Last fall, The New York Times sent photographers to cities, suburbs and rural areas in seven states to document how different libraries respond to the needs of their communities, and the many ways in which patrons find a haven in each one.
At the time, the news was full of grim dispatches from the land of letters. In Colorado, two branches
closed because of meth contamination. In McFarland, Calif., city leaders debated whether to
convert a library into a police station. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams proposed massive budget cuts that would
slash library hours and programming. The American Library Association announced that attempts to
ban books were accelerating across the country at a rate never seen since tracking began more than 20 years ago.