Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

08-05-2025 WORK LIFE

Why you should make the library a model for your business

Business leaders should strive to build environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected. The public library can show you how.

BY Craig Shapiro, Listen to this Article More info, 0:00 / 6:30

Walk into a library and you’ll feel it right away. It’s quiet but alive. People are reading, learning, applying for jobs, finding shelter, escaping for a moment into a story. No one’s selling anything. Yet the value being created is enormous.

In 2022 (the most recent year for which we have data), there were 671 million visits to public libraries in the United States—that’s more than the attendance at all MLB, NFL, and NBA games, plus National Park and theme park visits combined. Despite changes in media habits, younger generations use libraries more than any other cohort (54% of Gen Zers and millennials in the U.S. reported visiting a physical library in the past year). And that’s not counting the millions more who use the myriad digital services public libraries offer.

Libraries are not businesses. But they offer a model that many companies would do well to study.

We’re living in a time of rapid change. Trust in institutions is slipping, and funding is at risk (many U.S. libraries, for example, rely on federal support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is being dismantled). AI is transforming the nature of work. Economic pressure is rising for employees, founders, and leaders alike. Against that backdrop, it’s tempting to think only in terms of efficiency, cost-cutting, and optimization.

But there’s a deeper opportunity. What if long-term success is more about building environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected?

That’s what libraries do. And that’s what the best organizations of any kind are learning to do, too.

Let people dream

Libraries don’t ask you to justify your interests. You can check out a book on astrophysics or attend a poetry reading. No one’s measuring your productivity. The door is open, and the invitation is simple: Explore.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

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