Shigeo Watanabe (born 1943) is a Japanese library and information scientist. After serving as Professor at Fuji Women's University, he taught at Hokkaido University of Education and other institutions, specializing in school libraries, intellectual freedom, and children's rights to learn and access information. His work has consistently argued that school libraries should serve not only as places for reading but also as foundations for inquiry-based learning and the development of critical thinking. He received the Japan Society of Library Science Award in 1990 and the School Library Award in 2019. His best-known book is "Critical Thinking through School Libraries," which examines the role of school libraries in the information age.
