The function of libraries in creating an informed citizenry capable of participating in shared governance has been a key feature in the development of US democracy. In fact, the library is one of the most democratic institutions that many Americans encounter in their local communities. Indeed, libraries provide multiple fundamental ingredients for realizing the ideals of democracy: books and other materials that broaden our access to the stories and knowledge held by people in other places and times; convenient public spaces where we can meet with our neighbors; and skilled staff responsible for supporting the use of these resources.
Philadelphia was the site of the first lending library in the US. The Library Company of Philadelphia was established in 1731 when Benjamin Franklin and some friends decided to pool their money to purchase books together that they otherwise could not have afforded, including works of history, geography, travel, literature and science, alongside plays, poems, and some works of theology. A visit to a local branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia today – or any branch library anywhere, for that matter – feels quite different from a visit to The Library Company nearly 300 years ago. In part, this is because our notion of who should be allowed to participate in American democracy has broadened along with the population who have been welcomed in libraries. It’s also because, in a local public library today, in addition to people borrowing books on a wide variety of subjects, you might see a children’s story hour, a local podcaster using the recording booth, a neighborhood entrepreneur using a 3D printer to test out prototypes, or even a few goats visiting from the Philly Goat Project. The role of the library to the support and maintenance of democracy today in Philadelphia is every bit as important as the Library Company was 300 years ago, though the nature of its role has shifted over the intervening years.
The First 100 Years
Even the earliest conversations that led to the development of democracy in the United States relied on libraries; the Founders knew that a building in a convenient location, with access to books, was a key ingredient in their work of forming a new democracy. In 1774, representatives from each of the colonies chose Philadelphia as a central location where they could discuss their increasing frustration with British colonial rule. John Adams described the morning of their first meeting in his journal: “At ten the delegates all met at the City [or Smith’s] Tavern, and walked to the Carpenters’ Hall, where they took a view of the room, and of the chamber where is an excellent library… The general cry was, that this was a good room, and the question was put, whether we were satisfied with this room? and it passed in the affirmative.”1
After the American War for Independence was won, when the delegates to the Constitutional Congress met again in Philadelphia in 1789 to draft the Constitution of the United States, they again relied on their borrowing privileges of the Library Company of Philadelphia, which had outgrown Carpenters’ Hall in the intervening years. By that time, the Library Company was already over 50 years old and had been hosting meetings and conversations among local men in several locations around Independence Hall (then the Pennsylvania State House) for over a generation.2
By the centennial celebration in 1876, librarians were struggling to provide all of the information that their communities might need. Libraries of the 18th century housed books on philosophy, natural history, religion, travel, and growing scientific texts, alongside some pleasure reading. By the late 19th century, each of those disciplines had grown and divided as the industrial revolution re-shaped society, and there were countless new periodicals and pamphlets on every subject designed to appeal to a much larger reading public with a wider range of tastes. The overwhelming expansion of printed sources presented challenges for libraries. In response, a “Congress of librarians” convened in Philadelphia to discuss what kinds of buildings and systems would best accommodate this growing demand. In his welcome to the other librarians, John William Wallace shared his concern about the huge growth in knowledge sources:
“Will it be practicable to continue through another century the formation of libraries, which shall contain all books upon every subject? Will not such libraries if continued and formed tumble to pieces by their own weight, and when the subjects into which their infinite volumes are divided have all grown sufficiently large, break up and resolve themselves into their primordial elements?”3
In response to this challenge, Wallace called for the creation of a science for librarianship that could help people use libraries across disciplines and locations, with attention to the kinds of specialization that may be needed for particular local purposes. This convening was the first official meeting of the American Library Association, which has provided support for libraries over the following 150 years.
The Building Years
Shortly after that meeting, in 1891, Philadelphia became the next in a series of cities that were chartering their first citywide public libraries.4 The Free Library of Philadelphia was initially located within City Hall, with smaller libraries being added in various neighborhoods across the city. The next few decades saw a giant expansion of public libraries in Philadelphia and across the country, where cities, towns and counties agreed to use local tax revenue to support free libraries for all who lived there.
These efforts were dramatically bolstered through the philanthropic efforts of Andrew Carnegie, who supported the construction of over 1500 US Libraries between 1890 and 1929, including nearly two dozen in the city of Philadelphia. These Carnegie Libraries were funded with the requirement that municipalities would provide the resources to staff and stock them. Carnegie, and other advocates for public libraries, believed that in order to make libraries truly available to everyone, and to extend the promise of democracy to all residents, branch libraries in communities needed to model their services and collections to the specific needs (including languages) of the neighbors and communities.
