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A local library, passport to a larger world for its individual patrons, is also a democratic institution whose contribution to the strength of a community is out of all proportion to its size or membership.

Several thousand Carnegie libraries were built a century ago when Andrew Carnegie, who had risen from poverty to become "the richest man in the world" vowed to donate all his money before he died and set about giving millions of people around the world the same "gift of reading" he had with access to a library as a factory working boy. Across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other corners of the English-speaking world, he created "the free republic" of libraries. This is the story of one of them.

By tracing evolution of library service in the Canadian town of Bracebridge from 1874 to the present day within the broad sweep of larger cultural and economic patterns, Boyer’s engaging book provides a specific example of the universal transformation of books and information technologies and the libraries that house them from the 19^th to 21^st centuries. Most readers will find endearing and tantalizing parallels with their own library experience, wherever they live.

Written to coincide with the 100^th anniversary of the Andrew Carnegie Library in Bracebridge in 2008, Boyer’s book is an inspired and engaging effort to show patterns and perils that probably hold true for most local libraries although some of the dramatic and comedic episodes here are surely unique. This story is so rich it could be a feature movie.

PATRICK BOYER grew up using the Bracebridge Carnegie Library. His mother had once been the librarian and his grandfather chairman of the library board. Patrick has an MA in history from the University of Toronto and is author of some 18 books. Patrick Boyer, lawyer, author, teacher and former parliamentarian, is himself author of many books, including Just Trust Us (2003), Leading in an Upside-Down World (2003), Direct Democracy in Canada (1992), and The People's Mandate (1992).

J. Patrick Boyer's profile page

If an informed public is the foundation of a democracy, then libraries and a free press are like twin cornerstones. In Local Library, Global Passport, Patrick Boyer reminds us just how essential libraries and an unfettered press are to the functioning of democratic society.

Diana M. Daniels, General Counsel, The Washington Post Company (1988-2007) and past president, Inter American Press Association

From my perspective as an historian with responsibility for a library, Patrick Boyer's book appeals on many levels. As he so eloquently sets out in the context of Bracebridge, libraries are far more than bricks and mortar that house books. Libraries are fundamentally linked to their communities, whether it is Bracebridge or Parliament Hill. These communities provide the support not just for the bricks, mortar and books, periodicals and newspapers that fill the shelves, but increasingly computers, databases and online versions of all these things as well. In turn, libraries have a responsibility not only to be repositories of knowledge but also to make this knowledge available to their community. This is the vocation of a librarianto serve as the conduit of knowledge to those who seek it-in the service of their community.

William R. Young, Parliamentary Librarian of Canada, Ottawa

One of the first acts of dictators when they come into power is to destroy and ban books. In this important book, Patrick Boyer reminds us that to protect democracy, we have to protect the written word and the free access to it; in other words, we have to recognize and celebrate the role of public libraries in making books accessible to the public.

Marina Nemat, author of Prisoner of Tehran and inaugural recipient of the European Parliament's "Human Dignity Award