The Arts Council uses both the phrase Social Capital and the concept of cultural capital in much of our advocacy material for the role of culture in general and libraries in particular. Our Evidence review of the economic contribution of libraries for example contains many references to this. E.g.:
Literature shows that libraries may contribute to developing
social capital in particular through their promotion of social mixing (i.e.
by drawing in and bringing together people from across society) and the
trust they inspire among people and in institutions.
The recent US report Musums, Libraries and Comprehensive Initiatives (Institute of museum and Library Services) also contains many cases studies of the role of libraries is social capital.
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