A truly engrossing love letter to the institution, the library, Free for All: The Public Library, is a documentary that shows us the history and continuous challenges it faces in the United States while offering us that much-needed hope that not all is lost.

A beloved American institution, the public library’s founding principle is simple: build a place where anyone can enter, free of charge, and encounter a universe of ideas. Yet, there have always been challenges to its existence, from who could open a library to the funding in the 19th century to the struggles of the last 60 years with the continued and forced repression of books and services.

We have all sadly experienced it in our lifetime. You are a youngster, and you get to go to a lovely, often massive, building with all the books you could ever dream of reading. Then, as you age, that once great building slowly has fewer books and begins to run down before suddenly, it’s gone. Or at the least minimised and placed into a multi-use space almost as an afterthought. It is painful, but at this current time, inescapable. However, Lucie Faulknor and Dawn Logsdon have given us with their documentary, Free for All: The Public Library, which provides us with not only a bit of hope for the next possible phase of these types of libraries but also gives us as full an education on the history of them as you could cram in 84 minutes.

What sets this documentary apart is its unflinching portrayal of the often difficult history of public libraries. A prime example of this is Andrew Carnegie’s role in the creation of libraries across America. He justified paying his workers meager wages by claiming he was providing these services to their communities, effectively taxing them because, in his view, he knew better how to spend their money than they did. Also, while he is celebrated in history for his work with libraries, he mostly just paid for the buildings and left the work of populating those buildings with books, education, etc, to the librarians. It is much more of a community aspect to the success of public libraries than we could ever truly imagine.

By confronting the checkered history of public libraries, you appreciate the undeniable good they have done for the country. The benefits they bring to communities far outweigh their past. It’s crucial not to overlook the positive influence of libraries in our lives, a fact that is abundantly clear in Free for All. Despite their history and the challenges they face, libraries continue to strive for the betterment of society.

At its heart, Faulknor and Logsdon show us that the history of public libraries is, in fact, the history of America itself. As the country evolves, so too does the library, even in the present day when the country has evolved (or devolved) into becoming a more inward nation. Libraries have had to battle with those in charge trying to take away books and opportunities for those who need them. What makes the clearest examples of this theme is the discussion of women librarians and those from the black communities wanting to educate and improve themselves.

Empowerment is what the library is all about, and it is highlighted terrifically here. We see how women took the chance to run libraries and empower themselves by becoming more. How those in black communities and other communities could use the library space to further themselves and find a space where racial equality finally existed. Libraries and librarians give that; they merely want people to come in and find their community, to learn and improve and be damned what those in charge in governments think.

Hearing the stories of Mary Ann Shaw and the Harlem Library Movement is deeply enlightening, and Free for All ensures we learn as much as possible. Social change is what the public library has always been about and what it will always be about. Librarians can be black-listed, books can be banned or burned, and Proposition 13, which caused the gutting of funding, will happen. However, the sheer strength of those hard-working people keeps those buildings open as best as they can, and with each passing interview or clip, you are amazed at their strength. A sense of hope rises within you to want to see them going.

If you come away from Free for All: The Public Library feeling one thing, it will almost certainly be gratitude. The amount of work that librarian workers do verges on the unfathomable, and we really cannot take their efforts, which are done solely for the community they reside in, for granted. This documentary underscores the importance of supporting these integral institutions.

★★★★ 

You can watch Free for All: The Public Library here.

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