ABSTRACT
This chapter, on the grounds of the main conclusions of cultural economics literature, highlights key issues related to the drivers of market and non-market demand for libraries’ services, paying attention to the peculiarities of the cultural field in the formation of individual preferences and to consumers’ motivations. The main determinants of cultural participation, in terms of the socio-economic characteristics of users – age, education income, place of residence – are investigated from an empirical perspective and some European and United States data are provided. Attention is also paid to the distributional aspect, looking at the main issues related to access.
