Last month, I went to a library in more or less the exact middle of America, and everyone was there – kids, elderly people, students of all ethnicities and ability levels – quietly doing their own thing, together. A librarian interviewed me in an elegant amphitheater in front of Kansas City residents. We spoke about immigration, politics and the climate crisis and managed to laugh a lot too. Some audience members challenged my views, and we talked it out right there. We had a frank and fun conversation in a public space, free to all, and streamed live for people who couldn’t make it to the library that day. I only later thought about how rare that is – and how profound.
“Libraries are this quiet, powerful space that are just always there, right?” Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada told me. She is a librarian and was elected president of the American Library Association (ALA) earlier this year. “We are that constant, for everyone. We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
