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Bought this with intent to donate it to my local library. Now I am going to buy another copy....well, really, two copies....one for the major donor to the library when we were building it....and,,,one for me. Best coffee table book ever. I am going to put a picture of the James Kennedy Public Library inside the back cover.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
I know my level of literacy is very low, but this has been a fantastic read! This book should should be in every public library across the country! What an incredible project.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
"The Public Library: A Photographic Essay" by Robert Dawson" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2014) is more than simply a collection of beautiful photographs of libraries from around America. While that in itself would make an attractive book, this particular volume contains many reflective essays regarding the history of libraries and their current place in American society.
To complete this project, Dawson spent eighteen years taking pictures of hundreds of libraries in 47 states. He writes, "My photographs capture some of the poorest and wealthiest, oldest and newest, most crowded and most isolated, even abandoned libraries." On a personal note, one of the libraries included is Storrs Library in nearby Longmeadow, Massachusetts - my copy of this book came to me via inter-library loan from that very library.
In the Foreward, Bill Moyers writes that "when a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too." It is a place open to all where knowledge is free for the taking. Because they are open to anyone, libraries frequently become de facto shelters for the homeless. This puts librarians in the difficult position of acting like social workers, trying to help these poor and/or mentally ill get the assistance that they need.
Stuart A.P. Murray offers a historical perspective on how public libraries came to be in this country. There are also essays about the economic challenges libraries face. Ironically, as David Morris, relates, "not a single library closed its doors during the Great Depression [yet] nineteen states cut funding for public libraries in 2011. More than half of the reductions were greater than ten percent." Some of the most heartbreaking images in this book are of closed, run-down libraries.Read more ›
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Robert Dawson's lovingly and painstakingly produced photographic survey of a disappearing but tenaciously surviving public resource -- the local public library -- is a testament to its enduring value as a cultural resource, as an open-access storehouse of human knowledge and wisdom, and as a bastion of democracy. Bill Moyer's nostalgic, informative, and inspiring foreword; reflections by literary luminaries such as E. B. White, Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Philip Levine, Isaac Asimov, Dr. Suess, Anne Lamott, and others; and Ann Patchett's afterword provide a rich context for viewing Dawson's 18-years-in-the-making photographic survey, which records the incredible depth, breadth, and sheer variety of libraries that, together, comprise "An American Common" ever threatened by budget cuts and the vicissitudes of culture. To quote Bill Moyers: "Who knows where the emerging new commons will take us? But Robert Dawson shows us in this collection what is at stake: when a library is open, no matter what its size or shape, democracy is open, too."
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As a Children's Librarian in a public library, this book felt like an old friend! The heartbreaking photos of abandoned libraries struck a deep chord with me. Don't miss this amazing read!!!
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If you love libraries, you must get this extremely well-produced book for your coffee table. There are many pictures of all kinds of libraries across America. We've already picked out several we wish to visit in our travels. In between pictures, there are short essays by various people including librarians.
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This item: The Public Library: A Photographic Essay
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