Bilotta, Anna. 2022. Principi, approcci e applicazioni della biblioteconomia comparata. Florence: Firenze University Press.

Cover of new book by Anna Bilotta

It’s difficult to keep up with all the topics I would like to blog about. Often interesting opportunities pass by uncommented. But better late than never, I want to draw attention to the recent publication of a book by Anna Bilotta (Bilotta 2022). Bilotta, who holds a PhD in documentation science from Sapienza University of Rome, teaches library management at the University of Salerno. A scholar with a solid record of publications in library and information science, she has written an admirably concise and readable text on comparative librarianship. I’m envious; maybe this is the accessible and less intimidating book I should have written had I not gotten bogged down in the massive doorstop I ended up producing (Lor 2019).

This is not the first Italian work on comparative librarianship. I have long been aware of the work of Giuseppe Vitiello. Among his other contributions I note particularly his book Le biblioteche europee nella prospettiva comparata (European libraries in comparative perspective) (Vitiello 1996), which contained an introductory chapter, Che cos’è la biblioteconomia comparata? (What is comparative librarianship?), based on an earlier Introduzione alla biblioteconomia comparata (Introduction to comparative librarianship), in a Festschrift for Diego Maltese (Vitiello 1994).

Bilotta too has made earlier contributions to comparative librarianship. Four of these are listed in her bibliography (Bilotta 2018; 2020; 2021b; 2021a).

The text itself (104 pages), is followed by a bibliography (12 pages; approximately 220 entries) and a name index (of persons cited). A thoughtful preface by Giovanni Solimine and an introduction by the author are followed by three numbered chapters.

Chapter 1 deals with the origins, forms and applications of the comparative method in the social sciences, with an emphasis on the example set in comparative education.

Chapter 2 discusses comparative librarianship as such, described as an under-explored field of study in Italy.  Here the relationship between library science and the social sciences is touched on from an Italian perspective. It is followed by a quite lengthy discussion of the early stirrings of international and comparative librarianship and the various attempts by mainly Anglo-American authorities to disentangle and define them. Many of the sources cited here are familiar from my own work. For me, this is a case of “been there, done that”. I’ve had my fill of disentangling and defining! The chapter continues with the question of “why compare”, and with methodological problems. They are of interest to me because of the Italian perspectives Bilotta presents here, among others her observation on “the oscillation between the universal dimensions and local rootedness of libraries”(oscillazione tra dimensione universale e radicamento locale della biblioteca, p.40).

Chapter 3 offers a critical analysis of studies and research in comparative librarianship, focussed almost entirely (and usefully) on Italian work in the field. Of particular interest in Chapter 3 is Section 5, on comparisons of models and good practice. Here Bilotta refers to her own important book-length comparison (Bilotta 2021a) of  the principal organisational and functional European public library models (the German dreigeteilte and fraktale Bibliothek, London’s  “Idea Store” at Tower Hamlets, the French médiathèque, and the Scandinavian “Four-spaces model), as well as to a comparison of ten Italian public libraries. These two comparisons illustrate the difference between the “variable-based” and “case-based” comparative strategies distinguished by Ragin (1987). I note in passing that Bilotta’s study of public library models follows in the footsteps of  Giuseppe Vitiello in respect of Europe (Vitiello 1996) and Anne-Marie Bertrand (Bertrand 2008b; 2008a; 2010) in respect of France.

The three chapters are followed by an unnumbered section (pp.89-96) entitled Una possibile traccia di lavoro (“a possible scheme of work”) in which the author sets out the desirable characteristics of a study in comparative librarianship and proposes a flexible and adaptable outline which she hopes will be useful to those undertaking such studies. The outline encompasses eight components:

• The research question: here possible objects of comparison are listed, along with advice on the choice of units of analysis and the time dimension, where four categories are identified: synchronic, diachronic, asynchronic and achronic (p.90)
• The purpose of the study, identifying a range of possible reasons
• Sources (primary and secondary)
• The methodological approach, listing an interesting array of possible research paradigms and designs
• Style of comparison, as determined by the nature of the research object and the researcher’s approach to the collection and analysis of data
• Steps (fasi, “phases”): here we find the conventional comparative steps as set out by early  educational comparativists such as Bereday (1964) and followed by the pioneers of comparative librarianship (e.g. Simsova and MacKee 1970; Krzys and Litton 1983): description, interpretation, juxtaposition and true comparison. The author wisely counsels that these steps should not be applied rigidly
• Reporting of results
• A worked example based on Bilotta’s own research on European public library models (Bilotta 2021a), referred to above. This is a much more nuanced, credible and insightful example than the earlier ones offered by pioneers such as Simsova and MacKee (1970) or Krzys and Litton (1983). Since far too few of us read Italian, both her comparative study and the above methodological discussion deserve wider distribution in English, possibly as an extended essay in one of the more scholarly English-language LIS journals such as Libri?

