A History of the American Public Library

A visual exploration of how a critical piece of social infrastructure came to be.

Editor’s note: This month, CityLab’s visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger shares the story of how America’s public libraries came to be, and their uneven history of serving all who need them. See the full story at Citilab.

Susan Orlean’s The Library Book, which focuses on the Los Angeles Public Library, is one of our Books in the Bag selections.