Immaginiamo la biblioteca che verrà

This paper describes the research design and the main results of the project “Imagine the library to come”, commissioned by the Fondazione per Leggere (FPL) to the Laboratorio di biblioteconomia sociale e ricerca applicata alle biblioteche (BIBLAB) of University of Rome Sapienza. The project had three objectives: 1) to investigate people’s habits with respect to library attendance; 2) to investigate cultural consumption; 3) to investigate the expectations and desires towards libraries of the citizens of the 57 cities adhering to FPL. The general aim of the survey was to understand the motivations for attending or not attending libraries, to investigate the role played by the library in people’s lives in terms of well-being and improvement of the quality of life. The survey produced useful and significant data for designing the library of the future and at the same time for designing the future of FPL libraries within the well-being system.