Public Libraries

We’re building a new platform to share real-life examples of how to improve access to technology and the internet – and the skills to use them – for young people in America. The goal is to help communities find approaches that fit their needs to then adapt for themselves. Do you have a story of how a community has tackled the digital divide among young people in America? Share it now.

With a focus on California Public libraries, this report suggests how library broadband can be used to address statewide goals.

This report details how city agencies, businesses and other stakeholders can more effectively use libraries to strengthen opportunity, equity and innovative problem-solving across Houston.

Libraries play an important role in areas that are priorities for communities, like civic engagement, workforce development, education and democratic discourse. 

This year the Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries convened and facilitated a successful series of dialogues and other conversations across the country to advance the work that public libraries are doing to address community challenges and to transform for the digital age.

Follow-up research using the results from a nationwide survey in the Spring of 2016 to examine the evolving role of public libraries in advancing community goals.

The Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries launched a series of initiatives in 2016 that are creating new opportunities and resources for transforming public libraries. Exciting new projects will continue in 2017.

The Dialogue on Public Libraries in collaboration with the Winter Park Public Library released a report designed to spark new thinking and action to transform libraries for the 21st Century.

Public libraries offer more than just books — for many Americans, they are the sole provider of digital access.