Third Mission, Communication, and Academic Libraries

The paper traces the history of ‘Third Mission”, from an ethical perspective to an institutional task, defining the relevance in it of the information-research-society relationship, and the role of communication and of Public Engagement, both as tools to implement this relationship. The second part analyses the normative documents and the ministerial procedures, presenting the structural evolution, and reserving a specific in-depth analysis to the academic libraries as special laboratory places for a conjunction between research and society.