Libraries in NonfictionLike this list

14 items

• The Library Book

  Orlean, Susan

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  "[A 1986 fire] consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Library That Dolly Built: Celebrating the People Who Made Dolly's Dream Come True

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  A feature-length documentary focusing on the history, impact and future of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (free books for kids!).

• Along Came Google

  a History of Library Digitization

  Marcum, Deanna B.,

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  We don't need libraries anymore? Print books are obsolete? Agree to disagree -- but watch us pivot.

• Overdue

  Reckoning With the Public Library

  Oliver, Amanda,

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  Libraries and librarians have big jobs to do -- more than just information-wrangling, we're expected to provide social work, community organization, and excellent customer service. (FYI, OPL no longer charges overdue fines. Got a book that's been…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The World's Strongest Librarian

  a Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family

  Hanagarne, Josh, 1977-

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  A librarian with vocal tics that cause him to shout out uncontrollably... not, in fact, a sitcom character, but a 6-foot-7 man with Tourette syndrome and a gym membership making his way in the world.

• Part of Our Lives

  a People's History of the American Public Library

  Wiegand, Wayne A., 1946-

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  "Although library authorities have argued that the public library functions primarily as a civic institution necessary for maintaining democracy, generations of library patrons tell a different story."

• Ex Libris

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  Tour the New York Public Library!

• Not Free, Not for All

  Public Libraries in the Age of Jim Crow

  Knott, Cheryl, 1954-

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  Discussions of "free access" often ignore the real effects of racial segregation during the same period of U.S. history; this book explains how Black communities worked together to build and maintain library collections of their own when they were…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Libraries & Gardens

  Growing Together

  Banks, Carrie Scott

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  Did you know that several OPL branches maintain library gardens? Many also have Seed Libraries for you to obtain free seeds for home use!

• Freedom Libraries

  the Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South

  Selby, Mike, 1976-

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  "This book delves into how these libraries were the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, and the remarkable courage of the people who used them. They would forever change libraries and librarianship, even as they helped the greater movement change…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Syria's Secret Library

  Reading and Redemption in a Town Under Siege

  Thomson, Mike,

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  "At the height of the Syrian Civil War, deep beneath the shattered streets of rebel-held Darayya was a secret library. This basement room filled with thousands of books, rescued under constant sniper fire from gutted buildings, was an oasis of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Library

  a Fragile History

  Pettegree, Andrew,

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  "[W]hile collections themselves are fragile, often falling into ruin within a few decades, the idea of the library has been remarkably resilient as each generation makes—and remakes—the institution anew."

• A Jaguar in the Library

  the Story of the First Chicana Librarian

  Martinez, Elizabeth Irene, 1943-

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  Memoirs of the first ever Chicana Executive Director of the American Library Association: "It is a riveting personal and intimate story of the professional trajectory of Elizabeth Martinez. She took the librarians' publicly articulated commitment to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Place for Everything

  the Curious History of Alphabetical Order

  Flanders, Judith

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  You know the song. But do you know why we sing it?