Libraries Can Unite a Lonely, Divided Nation

Even as the Covid-19 pandemic shifts to more of an endemic, it continues to eat away at the connective fibers that bind our society together. As with so many things, Covid accelerated an existing trend: America was in the throes of a crisis of loneliness well before the pandemic struck. Today nearly 40 million Americans live alone, representing almost 30% of all US households — up from 9% in 1950. The rise of remote work, the shift away from cities to more far-flung exurbs, and many other trends have combined to worsen America’s loneliness epidemic. The effects are visible in everything from the rise in substance abuse and mental health challenges to the surge in crime and disorder in cities across the country.

To recover from this epidemic of isolation, America needs to reknit its frayed social fabric. Many institutions can play a role in this “Great Reknitting,” from schools and churches to businesses and voluntary associations. But there’s one institution that has long bolstered communities in an open and democratic way: America’s libraries. As the industrialist and great patron of public libraries Andrew Carnegie famously put it more than a century ago, “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert.” His words ring true today.