Table of Contents
Introduction: Alexandria Is Still Burning 1
Guest author Neil Gaiman 14
America's First Lending Library: The Library Company of Philadelphia 22
Guest author Amy Dickinson 32
A Library of Mud: Steve Tinney and the Tablet Room at the University of Pennsylvania 44
Guest author Cory Doctorow 56
To Serve Everybody: Nick Higgins, Rikers Island, and the Brooklyn Public Library 66
Guest author Jeff Vandermeer 79
The Little Library That Tried: Mary Anne Antonellis and the M. N. Spear Memorial Library, Shutesbury Massachusetts 85
Guest author John Scalzi 96
History You Can Hold: Julie Bartlett Nelson and the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library, Northampton, Massachusetts 105
Guest author Jude Deveraux 116
Guest author Amanda Palmer 120
The American Girl: Briony Zlomke Beckstrom and the Franklin Public Library, Franklin, Wisconsin 127
Guest author Nancy Pearl 136
Bringing the Library to You: Bretagne Byrd and the Lewis & Clark Bookmobile, Montana 144
Guest author Paula Poundstone 154
Guest author Sara Farizan 163
A Public Space: Tina Ely and the Greybull Public Library, Wyoming 166
Guest author Peter Sagal 176
The Cathedral of Learning: Candice Mack and the Los Angeles Central Library 182
Guest author Samira Ahmed 197
Archiving the Past: Texas ASM and the University of Iowa: Plus George R. R. Martin Gives Me Some Thoughts on Libraries 206
Guest author Sangu Mandanna 222
Afterword: Home Again 225
Acknowledgments 227
Index 230