The public library

Foreward / Bill Moyers

Introduction / Robert Dawson

The American Public Library. The library spirit / Stuart A.P. Murray

Economics. A country without libraries / Charles Simic ; All hail the public library / David Morris

Civic memory and identity. What the library means to me / Amy Tan ; Letters to the children of Troy, New York / Isaac Asimov, Dr. Seuss, and E.B. White

How Mr. Dewey decimal saved my life / Barbara Kingsolver

Urban and rural libraries. The northeast Nevada regional bookmobile / Kelvin K. Selders ; Practicing Seva / Dorothy Lazard ; Spreading enlightenment / Luis Herrera

Art and architecture

Evolving libraries. Enriched by what we share / Chip Ward

Literature and learning. Library days / Philip Levine ; Steinbeck country / Anne Lamott ; Maps and stats / Walker Dawson

Afterword / Ann Patchett.