The Carnegie Libraries helped shape expectations that libraries would be important places of learning and civic engagement for generations to come. This expectation was expressed through an architectural commitment that library buildings should include spaces for books, for reading, for creativity, for meetings and lectures, and for staff. The Carnegie Libraries in Philadelphia had relatively consistent architectural styles:
“With few exceptions, all the branches include raised basements with a lecture hall/classroom, heating plant, restrooms, and support facilities for staff. The lecture halls were intended to enable the libraries to become a ‘headquarters of increased intellectual life and activity’ within the neighborhood and were used for formal lectures as well as children's activities.”5
The expansion of public libraries was explicitly designed to enable the rapidly growing US population to have local buildings with spaces for learning and meeting together with their neighbors as well as easy access to information. During the same period, the number of schools was also rapidly expanding, and the two institutions - schools and libraries - were both designed with the dual mission to help people become informed participants in democracy, and to enable broader participation in labor and economic activity – to help people “climb the ladder of success.” Public libraries in neighborhoods became places where millions of people could develop and deepen their own interests, discover worlds of knowledge that they couldn’t have conceived of beyond the guidance of teachers, as well as a safe, quiet place to spend time.
The library building boom of the late 19th century and early 20th century was followed in the later part of the 20th century by continued professionalization of library science, and the further creation of libraries and library systems. The American Library Association advocated for the passage of a series of federal laws to ensure that all Americans could benefit from public libraries within reasonable proximity of their homes.
The 21st Century
By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the internet had become an important part of the idea of a library for many people. As access to technology created a “digital divide” between those with home computers and personal internet access, and those individuals and communities without, one function of libraries was to offer public computers to help people access the world wide web. Public libraries also provided training in how to join the “information society” that was emerging on computer screens.
While expanding access to resources remained a bedrock, funding priorities shifted – from supporting libraries as construction projects, or services, to funding them as sites of access to digital technology. The expansion of internet access and use brought a view of knowledge that foregrounds information as primary – that information is everything – while the physical place, the localness, the meeting spaces, and the other ingredients were treated as less important. At the close of the 20th century, there was much less emphasis on the library as public space in each community, and more on the library as a source of information and technology. In 2001’s Libraries and Democracy: Cornerstones of Liberty, Nancy Kranich, then President of the American Library Association, laid out a compelling case for the emerging role of libraries and librarians in setting information and technology policy at national and international levels.6
Over the last several decades, as most (though not all) Americans have access to more information than ever via the internet, the role of the public library has continued to evolve.
Public libraries in the US now number about 17,000 – – more libraries than McDonalds, and about the same number as Starbucks. Almost everyone in the US has one near where they live. In Philadelphia, there are 54 branches of the Free Library plus many other libraries for a variety of special purposes. In an era of ever-expanding information, and continuing challenges to democracy, perhaps one of the most unique values of the local public library for democracy today is in the local nature of each of these 17,000 libraries. These libraries serve as important “third spaces” beyond the home and the workplace and are one of the only - and most enriching - free indoor public spaces open to anyone.
Today as in the past, public librarians continue to provide people with sources of important information they need, about local services and local issues. By contrast, the current digital information landscape is driven by personalized ad-driven algorithms, that may be useful for learning about the latest niche shopping trend, or about a hot take that aligns with one’s political leanings but are often driven solely by commercial entities operating at national or international scales. There is an ever-greater need for people to find locally relevant and trustworthy information as well as to maintain local public spaces where they can engage with their neighbors. Our democratic systems rely on the fact that we share needs and interests with our neighbors, and we need places to share reliable information.
Across the country, and throughout the city of Philadelphia, public libraries are uniquely positioned to meet the specific needs of their communities - to fulfill their role as sources of trustworthy information, and as meeting spaces for people to come together for whatever reason the community requires.
