1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910456608803321

Autore

Wiegand Wayne A. <1946->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Iowa City, : University of Iowa Press, c2011

ISBN

1-60938-068-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (261 p.)

Collana

Iowa and the Midwest experience

Disciplina

027.4/77

Soggetti

Public libraries - Middle West - History

Rural libraries - Middle West - History

Libraries and community - Middle West - History

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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