Historia social de las instituciones bibliotecarias: desde sus orígenes hasta la actualidad

Abstract

This paper analyzes the historical evolution of libraries from a social history perspective, understanding them as institutions closely linked to the political, cultural, and social structures of each era. The introduction argues that libraries are not neutral spaces, but rather reflections of power relations and modes of production and transmission of knowledge, where librarians have historically operated as decisive social agents capable of shaping, restricting, or vitalizing these flows of knowledge. Likewise, it examines the social origins of libraries in Antiquity, when they were associated with political, religious, or intellectual elites and functioned as instruments of cultural legitimation. Regarding the Middle Ages, the text addresses the closed and guarded nature of monastic and cathedral libraries, whose access was restricted and oriented toward the preservation of religious knowledge. The Early Modern Period traces a progressive expansion of reading publics, driven by the printing press, the rise of nation-states, and the strengthening of educational and scientific institutions. Finally, the Contemporary Era is studied as a key period for the democratization of information access, highlighting the role of public libraries in processes of literacy, citizenship, and social development, driven by a library profession with a growing political consciousness. The conclusion emphasizes that the history of libraries is inseparable from the history of society and its struggles for access to knowledge. As an original finding, the research demonstrates that the transformation of library work has not been a mere passive response to the environment, but rather a result of the functioning of the sociopolitical institution through the work of library staff. Indeed, library practice -through censorship, cultural resistance, or social activism- has been both a factor of social stagnation, conservatism, or immobility and a driving force behind social, political, cultural, and ideological changes in the history of organized written culture.