Library and Information Science (LIS) has always been a contested space, long before the current ‘culture wars’ and ‘woke’ agendas. This book captures some of the major debates that have taken place within the profession during the first quarter of the 21st century and suggests how these can be used to inform the future development of public libraries. The topic of this book is important and timely because public libraries are caught up in the battle of ideas that is currently taking place in many parts of the world, most notably Europe, North America and Australasia. This book is needed both to provide historical context to these contemporary debates and to educate and support current LIS practitioners as they negotiate issues such as censorship, racism and decolonisation.

Reimagining the Public Library uses a 25-year time frame (2000 to 2025) to take a historical look at the development of public libraries. Its main reference points are Framework for the Future: Libraries, Learning and Information in the Next Decade (DCMS, 2003) and An Independent Review of English Public Libraries (DCMS, 2024). Here the essential question is: what has changed in terms of government policy and action about public libraries between the publication of these two reports? Other reference points over the same period are Open to All? The Public Library and Social Exclusion (Muddiman et al., 2000) and Come Rain or Shine: Preparing Public Libraries for the Future in an Age of Uncertainty (CILIP, 2024). The critical question is: how much of the learning that was captured in Open to All?