In some cases, public libraries have developed specific programs to heal civic discord and expand opportunities for discussion in spaces that are designed to be welcoming to broad swaths of communities, as described in Shamichael Hallman’s book, “Meet me at the Library.” For example, he describes an annual event at the Mesa County Library in Colorado called “Culture Fest” in which immigrant communities share their food and culture, as well as “Living Rooom Conversations” “to facilitate conversations aimed at healing society by building relationships rooted in trust and respect.”7
As Shannon Mattern describes in “Extralibrary Loan,” public libraries today are supporting the creation of local news reporting, and in some cases, helping people establish local newspapers by individuals working together to decide which stories matter to their community, and how they will report on them in an era of crises for traditional forms of local news.8
In “Palaces for the People,” Eric Klinenberg talks about the need for places for older people to spend time, and calls attention to public libraries as a place that welcomes people of all ages, and thereby increases intergenerational community interaction - even if it just means that elders can see children reading, or teens doing homework together, or vice versa. Klinenberg also calls attention to the ways that local public libraries are valuable for people in moments of loneliness - the loneliness of being a new parent whose days are full of the care for children - a free place to go every day where your kids are welcome that just a quick walk from home. He describes how many people rediscover libraries when they have kids, and then again as they age.9 Some public libraries have sections especially for readers experiencing memory loss, such as the Hillsborough County Public Library in Florida, that mixes books for adults with memory loss with resources for caregivers.10 Seniors in the Philadelphia area are invited to “Medicare Mondays” or dance classes designed for individuals who are blind or vision impaired as part of the senior programming series.11
Teens who are developing their independence use libraries as a safe place for some time away from home, but not on the streets. In his book, Hallman describes a more overt form of civic outreach to teens in North Liberty Iowa, where “Pizza and Politicians” provides an opportunity for local teens to meet their representatives.
The Chicago Public Library has a long-standing program for teens called YOUMedia, where teens can “hang out, mess around and geek out on projects to create [their] own music, video, 2D and 3D design, photos and podcasts with help from skilled mentors.”12
Beyond the tremendous programs ongoing at public libraries, the simplicity of the system is a joy in itself. So many of the systems of our lives are inexplicable and confusing, but public libraries make obvious sense in the way that the kitchen table makes sense. It’s a building where anyone in the neighborhood is allowed to go, staffed by people creating welcoming and inclusive programs to entertain, engage or educate the community.
Democracy happens at multiple scales – from executive and legislative actions to local trash pick-up. But, at its most fundamental, democracy provides ways for us to solve problems by joining forces with the people who live nearest to us. Today more than ever, the local library – as a source of information and place for people to gather -- enables and strengthens our capacity for democratic action.
As we celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, and the nearly 300 years since the creation of the first library in Philadelphia, perhaps the most precious value of libraries today is connecting us to the pleasure of walking into a building as an individual and becoming part of “the people” and part of a real-world community. The online world, full of bots and trolls and other nuisances, is not where our democracy belongs nor where it will thrive. It belongs in neighborhood buildings, like libraries and other public spaces where we are reminded that we all have value, we all have a say and something to contribute. And, most importantly, we are all people whose minds can be stimulated, who have the capacity for creativity and for meeting with one another, talking, listening or learning, or sitting quietly together, and for building endless possibility together.
About the Author
Laurie Allen is a librarian from Philadelphia. She is the chief of the Digital Innovation Division (LC Labs) in the Digital Strategy Directorate at the Library of Congress (though this essay was written in her private capacity). She joined the Library in 2019, after working for nearly 20 years in academic libraries at the intersection of technology and new approaches to scholarship and public engagement. Laurie was the founding research director of Monument Lab, a public art and history studio based in Philadelphia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Bard College, and a Master's of Library and Information Science from Simmons College. She resides in South Philadelphia.
Notes on Cited Works
1. Department of State. - Department History - Buildings of the Department. “Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia Sept. 5, 1774-Oct. 26, 1774.” https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/buildings/section2.
2. “Library Company of Philadelphia.” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, n.d. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/library-company-of-philadelphia/.
3. Wallace, John William. An Address of Welcome, from the Librarians of Philadelphia, to the Congress of Librarians of the United States, Assembled October 4, 1876 in the Hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Sherman & co., printers, 1876. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009023606.
4. Free Library of Philadelphia. “History of the Library.” https://libwww.freelibrary.org/about/history/.
5. Free Library of Philadelphia, Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA. HHH-Pa4067. Historic American Buildings Survey. Phila[delphia], n.d. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print (HABS PA-6749). https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa4000/pa4067/data/pa4067data.pdf
6. Kranich, Nancy C., ed. Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty. 1st ed. American Library Association, 2001.
7. Hallman, Shamichael. Meet Me at the Library : A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy. Island Press, 2024.
8. Mattern, Shannon. “Extralibrary Loan.” Places Journal, ahead of print, October 28, 2025. https://doi.org/10.22269/251028.
9. Klinenberg, Eric. Palaces for the People : How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. First edition. Crown, 2018.
10. “Memory Care Collection | HCPLC.” Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative https://hcplc.org/books/memory-care.
11. Free Library of Philadelphia. “Central Senior Services.” https://libwww.freelibrary.org/programs/senior/events.
12. “YOUmedia.” Chicago Public Library, n.d. https://www.chipublib.org/programs-and-partnerships/youmedia.
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