In 1875, the U.S. had 422 municipal public libraries. In 2023, that number was more than 9,000. In that time, the proportion of Americans with access to resources available through public libraries quintupled. Today, approximately half of all independent libraries in the U.S. are public libraries. And they employ 140,000 people nationwide, nearly three times the number of working journalists.
This year is local news' library moment - when stakeholders decide to chart a course for transforming local news from a commercial product to a public good. Municipalities and states have always been early adopters of innovative public information legislation. In the 19th century, local and state policy experimented with attempts to make school libraries publicly accessible, created tax districts to serve specific geographic areas, and established statewide commissions to advance library access across regions.
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