Strategic Planning for Public Library in Brazil; historias, crisis and perspectives

histórico, crise e perspectivas

Abstract

Traces back the history of public library planning in Brazil. Gives a sociotechnical approach, studying the public library under a macro planning perspective, a long range planning approach for the development of public libraries for a country as a whole. Reports the Brazilian experience on public library planning and concludes that public library planning in Brazil has always been done by the National Institute for the Book (Instituto Nacional do Livro), that its main social function was educational, and that the present moment of crisis demands definitions regarding which social functions the public library must fulfil. Sugests these functions as well as which must be its administrative objectives, and the strategies to be taken to make viable the actions of the public library within the comunity where it acts.