OPENLIB is an ERC-CoG Project —awarded in the 2025 call— that investigates the relationship between literary reading, public libraries, young people, and inclusive democracies. Focusing on tweens aged 10 to 13, the project starts from the question of whether and how reading can help foster more inclusive ways of knowing and belonging in a context marked by digitalization, changing media habits, and growing social polarization. Rather than assuming that reading literature automatically produces empathy or democratic values, OPENLIB examines these questions critically by placing public libraries at the center of the inquiry and by treating young readers not simply as users, but as active participants in the production of knowledge.

The project combines digital humanities, policy analysis, focus groups, and arts-based participatory methods to study how reading cultures are shaped and how libraries can respond to contemporary challenges of inclusion, participation, and cultural change. Its four interconnected work packages explore adult understandings of literary reading and democracy, the most popular cultural materials among tweens, childist and intergenerational methods for reimagining libraries, and the development of new concepts at the crossroads of children’s literature studies, media studies, childhood studies, and library research. In doing so, OPENLIB aims to generate new conceptual tools, comparative knowledge, and practical models for understanding and strengthening the democratic role of public libraries in young people’s cultural lives.