Part of our lives2015
a people's history of the American public library
by Wayne A. Wiegand
"Part of Our Lives challenges the conventional idea that public libraries are valuable mostly because they are essential to democracy. Instead, this book uses the voices of generations of public library users to argue that Americans have loved their libraries for the useful information they make accessible; the public spaces they provide; and the commonplace reading materials they supply that help users make sense of the world around them"--
— from OpenLibrary
2 editions at OpenLibrary