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In this article a reflection on the meaning of the academic library in the 21st century is proposed from the publication of the book: The politics of theory and the practice of critical librarianship. From the dissociation of theory / praxis, library science is characterized by a very contradictory tradition. The tecnocratics models, that come being hegemonic in the educational and cultural institutions, have deepened this duality that is analized in this paper.

In this paper some changes that have been occurring in both the university and its libraries since the eighties of XX century are analyzed, from the revision of a Budd’s book: Budd, J.M. (2012). The changing academic library: Operations, culture, environments. 2nd. ed. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. It is stated that mutations have been coming about due mainly to neoliberal politics and global marketization of education systems and knowledge. The changes have to do with practices and hegemonic discourses as Knowledge Based Economy, Society of Information and the ideology of management; finally, it is suggested that dialectic and social antagonisms in university and its libraries draw a not closed reality yet.