The reading promotion network in the Pays Morcenais region (Aquitaine): better, not bigger

The reading promotion network run jointly by a number of municipalities in and around Morcenx in south-western France is a grouping of rural libraries. The libraries cover a large, sparsely inhabited area: the librarians have chosen to see this not as a handicap but rather as an opportunity to constantly adapt services to local needs. The network’s flexibility, suited to a system geared towards local needs, as such small structures must be, is a potent political choice, making reading promotion a tool for social and cultural outreach which goes beyond the basic remit of promoting books and reading to explore the specific role of libraries in the cultural policies of small, rural local authorities.
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