A Short Post In Defense of Libraries

The speech referenced below really begins at 28:25, and this should play at that point but you know how technology goes.

It's never lost on me the miracle that is the library.

I've been spending quite a bit of time in them lately (more than usual, that is), as I've been getting deeper and deeper into research for my book. Every time I go into one I'm amazed all over again that the space is free and open and that I can access everything without credentialing or gatekeeping.

At a time where everything is designed to extract as much from you as possible, whether it is money, time, or attention—or all three—the library is a radical space. Which is, in part, why they are so often under attack.

This week the school district in the progressive college town that I live in announced that they would be cutting all middle school librarian positions in a misguided attempt to try and staunch the bleeding from years of budget mismanagement. (This is not a post to say fuck you to the administrators that made that decision, but just to get that out of the way: fuck you.)

Ever since that announcement, I've watched and rewatched this speech from Chicago poet José Olivarez so many times. In it, he talks about his experience as the child of undocumented immigrants in the far south suburb of Calumet City.

At the post office, we were a problem. At the bank, we were a problem. At school and at work, we were a problem. In clinics, we were a problem. At the grocery store, with our folder of cut up coupons, we were a problem. There was one place, however, that always made us feel welcome, that was the Calumet City Public Library.

He goes on to say:

I don't know where my life would be without the library. I'm happy I don't have to imagine that alternate reality. There are some alternate realities I do need to imagine. Those realities begin with what I learned all those years ago at the Calumet City Public Library: What might our country look like if there were more spaces that felt as free and safe and welcoming as the library?

As the struggles of living under this repressive administration continue to grind us all down, it's important to try and remember that other realities are out there and other worlds are possible. There's one place you can go in our world—where anyone can go—where where imagination is everywhere, education is all around you, and possibilities are limitless.

It's never lost on me the miracle that is the library.

Published April 24, 2026. |