Special Matinee: Free for All, The Public Library

How did our wonderful free public libraries come to exist?

As many as 75% - 80% of public libraries were started by local women's clubs as part of the Free Library Movement. This film tells the story.

Free for All: The Public Library (a PBS/Independent Lens documentary film)

This is the powerful, largely untold story of public libraries in America  — their roots, their role in democracy, and the everyday heroes behind the desk. Public libraries are more than buildings — they are the beating hearts of our communities. They protect truth, offer refuge, spark imagination, and empower generations. 

Directed by award winning filmmakers Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor, the film brings to life the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today’s librarians who serve the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.

Join us to celebrate Library Week and to honor the "quiet revolutionaries" who made our modern libraries possible.

Q&A with local librarian heroes after the film.

• Adults: $6.00
• School-aged children: Free

Presented by the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club in partnership with Pothole Pictures and the Arms Library at the Shelburne Falls Theatre at Memorial Hall.