From Advocacy to Civic Infrastructure: Re-Theorizing the Public Library Through the Libraries Change Lives Campaign

This conceptual paper re-theorizes the Libraries Change Lives campaign as a key artifact of contemporary library advocacy and civic infrastructure discourse. Developed by State Library Victoria and Public Libraries Victoria, the campaign reframes libraries as transformative, place-based institutions advancing civic agency, cultural inclusion, and social equity. Drawing on social capital, public value, informational justice, and spatial equity frameworks, the paper examines how the campaign translates institutional vision into public narrative aligned with Victorian Public Libraries 2030. It concludes by calling for deeper scholarly evaluation of advocacy through lenses of intersectionality, narrative impact, and infrastructural justice.