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The Local Library: Literacy and Capital

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Portraits of Everyday Literacy for Social Justice

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the library as a community hub upon which many residents depend, yet which has had to respond to wider funding cuts. The role of digital texts in contemporary everyday lives underlines the importance of socially just, publically funded support for access to text-based resources. Focusing on the place of text in how well people are not only able to get by, but also get on, this chapter explores the framing of literacy as capital. This illustrates the privileging of a narrow model of literacy and its role in everyday lives, and the resulting cost to social justice. The chapter also acknowledges the potential of the library as a public space where the complex experiences of everyday life may be collaboratively navigated.

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Jones, S. (2018). The Local Library: Literacy and Capital. In: Portraits of Everyday Literacy for Social Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75945-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75945-6_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75944-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75945-6

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