My search for America’s last decent public libraries

As an avid library-goer, I’ve watched with interest how American libraries continue to shift and evolve in our new “post-book” world.

That’s right, one thing you notice in libraries these days: There are fewer books. And the ones they do have are checked out less often.

She shrugged and said, ‘Libraries are for everyone. I’m not allowed to tell them to turn their phone down.’

If you can’t find the book you want, you can always reserve it through the library system’s website. But increasingly, those books are not located in a branch library. They are in a warehouse somewhere. In a state of storage.

When you receive these stored books, they often look strange and sickly. Like they haven’t seen sunlight in a while. Like they belong