Main Street public library : community places and reading spaces in the rural heartland, 1876-1956 / Wayne A. Wiegand.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wiegand, Wayne A., 1946-

Series:

Iowa and the Midwest experience.

Iowa and the Midwest experience

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public libraries--Middle West--History.

Public libraries.

Rural libraries--Middle West--History.

Rural libraries.

Libraries and community--Middle West--History.

Libraries and community.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The United States has more public libraries than it has McDonald's restaurants. By any measure, the American public library is a heavily used and ubiquitous institution. Popular thinking identifies the public library as a neutral agency that protects democratic ideals by guarding against censorship as it makes information available to people from all walks of life. Among librarians this idea is known as the "library faith." But is the American public library as democratic as it appears to be? In Main Street Public Library, eminent lib

Contents:

Introduction : information, reading, place

Pride of a century : the Bryant Library of Sauk Centre, Minnesota

A credit to the place : the Sage Library of Osage, Iowa

Tourist attraction : the Charles H. Moore Library of Lexington, Michigan

Those commission ideas : the Rhinelander Public Library of Rhinelander, Wisconsin

Literature suitable for a small public library : Main Street public library collections

Epilogue : agent of social harmony.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781609380687

1609380681

OCLC:

753725958