Today, we’re talking about libraries, but in a way you’ve probably never imagined them before.

To me, libraries have always been magical spaces, where whole new worlds exist within the pages of books, where you can stumble on anything, where anyone can find space to learn or find safety or community. Where everyone belongs. But as Adam Echelman, the Executive Director of the U.S. office of Libraries Without Borders, shows us in this episode, libraries aren’t only magical; they are fundamental to equality and justice.

As of this recording, the U.S.—and the globe—has been facing a pandemic for nearly a year. So Adam and I dive into not only literacy and access to information through books, but digital literacy and the way, in this age of virtual school and Zoom meetings and Zoom court and telehealth appointments, digital literacy and access to a computer and Internet are not only luxuries; they’re necessities.