In honor of National Library Week, this digital display is dedicated to books about libraries, library history, the role libraries play in people’s lives, the cultural and social importance of libraries, and the future of libraries. These are books that celebrate libraries and librarians.
The Public Library: A Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson
Beautiful photographs of library buildings and spaces are accompanied by essays, poetry, and letters by the most distinguished American authors in Robert Dawson’s photographic essay.
The Library Book by Various Authors
The Library Book is a collection of essays, memoirs, and short stories by Alan Bennett, Tom Holland, Lionel Shriver and other famous writers, and their library-related thoughts.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
A critically acclaimed book by Susan Orlean chronicles a fire disaster at the Los Angeles library. She explores the evolution of a library as an institution and its role in society.
NYT praised it as “exquisitely written and consistently entertaining.”
Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading by Jason Merkoski
This book about the digital book format and the future of libraries was written by a member of the team that launched Amazon Kindle devices.
Fiction Books Related To Libraries and Librarians
*descriptions are from the publisher.
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes a classic drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion.
The Alexandria Link by Steve Barry
Cotton Malone retired from the high-risk world of elite operatives for the U.S. Justice Department to lead the low-key life of a rare-book dealer. But his quiet existence is shattered when he receives an anonymous email: “You have something I want. You’ re the only person on earth who knows where to find it. Go get it. You have 72 hours. If I don’t hear from you, you will be childless.” His horrified ex-wife confirms that the threat is real: Their teenage son has been kidnapped. When Malone’s Copenhagen bookshop is burned to the ground, it becomes brutally clear that those responsible will stop at nothing to get what they want. And what they want is nothing less than the lost Library of Alexandria.
The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people—though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she’s invisible.
All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend—her grandmother Zelda—who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda’s past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern
People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.
But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny—literally—assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything—everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome’s got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.
Cussy’s not only a book woman, however, she’s also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy’s family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she’s going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and suspicion as deep as the holler.
The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
Lucy Hull, a young Children’s Librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, is unsure where her life is headed. That becomes more than a figure of speech when her favorite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home and Lucy finds herself in the surprise role of chauffeur. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading, but needs Lucy’s help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes with celebrity Pastor Bob. Lucy stumbles into a moral dilemma when she finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a knapsack of provisions and an escape plan. The odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip from Missouri to Vermont, with ferrets, an inconvenient boyfriend, and dubious family history thrown in their path. But who is actually running away? And from what?
Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott
After a few good years of city life, Jordan Poteet returns to his small hometown of Mirabeau, Texas, to work as a librarian. Yet his quet domesticity is shattered when he locks horns with Ms. Beta Harcher, the town’s prize religious fanatic, in a knock-down drag-out battle over censorship.
When Jordan finds her murdered body in the library, he learns that Beta dead is much more dangerous than she ever was alive. Not only for poor Jordy, whom the police are itching to throw the book at, but for countless others. In fact, thanks to a cryptic list the police find stashed next to her fanatical heart, Beta Harcher has the whole town in a death grip…
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