Colorful stacked books with worn covers and spines, arranged vertically.

The American Library Project

The Project

Colorful library event flyer with the words 'READ!' and 'BOOK' and a painted rock with 'Hi!' written on it placed on top.

The American Library Project is a storytelling initiative that investigates the changing role of public libraries across America by asking:

  • Why do libraries matter today?

  • How do libraries connect people with the world around them?

  • How are libraries responding to today’s most urgent social issues?

To answer these questions, writers Carmen Vintro & Oliver Jakes are driving across the US, library by library, to meet the communities that create and are formed by America’s public libraries.

Learn more

Featured Stories

The Natural World and the Library in McCall, Idaho

McCall, Idaho is all about adventuring out into the natural world. The library helps locals learn about it.

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“The Library Just Is.” Work and Intergenerational Friendship in Baker County Public Library

A library in eastern Oregon, powered largely by volunteers, shows how quiet daily work can help bridge political, cultural and generational divides.

Read more

Our People

Young man with glasses smiling outdoors, wearing a denim jacket, near a wooden railing and yellow structures, with trees and a partly cloudy sky in the background.

Oliver Jakes

Writer
National Geographic, The Camera

A woman with curly brown hair and a black shirt smiling in front of beige curtains.

Carmen Vintro

Writer
The Camera

Contact Us

Have a story you want to see included in The American Library Project? We want to hear from you.