Libraries are perhaps the best thing that human civilization has going for it. Not only are they repositories of knowledge in non-digital form, they are, in America at least, last bastions of truly public indoor space—a place that you, absolutely whoever you are, can just go and soak in some information. Libraries are also the digital safety net, a location where those without internet connectivity at home (if there is a home) can get online. This is absolutely crucial in a world where things like finding jobs and social services—surviving, in other words— very often require the internet. Libraries are publically-supported altruism in an era where there’s a war on that very idea.It may be surprising to hear that there are more libraries in the United States (17,000) than there are either McDonald’s (14,000) or Starbucks (11,000). (Figures via the Atlantic.) This probably has a bit to do with the impressive distribution of libraries among rural areas; there are places around me in southwestern Colorado/southeastern Utah that barely have a place to buy a cup of yesterday’s Folgers’s, but still have a library. Indeed, libraries manage to reach 96.4 percent of America. That’s great.Behold:(Head over here for the full interactive version.)The map above comes courtesy of the mapmaker Grimes (just Grimes), with data from the The Institute of Museum and Library Services, who compiled it during the National Civil Day of Hacking, which is a hacking angle we don’t hear too much about, sadly.Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.
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