The public library in the brazilian scientific production of the 70’s and the 80’s: an analysis between text and context

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the scientific production around public libraries on the Information Sciences and Communication studies. The main theme of research is to identify how Public Library has been represented in the discourses that comes from this production. It determines the 1970’s and the 1980’s as the corpus of the analysis, considering the weight of these years to the studies on the theme in Brazil. Conducts bibliographic survey in an important brazilian database in library and information science- BRAPCI -  aiming to map the scientific production. Identifies 68 documents published during the period and after applying the research`s criteria, it defines a corpus of analysis a total of 12 scientific articles.  For the purposes of the analysis, it employs content analysis. It concludes that social and historical constructions about public libraries during these period, deeply guided by the desires of the higher socioeconomic classes, reverberate in the appropriations and understanding of the Public Library through Brazilian society.