Libraries are deeply integrated into our community spaces; and, while we always need more libraries, they pepper the entire landscape of the United States.

Radical librarians aim to center community voices and scrutinize how institutional resources are allocated. 

Three people stand in a library with shelves on either side of the group. Together, they hold a book in front of their faces so they are not visible to the camera.

Libraries Are Vital Community Spaces (and, They Need to Evolve)

For me, public knowledge means ensuring that knowledge access and production are treated as public and social goods ... for purposes that matter to people.

Everyone should have access to public knowledge resources, but certain challenges, like the so-called
digital divide, continue to prevent equitable access.

Patricia Hswe serves as program officer in the Public Knowledge grantmaking area at Mellon Foundation.

Headshot of Patricia Hswe

Defining Public Knowledge with Program Officer Patricia Hswe

People stand in prayer after marching to the police station to protest the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. Photo: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Silhouettes of people standing in a dusk sky. People are holding hands in a chain.

Documenting the Now Is Documenting History

Inside the Faulkner Morgan Archive

The Faulkner Morgan Archive (FMA) preserves Kentucky's LGBTQ+ history through oral histories, media, and artifacts pooled by artist and co-founder Robert Morgan (second from left). Photo: John Ashley

Faulkner Morgan 2

Painter Henry Faulkner (center) openly celebrated his queerness, which led to arrests and stays at psychiatric hospitals built for the "criminally insane.” Faulkner with two sailors, 1949. Photo: FMA

Faulkner Morgan 5b

Born in the 1890s to formerly enslaved parents, Sweet Evening Breeze spent decades breaking barriers and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community. Teatime portrait at her home, 1972. Photo: John Ashley

Faulkner Morgan 1

FMA preserves Kentucky's LGBTQ+ history while also recording present-day queer Kentucky. Ian Smoking, 2014. Photo: Casie Lewis

Faulkner Morgan 4

A masculine-presenting couple, both of whom testify to the early queer presence in Kentucky, undated. Photo: FMA

Faulkner Morgan 3b

A feminine-presenting couple in drag, signifying the unprecedented inclusivity of the early queer community in Kentucky, undated. Photo: FMA

Faulkner Morgan 3

Henry Faulkner, who was widely recognized for his quirky habits and impish exploits, in drag, circa 1940. Photo: FMA

Faulkner Morgan 5

Actor, singer, and drag queen Harris Glenn Milstead (better known as Divine) on stage at Lexington’s Club Au Go Go, 1981. Photo: FMA

Faulkner Morgan 6

"If something happens to me, nobody will know any of these stories or what any of this material was about."

Quote by Robert Morgan

Headshot of Robert Morgan

I thought, ‘If something happens to me, nobody will know any of these stories or what any of this material was about.’ 

If you stand on this street, this is what there used to be and this is what happened here.

Chinatowns in cities in America, such as New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, are sites impacted by modernity and change. Preserving the character and histories of these places is important to educating people about the histories and experiences of Chinese Americans. Photo: Getty Images

An image of a street scene at Pell Street in Chinatown.

Making Chinese American Histories Part of Everyday Life

Lae'l Hughes-Watkins is the founder of Project STAND and the associate director for engagement, inclusion, and reparative archiving at the University of Maryland.

A Black librarian wearing large hoop earrings sits facing the camera.

Archiving Student Activism Means More than You Think

How do libraries facilitate civil and community engagement?

Event America Library

Originally livestreamed on October 27, 2022. This event included Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander, Tracie Hall, and John Szabo.

America is at the Library—Not Just the Ballot Box

Headshot of Robert Montoya

Libraries and librarians need to see themselves as active agents … who must support community participation and take a stand against social injustice.

Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, founder of Project STAND (Student Activism Now Documented), a centralized hub for academic archives that preserves artifacts of social justice activities within movements of underrepresented communities. Photo: Jared Soares for Mellon Foundation

Expanding Public Knowledge Hero Image

Expanding Public Knowledge

Expanding Public Knowledge Navigation Image

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Civic Engagement

Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 