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Carnegie Libraries Across America Celebrates the Contributions of a Library Hero

April 23, 2025

There was a time in America when the wealthiest citizens liked to use their abundant funds to build various buildings and institutions that would bear their names and long outlive them, such as university buildings and museums. One such philanthropist was Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish American who became one of the richest people in American history through his expansion of the steel industry in the nineteenth century.

How to Make Your Library Card Your Passport for Free Audiobook Listening — And So Much More

April 17, 2025

In the current US economy, where budgeting for the day-to-day can seem like an impossible task, libraries remain pillars of community literacy support. Nationwide, branches provide free access to books in a variety of formats in addition to workspace and internet, ESL and citizenship classes, and practical and cultural learning opportunities.

No Better Place than the Library to Inspire Douglas Westerbeke

April 14, 2025

You may know Douglas Westerbeke as the author of the bestselling novel A Short Walk Through a Wide World, published by Avid Reader Press in April 2024. But before he became an author, he worked in the literature department of the Cleveland Public Library, one of the largest libraries in the United States.

Celebrating School Library Wins

April 10, 2025

April is School Library Month, an annual celebration of the essential roles school libraries play in transforming learning. It was launched by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in 1985. Since then, school libraries have been encouraged to showcase their work and achievements each April so their communities and schools understand and appreciate what they do.

School Library Musings: A Great School Library Is More than Just Books

April 07, 2025

The compact, light-filled library at Oak Grove Elementary — a TK (transitional kindergarten) through fifth-grade school of approximately 425 students in a small town in northern California — is tucked away by itself at the back of the campus.

How You Can Take Action to Support Your Library

April 04, 2025

Libraries are a well-loved part of communities, providing invaluable resources and free communal spaces for people to gather. Unfortunately, they have long struggled against various threats, such as cuts to their funding and book bans. But just as libraries help out their communities, communities can help out libraries.

Celebrating National Library Outreach Day

April 01, 2025

Libraries already provide a wide array of programs within the walls of their facilities, but their services expand far beyond the confines of a building. Outreach programs aim to meet the needs of underserved community members who may not always have access to libraries. National Library Outreach Day honors these programs and the librarians who lead them.

America’s Immigration Quandary

March 26, 2025

Babe Ruth’s draft card. Al Capone’s guilty verdict. Edgar Allen Poe’s 1842 bankruptcy petition. A 1909 letter from “Buffalo Bill” Cody to James Garfield, Secretary of the Interior (and future US president). Minutes from the November 12, 1718, trial of the pirate Stede Bonnet.

Don’t Dread Tax Season: Your Library Can Help!

March 20, 2025

Some people say their least favorite time of the year is the winter; others say it’s back-to-school season. But for most Americans, tax season takes the cake when it comes to being their least favorite part of the yearly calendar.

William Wood: The Johnny Appleseed of Libraries

March 17, 2025

Book ban proponents today seem to have a vision of an imaginary library full of Greek classics for adults and The Bobbsey Twins for children. While early libraries varied, they were far from uniformly dull. When people think about historic American libraries, they probably think of Andrew Carnegie, benefactor of library buildings (not books) at the turn of the twentieth century. Or they think of Benjamin Franklin, founder of one of the earliest-known subscription libraries in 1731. But nestled between them is a man you’ve probably never heard of, whose legacy was to seed book collections all over the US: William Wood.

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