Overview

This 2018 documentary produced by Morgan Atkinson, is an examination of that most valuable community treasure — the Free Public Library. This thought-provoking video explores the value, meaning and impact of a free library. Is the community’s investment in a public library at least equal to its benefit from it? How does a library survive the spiraling momentum of digitizing text and making all ‘content’ increasingly available through computers and mobile devices. Atkinson has fun with this deep topic, taking the audience on a tour of Kentucky’s largest public library system, Louisville. Along the way, the importance of a library to a democracy unfolds. Acclaimed Louisville actor/musician, Will Oldham, is the quirky yet reliably knowledgeable tour guide, playfully exposing the challenges faced by the public library system, while pointing to intriguing details of its history at varied branch locations.