“As we’ve been crisscrossing the country visiting towns and cities for our American Futures project, I always look forward to stopping in the town’s public library. Every town has one. They’re often lovely buildings. (Thank you, Andrew Carnegie!) They offer a first pulse of the town. (Are they vibrant and bustling?) The librarians are as knowledgeable as the newspaper editors and as welcoming as the Chamber of Commerce. Who wouldn’t love a library?

The library visits have taken me by surprise for a couple of reasons, starting with how I sorely needed to catch up with the times and see how libraries have evolved since I visited them regularly. (The Internet and an empty nest changed my habits.) Three recent library posts are from Columbus, Ohio, Charleston, West Virginia, and Winters, California.”

via A Field Trip to America’s Public Libraries – The Atlantic.