The Impact of the Library in Reducing Social Inequalities: Findings and Ways Forward

Abstract

With the aim of projecting theoretical and practical developments that contribute to the advancement of the librarianship discipline in Latin America, the article presents the main findings and proposals of the doctoral thesis The incidence of the library in the reduction of social inequalities: the case of the System of Public Libraries of the city of Medellín from Agreement 079 of 2010, which had the purpose of investigating, under an intercultural approach, the impact of the library on social inequalities, through reading, writing practices and orality that is implemented in it. For the development of the research, a documentary analytical analysis was carried out, which was contrasted with the case study method. Initially there is a brief introduction to the doctoral thesis, giving way to the presentation of the main findings of the same, in three ways: social functions of the library, citizenship and library and affirmative actions in libraries. To close with a program of action / research of libraries from Abya-Yala: societies and cultures of the South, composed of six thematic lines that propose a possible route, that beyond concluding, allows to glimpse actions, ways and strategies to contribute to the decrease in social inequalities in Latin America.