national audience A through this presentation, the library — and information-documentation — are interviewed as possible levers for change in the school institution. Innovation is defined as a complex process with “strengths and illusions”. It is a driver of change and is at the centre of dynamics and tensions; social process, it is a more than a societal reparative vision; it is planned and has a time dimension. In relation to the school system, four main phases are distinguished: first of all, teaching utopia; then recognised and valued by the institution; then subject to an injunction; it is now being put at the service of competitiveness and employability, accompanied by strong criticism of schooling. With regard to the development of school libraries, the same movement is taking place: the creation of CDI in the 1970s, presented as an innovation; the CDI mechanism valued but queried in the 1980s; this was followed by the new momentum generated by the CTBT, an image of modernity, in the 1990s; and then in the 2000s in the service of an effective narrative that promotes documentary and pedagogical management, in a context of widespread interactivity; so far, with the learning centre, characterised by flexibility and versatility, and a strong integration of documentation, digitalisation and pedagogy.