Illich in the library: putting theory into practice

The purpose of this paper is to draw out critical concepts and ideas useful to understanding how the public library can help build resilient communities, particularly in relation to the challenges posed by climate change, from the theories of Ivan Illich. Resilience is identified as a problematic concept in need of critical understanding if it is to be of utility in the struggle against climate change. Critical theory is advanced as the means through which this can be achieved, being put into practice through praxis, the dialectic between theory and action. Specifically, Illich’s ideas of the commons, conviviality and false public utility are advanced as potential starting points for a process of transformational community resilience in relation to the public library.