Seminario internazionale di ricerca “What happened in the library? Cosa è successo in biblioteca? Readers and libraries from historical investigations to current issues. Lettori e biblioteche tra indagine storica e problemi attuali

The paper is the report of the International Research Conference about Library history held in The Sapienza University of Rome on September 27th and 28th 2018 “What happened in the library? Cosa è successo in biblioteca? Readers and libraries from historical investigations to current issues. Lettori e biblioteche tra indagine storica e problemi attuali”, coordinated by Ph. D in documentary, linguistic and literary sciences. On the first day, two sessions took place: a morning session titled "Biblioteche, lettori, storia, attualità: orizzonti aperti" and an afternoon session titled "Le biblioteche pubbliche oggi tra irrilevanza, conflittualità e consumerismo". The first session of the second day was about "Domande, risposte e nuove domande della ricerca storica sull’uso delle biblioteche", the last concerning "Luoghi della lettura collettiva e cultura del Novecento: ricerche per una mappa". The aim of the international conference, bringing as witnesses original researches and international comparisons about use and attendance of libraries, was to analyze, with a historical perspective, the importance of libraries, especially public libraries, in cultural and personal growth of users and their social role.