Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library

by Amanda Oliver

Critics and culture writers certainly aren’t the only ones banking on libraries’ and librarians’ abilities to compensate for our lack of sustainable social safety nets and infrastructure. Libraries and librarians are used to working in these capacities, in the unpredicted and unpredictable. They have regularly responded to crises without any established protocol for how to best do so, relying instead on their skills and intimate knowledge of their communities to anticipate needs, and reevaluate them, as time passes. And whereas emergency teams, government agencies, and first responders will eventually withdraw, libraries and librarians remain there in the community, helping to pick up the pieces and assist with related needs for years to come. In many cases, crises have caused library systems, libraries, and librarians to undergo a paradigm shift, with a revision of services and development of innovative ways to work more efficiently and effectively. All of this comes with immense labor and potential conflicts among librarians and library systems as all try to determine new best practices.