‘Free for All’ documentary tells story of public libraries’ critical roles throughout history and today 

Widespread screening events are expanding the audience for “Free for All: The Public Library,” an Independent Lens documentary that explores the crucial role of American libraries throughout history and the crises threatening the institutions today.  

The Independent Television Service, which presents Independent Lens, has arranged about 380 screening events through June in 47 states and expects that number to increase. It’s presenting the events through its Indie Lens Pop-Up program, which gathers communities for screenings and conversations about newsworthy topics and social issues.

ITVS has nearly tripled the station partners participating in the Indie Lens Pop-Up program since last season, from 19 up to 52 partners hosting events for “Free for All” as of early April, according to Senior Director of Engagement and Impact Operations Beatriz Castillo. 

“That kind of reach is really important for us, because we know how critical it is for people to be able to come together and to have conversations about their public institutions,” Castillo said. “We really saw this as an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between public media and public libraries, which are two cornerstone institutions that are focused on learning and the education of our communities.”

Produced and co-directed by Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor, “Free for All” aired on PBS stations at the end of April and is available to stream on the PBS app. The film covers the evolution of public libraries, starting with the 19th-century “Free Library Movement.”

Today, libraries, public media and even the film itself are in the “center of the storm politically,” Logsdon says. “Free for All” received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, both targets of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, libraries themselves have become a flashpoint for criticism from conservatives who are seeking to ban books about social issues they deem inappropriate.

Logsdon said she wants “Free for All” to bridge political divides, as libraries are important to a “vast majority” of people. She said she hopes the film connects with librarians, people of all ages and political identities, and those who have drifted away from libraries. 

“Libraries are patriotic,” Logsdon said. “It’s a dark, sometimes, and very complicated history that we didn’t want to whitewash over. … All the things that trouble our nation are in this story, but it’s a really great American story.”

‘They’re first responders’ 

The film includes stories of the very first libraries and the prominent roles women historically played in starting and running libraries. It explores the history of people of color being excluded from public libraries and how past struggles have translated into modern-day hardships, like book bans and culture wars. 

“Everybody knows Carnegie, everybody knows Dewey, but nobody knows any of the other people,” said Faulknor. 

Logsdon and Faulknor got the idea for “Free for All” in 2005 when they were stranded in Baton Rouge, La., due to Hurricane Katrina. They had been finishing their previous film, The Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, and were scrambling to find a way to call their families. The Baton Rouge Public Library was a gathering place where people could access the internet, get a helping hand and sign up for Red Cross aid and FEMA loans. 

“It was just amazing,” Faulknor said. “They’re first responders. I had no idea librarians were first responders.”

The 2008 financial crisis added urgency when libraries across the country were closing. Faulknor said she told Logsdon, “We have to do something.” 

The filmmakers began collecting footage and working on the film after they received a California Documentary Program grant from California Humanities in 2014. The film includes over 700 archival clips and photos, including at least one visual from every state, Faulknor said. They recovered much of the found footage from unlikely places, such as under a library staff’s kitchen sink in one instance.

“It’s amazing,” Faulknor said. “They’re good at keeping other people’s story, but they didn’t keep their own too well.”

The film includes profiles of past librarians who faced race and sex discrimination and showcases modern-day librarians who are dealing with closures and budget cuts. Libraries were not always “free for all,” as the film explains how segregation and racism affected the institutions before the Civil Rights Movement. 

Narration provided by Logsdon guides viewers through the history, along with readings from a variety of writings by historical figures. American writer and journalist Lolis Eric Elie, who also co-directed and produced The Faubourg Tremé, provides the voice of Frederick Douglass as he reads an excerpt from Douglass’ book My Bondage and My Freedom. 

The filmmakers expected to finish the film in 2020, but the pandemic hit. “In our first cut that we finished right before the pandemic, the crisis that the librarians were facing then was mostly budgetary and also questions about whether they’re still relevant,” Faulknor said. But since the pandemic, she said, libraries have come under attack in an entirely different way. 

Librarians are used to being respected, nonpartisan members of their community, yet Logsdon said controversies over book bans have subjected them to hateful comments. “They are being called pedophiles and groomers and all kinds of terrible things,” she said.

At first, the film mentioned these struggles only briefly at the end. But the expanding controversies prompted the filmmakers to re-edit the film and include details about them at the beginning.

“All of a sudden, we had a contemporary chapter of the same crisis we were following through history,” Logsdon said. 

“History repeats itself,” Faulknor added. 

The film also received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and major foundations. An early Kickstarter campaign raised $78,000 from over 973 individual donors. The pending NEH grant, which may be threatened by the Trump administration’s cuts, would support discussions about the film with scholars in every state, focusing on small and rural libraries. Logsdon said she hopes foundations will supply the funds instead if the NEH grant is cut. 

‘A high-quality program’ 

ITVS worked closely with the filmmakers, subject matter experts and PBS Books to create a discussion guide for the Indie Lens Pop-Up events, according to ITVS’s Castillo.

“Anyone can pick up this guide, understand the film, understand the themes of the film and be able to facilitate a high-quality program,” said Heather-Marie Montilla, national director of PBS Books.  

ITVS and PBS Books share a “quality synergy,” Montilla said. “This relationship between PBS Books and ITVS makes a lot of sense because [of] the work we do with helping libraries to have a one-stop shop for PBS content and then being able to support them if they have questions,” she said. 

As an adult services librarian at Glen Ellyn Public Library in Illinois, Montilla understands the needs of libraries and how the film resonates with communities. In November, she interviewed the “Free for All” filmmakers for a webinar to get librarians excited about the film. She also produced a Facebook Live event April 23 with Detroit PBS, including footage from the November webinar and an interview with Cindy Hohl, president of the American Library Association.

Montilla hosted a screening at her library April 29 where viewers could see a one-hour version of the film; the full version that aired on PBS is about 90 minutes. “People were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to go home and watch the rest of it,’” Montilla said. “They were so excited.”

Alaska Public Media, an Indie Lens Pop-Up partner, has reached its entire state by working with 12 libraries to host 20 screenings. Peter Host, Alaska Public Media’s director of development, said the station chooses films to air based on what it thinks is important to viewers and what will garner and strengthen partnerships. People who care about public libraries likely care about public media, he said.

“This seemed like a really good opportunity to provide a resource and a film to these organizations who, much like the smaller public media organizations that exist in rural Alaska … also have challenges,” Host said. “Some of those can be funding, and some of it can just be morale when they’re dealing with a lot of different things all at once.”

Host said about 20 to 25 people have attended each screening at small libraries across Alaska, meeting the libraries’ expectations for turnout. He said he has seen the film’s emotional impact “for those who worked at and cared about libraries, because they do feel assailed in this time.”

“Like with libraries, Alaska Public Media and many public media organizations that exist in rural or really spread-out states, we do so much for the communities that we provide service to that it can be the kind of thing that people take for granted until it’s not there anymore,” Host said. “I would love to urge people to not take services like this for granted just because in their lifetime it’s always been there.”