Library Tourism

Libraries are a precious source of education and information, cultural hubs for local communities, and a point of interest for many cultural and literary tourists. In the scope of tourism, they might be an attraction included in a tour, a stopping point in an itinerary, or a heritage landmark where tourists may access unique collections and books, either because they are rare or first editions, and they may be a venue for cultural and tourism events. Libraries display exhibitions, create storytelling, podcasts, offline and online content, and offer guided tours led by librarians. Hence, the concept of library tourism is broad.

Libraries may be hosted in historic buildings, contemporary buildings, and universities, and they may be specialised in art, music, design and many other fields of knowledge: each can be visited as a tourist attraction to learn about its history, architecture and, of course, books and collections. Therefore, libraries can be suitable for creating new cultural and tourist attractions to develop and enrich the local communities of a place (Adhikary & Adhikary, 2021). 

Many destinations can rely on – and promote – different kinds of library tourism since they may focus on several key elements, according to the type and purpose of the library and the visitors’ interests: collections and books, architecture and interior design and decoration, the history of the library itself or its patrons – among which writers, artists and intellectuals may be counted – and on the role the library plays in the local community. For instance, the New York Public Library can be visited individually but also on a free guided tour (that requires previous online reservation) provided by librarians, which lasts around one hour and provides access to the Rose Main Reading Room. Other examples of libraries that are cultural and artistic landmarks are the Library of the Palace and Convent of Mafra and the Joanine Library at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, the Library of Trinity College in Dublin, and the Clementinum Baroque Library in Prague. Libraries are places of knowledge and community hubs. At Oodi, the Finland New Central Library was inaugurated in 2018 in Helsinki and was built with local spruce, steel and glass; only one-third of the 185,000-square-foot space is intended for books; the rest is community space designed for meetings, workshops and other activities. 

The newest trends in tourism show a growing interest in local experience. Travellers are searching for the real spirit of the place, and since a number of libraries are increasing their involvement with the community – through events, education programs, exhibitions, walking tours, and so on – visiting them can enhance this immersive experience. Moreover, libraries can serve as information centres about heritage, culture and traditions. Libraries can be integrated into literary trails or can stand as the main attractions for visitors in special cultural programs aiming to uncover cultural hidden treasures. Two exciting programs can be found in Italy. The first is the Biblioteche d’Italia (Libraries of Italy). It is an online campaign to promote the 46 public libraries in Italy on social media and the web (Italian Ministry of Culture, 2021). The other was developed in the Piedmont Region. They launched a library tourism program called Bibliotour, which aims to promote and enhance library assets, cultural institutions, UNESCO heritage in Turin and other regional destinations. Bibliotour Piemonte offers a number of scheduled free tours in libraries such as Biblioteca dell’Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti Torino, Biblioteca Norberto Bobbio, Biblioteca nazionale universitaria Torino (Traficante, 2019). 

Library tourism or “bibliotourism”? Both terms are relatively young and yet scarcely studied. The term “bibliotourism” to describe a journey to libraries first appeared in the 2nd half of the 2010’s decade. For instance, Brenda Cronin (2016, July 19) used it in her article “Bibliotourism: Memorable rare-book troves” in the Wall Street Journal. A year later, The Huffington Post published an article by Fleur Morrison (2017, June 24), in which the author describes some of Europe’s most relevant libraries and uses both terms, “bibliotourism” and library tourism. Less evidence of the terms can be found in the academic literature (Roque & Guerreiro, 2021). 

Library tourism can also produce new content aimed at sharing stories and features of libraries around the world that are worth visiting. Library Planet is a website founded by two Danish librarians – Christian Lauersen and Marie Eiriksson – which is meant to be a crowdsourced, online library travel guide and aims to inspire travellers to discover and share posts and images from their library experiences and attractions around the world (Lauersen & Eiriksson, n.d). 

In short, library tourism defines a sub-niche of literary tourism, aiming to let travellers discover libraries as artistic, architectural, historical or cultural heritage attractions. At the same time, libraries can be a reference point for visitors as a community hub to get the spirit of the destination. 

How to cite this dictionary entry: Traficante, M. (2023). Library Tourism. In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi & J. Arcos-Pumarola (Orgs.). E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia.