus are mobile library services operating in the province of Barcelona since 1995. They travel along pre-established routes to serve 152 small and rural municipalities, typically with populations with less than 3,000 inhabitants. Many of these towns lack the resources to maintain a permanent library. As a travelling cultural hub, it reduces geographic and economic inequalities while sustaining local participation through coordinated activities with schools and community actors.

Taken together, the cases reveal two interconnected dimensions of democratic culture: ensuring that institutions are open to diverse publics and actively reaching those otherwise excluded. That is, that public libraries understood as common goods can become “Palaces for the people” (Klinenberg, 2019). However, the findings also highlight a deeper governance question: democracy in libraries is not secured solely through universal access, but through participation in defining norms, priorities, and collective meanings. The public value of commons libraries therefore lies in their capacity to respond to collective needs, reduce social and cultural inequalities, and sustain shared civic spaces where differences are negotiated rather than segregated. That is, rather than simply providing access or support, libraries are called upon to cultivate commons-based infrastructures based on values of shared governance, co-creation, mutual care, and democratic participation. By conceptualising libraries as commons-based civic infrastructures, this research contributes to debates on public institutions, inequality, and everyday democracy