A substantial conclusion in the final, unnumbered, section (pp.97-104) poses the question, why comparative librarianship? Bilotta discusses this in relation to her own experience and to recent and contemporary debates in Italy about various approaches to the nature and scope of librarianship. She concludes that the adjective ‘comparative’ in ‘comparative librarianship’ does not describe a subset of the content of the librarianship, but a method of investigation which can be applied to a wide range of themes and phenomena in librarianship. They can  help us to understand our own context better, to approach a context other than our own with the right tools, and to make comparisons in search of similarities, differences, specificities, good practices, and solutions to problems (p.99).  Reflecting on the lessons learned during the Covid pandemic, the challenges posed by disinformation, and the potential contributions of libraries to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, she identifies three broad areas of challenges and opportunities: information behaviour; the creation and sharing of knowledge; and sustainability. These are themes which should be considered across different geographical, social and cultural contexts and for which comparative librarianship offers appropriate tools.

Perusing Bilotta’s bibliography I recognised many authors and titles I cited myself, but also many new to me, including some more recent literature and literature in Italian, a considerable amount of theoretical and comparative literature from other disciplines, as well as examples of comparative studies that I should look at. The bibliography is an essential resource for those embarking on studies in comparative librarianship, even if the unfortunate language barrier puts the excellent text itself out of their reach.

References

Bereday, George Z F. 1964. Comparative Method in Education. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Bertrand, Anne-Marie. 2008a. ‘Le modèle de bibliothèque: un concept pertinent? [The library model: a relevant concept?]’. In Quel modèle de bibliothèque?, edited by Anne-Marie Bertrand, 9–24. Collection Papiers. Lyon: ENSSIB.

———, ed. 2008b. Quel modèle de bibliothèque? [Which library model?]. Collection Papiers. Lyon: ENSSIB.

———. 2010. Bibliothèque publique et public library: essai de généalogie comparée. Collection Papiers. Lyon: Enssib.

Bilotta, Anna. 2018. ‘Passato e presente della biblioteconomia comparata: scopi, approcci, ricerche [Past and present of comparative librarianship: aims, approaches, research]’. Biblioteche oggi Trends 4 (1): 48–63. https://doi.org/10.3302/2421-3810-201801-048-1.

———. 2020. ‘La biblioteconomia comparata e l’apporto di Peter Johan Lor: una strategia di ricerca per l’analisi di influenze, divergenze e consonanze [“Comparative librarianship and Peter Johan Lor’s contribution: a research strategy to analyze influences, divergences and consonances]’. AIB studi 59 (3): 465–76. https://aibstudi.aib.it/article/view/11973

———. 2021a. La biblioteca pubblica contemporanea e il suo futuro: Modelli e buone pratiche tra comparazione e valutazione. Milan: Editrice Bibliografica. https://www.editricebibliografica.it/scheda-libro/anna-bilotta/la-biblioteca-pubblica-contemporanea-e-il-suo-futuro-9788893573818-579560.html.

———. 2021b. ‘Per una biblioteconomia mediterranea: note a margine del “I Seminario hispano-italiano en biblioteconomía y documentación” [For a Mediterranean librarianship: marginal notes from the “1st Hispanic-Italian Seminar on Librarianship and Documentation”] ’. AIB studi 60 (3): 671–88. https://doi.org/10.2426/aibstudi-12762.

———. 2022. Principi, approcci e applicazioni della biblioteconomia comparata. (Biblioteche & bibliotecari/Libraries & librarians 8). Firenze: Firenze University Press. https://doi.org/10.36253/978-88-5518-607-0.

Krzys, Richard, and Gaston Litton. 1983. World Librarianship: A Comparative Study. Books in Library and Information Science 42. New York: Marcel Dekker.

Lor, Peter Johan. 2019. International and Comparative Librarianship: Concepts and Methods for Global Studies. (Global Studies in Libraries and Information 4). Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter/Saur.

Ragin, Charles C. 1987. The Comparative Method: Moving beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.

Simsova, Sylva, and Monique MacKee. 1970. A Handbook of Comparative Librarianship. London: Bingley.

Vitiello, Giuseppe. 1994. ‘Introduzione alla biblioteconomia comparata’. In Il linguaggio della biblioteca: scritti in onore di Diego Maltese, edited by Mauro Guerrini, 855–86. (Toscana beni librari, 4, Biblioteche e archivi) Florence: Regione Toscana Giunta Regionale.

———. 1996. Le biblioteche europee nella prospettiva comparata [European libraries in a comparative perspective]. (Strumenti bibliografici 10). Ravenna: Longo Editore.