Abstract

In February 2021, the first National Action Plan for the Promotion of Reading was adopted in Italy. This policy document identifies the strategies and actions to support books and reading for the period 2021-2023, the resources available and the ways in which the State, Regions, Municipalities and the other public and private bodies involved will work together. The text analyses the approach of the Action Plan and discusses its merits and limitations, comparing it with the strategies adopted in France and Spain, where public libraries represent the main pillar of public interventions for the promotion of reading, which enjoy much more articulated, richer and continuous funding plans than in Italy and benefit from the public support of the highest offices of the State.