ABSTRACT
Many accounts of the contemporary public library and its problems begin with the notion of the 'information revolution'. Electronic media, networked communications and computerised information processing together constitute a revolutionary 'knowledge environment'. Such technological determinism undoubtedly has its elements of truth, but in the end, the authors would argue, offers only a relatively superficial diagnosis of the problems of the contemporary public library. In particular, attempts to 'deinstitutionalise' the public library in order that it might respond to the new realities of cultural difference only ever in reality took root in a small minority of public library authorities. Community librarianship, as a result, arguably always remained on the margins rather than at the centre of public library work, at the mercy of short term commitment and short term money. The public library, if it is to survive in postmodern Britain, will need to increasingly reinvent itself as a part of such public partnerships and networks.
