I love this book, but it's not the 5 star read it could be.

Roughy half the book is a collection of essays by various authors (Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, etc) and essays written by Cassidy himself, each focusing on a different library from around the USA. These essays are excellent; some of them dramatically moving (The Little Library That Tried), and even the ones that are just so-so are very interesting.

The other half of the book is a collection of photos Cassidy took of librarians during the ALA conventions of 2014, 15 and 16, each with a caption underneath quoting the librarian. These photos are also very cool and I really enjoyed seeing the diversity of faces. But the captions could have been SO much better. You don't notice it for the first few pages, but after a while, the sameness of what they're all saying starts to take on a tone of defensiveness and justification. A better editor or maybe just a better plan at the start, could have thoughtfully cultivated a collection of anecdotes that better expressed all the myriad ways librarians are indispensable, without sounding like they were trying to avoid the axe.

Still, overall, a very excellent book and I'm really, really pleased I took a chance on it. ( )

The stories in this book testify, over and over, to the importance of the Library as a great equaliser that serves every person and group and enables democratic access to knowledge, citizenship, and community. This I knew, and appreciated hearing from so many different voices, but what particularly struck me was a sentiment expressed by Daniel Ronsom, Institutional Services Librarian at the California College of the Arts (p. 174), and echoed by others throughout.

The greatest challenge libraries are facing is the apathy of the privileged. Libraries are busier than ever before, but then someone writes a 'think piece' stating that 'libraries are dead' and politicians cite it when slashing the library budgets. It's what actually happened to the Great Library of Alexandria. Yes, it was damaged by fires, but contrary to popular conceptions that's not what destroyed it. In fact, it was time and the apathy of its leadership that led to its slow decline. We can't let the apathy of today's leadership have the same disastrous effects on the libraries of today.

Libraries are crucial to a community, especially for marginalised and underserved groups. Many of the services are public and free, which is hugely important for people who don't have other resources. In the book, a few of the authors write about how they don't have the need to or habit of going to their library and using the services there, but they still make a point of giving back to their library, because they know it benefits people who depend on it everyday.

This is a great point that I had never consciously thought of before. I love libraries and books, and do often check out books, but with access to and familiarity with technology, it is much easier to look up information, read content on the internet or on a device, or even to figure out questions through online resources than it is to do those things physically or with a librarian. I assume most of my peers and much of my generation have the same experience. Bluntly speaking, we may not typically feel the need for libraries, librarians, or their services. However, Daniel Ronsom and a few others in the book challenge this viewpoint, suggesting that me and my peers are people who have the privilege of not needing or depending on libraries, but we thus have a responsibility to support the maintenance and development of libraries for those in our communities for whom libraries are crucial.

An wonderful book of wonderful people, and I am now convinced that libraries are the best institution there is. ( )

In this book, we realize that Libraries aren't merely a place for books, they are a place for communities to gather. Oh sure, you might say you have the internet. However, think of all the people that cannot access the internet from home, all of the people that are illiterate. The library is one of the few places that is totally open to the public. It provides so much more than books.

So in this book is an impassioned plea to save your local library and libraries in general, since they do so much more things than just house books, and they do these things for free. ( )

Very sweet. So nice to read, especially these days when we seem to be increasingly on the chopping block. ( )

A treasure of a book about libraries and librarians and all they do for their communities. If you can, buy this book and learn about the awesome services you never knew librarians perform for visitors. This would make a wonderful gift for friends and family as well.