ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that public libraries, currently being reconfigured as entrepreneurial incubators and social hubs, are contradictory sites of urban care that mediate and mobilize the technocratic logic of the smart city. The chapter conceptualizes a feminist ethic of care and the politics of repair and maintenance to highlight how libraries are digital agents in the competitive city model. Informed by a qualitative case study, we unpack the role of the Toronto Public Library in smart city discussions and initiatives as ‘enablers’ and ‘leaders’ in the digital economy, and shed light on how librarians navigate tensions between their digital and social repair mandates. This chapter raises new questions about libraries as critical spaces of social infrastructure under neoliberal conditions.
