Aiming to obtain a most wholesome survey of potentials for lifelong learning and education in public libraries possible, the thesis analyses various aspects of the concept of lifelong learning and education, from definitions and forms to impacts of technologically changing environment the learning is taking place in nowadays. Through analysis of directions and documents of European umbrella institutions in librarianship related to the concept of lifelong learning and education, in its first part the thesis is placed within an institutional and political context. Public libraries are scrutinized as one of key factors in educational and innovative processes in the context of their local communities and the relevance of collaboration and partnership with other factors in the area is stressed out. Omnipresent information and communication technologies affect the process of learning and delivery of knowledge while at the same time setting up challenges and requirements for additional skills for their use. The technologies are first and foremost viewed in the sense of their role in transmission of knowledge, of expertise and skills among the participating and interested participants and also in the sense of alleviating and transforming of the processes related to the transmission of educational contents. In that respect, among other details, remote e-learning and its application in librarianship stands out, as do open learning sources as examples of free and creative approach to research and learning in public libraries. The subject of lifelong learning and education is also dealt with by observing the needs of the very users of public libraries, that is, of target groups of users by differentiated elements such as gender, age and other specifics. The thesis also gives a review of contents and programs for learning in public libraries by putting accent to information literacy as a peculiar precondition for lifelong education. Alongside some other aspects, potentials of public libraries, in principle holding rich and diversified book collections, are hidden in giving support to formal, informal and non-formal learning to various profiles and age groups of users. In closing, based on research of web pages of representational public libraries in countries like USA, Canada, Australia and some countries of the European Union including Croatia, the thesis quotes examples of good practice with programs of lifelong learning. Quoted examples reaffirm the role of public libraries as centers of innovativeness and creativity signaling on to potentials of such practices in other places. Synthesis of various aspects and ways of looking at the concept of lifelong learning provides us with better understanding of potentials and possibilities for its implementation and development in the area of librarianship. Comparison of different approaches and aspects of lifelong learning brings to awareness about the existence of various motives related to the discourse. At that, humanistic features are given precedence before market, political and other categories to evade worries about learning falling into a pit of decadence. Finally, the thesis itself presents a kind of search for sense and true cognition through educational activities in the set discourse. True humanism implies acceptance of individual responsibility, however freedom is not exhausted through devotion and work that present just one aspect of its expression. Likewise, perceptions and cognitions of capacities of the libraries stemming from this work are just drops in the spectrum of the potential each moment and each situation holds, while acceptance of what there exists is most often a decisive step into their unlocking and making come true.