The Public Library. A Photographic Essay

The Public Library
A Photographic Essay 
Dawson, Robert

For nearly twenty years, Robert Dawson photographed public libraries across the United States. From this documentary work, he issued a book, The Public Library: A Photographic Essay (Princeton Architectural Press) who just got out in time for National Library Week, held from April 13 to 19 by the American Library Association.



From Princeton Architectural Press:

Many of us have vivid recollections of childhood visits to a public library: the unmistakable musty scent, the excitement of checking out a stack of newly discovered books. Today, the more than 17,000 libraries in America also function as de facto community centers offering free access to the internet, job-hunting assistance, or a warm place to take shelter. And yet, across the country, cities large and small are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operation. Over the last eighteen years, photographer Robert Dawson has crisscrossed the country documenting hundreds of these endangered institutions. The Public Library presents a wide selection of Dawson's photographs, from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California's one-room Tulare County Free Library built by former slaves. Accompanying Dawson's revealing photographs are essays, letters, and poetry by some of America's most celebrated writers. A foreword by Bill Moyers and an afterword by Ann Patchett bookend this important survey of a treasured American institution.


https://issuu.com/papress/docs/public_library/22?e=1189773/6710750

The Public Library
A Photographic Essay
Dawson, Robert

ISBN 9781616892173
Publication date 03/15/2014
8 x 9 inches (20.3 x 22.9 cm), Hardcover
192 pages, 100 color illustrations, 75 b/w illustrations
Rights: World;