Libraries are Cool

Providing relief for the overheated and (mentally) thirsty, when the temperatures get too ruff.

The world is literally on fire right now, with record-breaking temperatures popping up all over the globe, and wildfires breaking out every day. Some of the culprits responsible for today’s rising temperatures are the massive data centers that have stealthily been built on every continent to support and sustain artificial intelligence. However, the original data centers, libraries, do not cause the earth to overheat, nor do they guzzle up gallons of drinking water in order to provide their primary function of collecting and sharing knowledge. What’s more, most libraries are climate controlled with air conditioning and thoughtful architecture to protect their ‘data’ and to offer respite to a weary public when the heat is just too much. Therefore, I think we can all come to the conclusion that libraries are cool in more ways than one. Allow me to explain.

This library looks very cool. Photo by Francesca Grima on Unsplash

Historically Speaking, Libraries Have Always Been Cool

Interestingly, all of the world’s earliest known libraries were founded in the Middle East. And they were universally considered to be really cool, because knowledge hoarding and knowledge sharing was cool. All of the great leaders of the world wanted to amass knowledge because, even though it sounds cliché, knowledge is power. So, building a library where one could warehouse knowledge was a major flex for any ruler. Having a library in your kingdom therefore, meant you were really powerful. And really cool.

In the prologue of her fascinating book, Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World, Irene Vallejo writes, “It was the best kept secret of the Egyptian court. The Lord of the Two Lands, one of the most powerful men of his time, would sacrifice lives …to obtain all the books in the world for his Great Library in Alexandria. He was chasing the dream of an absolute, perfect library, a collection that would gather together every single work by every single author since the beginning of time.” Come on, that sounds really cool, doesn’t it?

Some armchair historians might think that the Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was the first library in the world, but it wasn’t. It was however, pretty damn cool. According to one historian, “The [Library of Alexandria] was a place of study that included lecture areas, gardens, a zoo, and shrines for each of the nine muses as well as the Library itself. Historians have estimated that at one time the Library of Alexandria held over half a million documents from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, India, and many other nations.”

The Library of Alexandria was founded in the third century BCE, but the world’s first library was the Ebla Library, created between 2500 – 2250 BCE in what is today known as Syria. And the world’s oldest library, that continues to function today as a library, is the al-Qarawiyyin Library based in Fez, Morocco. What’s really cool about the al Qarawiyyin Library, besides the fact that it was created in 859 CE and still operates in 2026, is that it was founded by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy Tunisian merchant. She used her family’s money to create a university and the library. And fun fact, the library was restored and opened to the public in 2017 under the direction of another woman, Moroccan architect Aziza Chaouni. So, I guess we can also say that North African women are really cool.

Public Libraries are Super Cool(ing) Centers

Personally, I think libraries are super cool because you can walk into a library with zero money in your pocket, and walk out of the library with a stack of best-selling novels, three Oscar-Award winning movies, a handful of CDs, and the latest edition of your favorite fashion magazine. Libraries can make anyone feel rich and smart. They can also make you feel like you’re part of a community. Libraries are great places to gather, to study, to learn, to attend cultural events, and to meet cool people who love books. Increasingly, the libraries of the 21^st century have also incorporated additional services like cooking lessons, rudimentary health care, and probably most important, refuge from a warming planet.

Over the past several years, libraries have officially been designated by city governments as cooling centers for the public when temperatures reach unbearable highs. According to the publication, Nonprofit Quarterly, increasingly libraries, “serve as cooling or warming centers: opening their doors and extending their hours for people dealing with the climate emergencies of heat waves, heavy storms and record snowfalls, and power outages.”

And this isn’t just a trend in the United States. Libraries serve as cooling centers in Canada, Europe, Africa (see this incredible library in Niger that stays cool without air conditioning), Asia, and the UK as well. They are free public spaces where people can seek relief from record heat and read a good book while they cool off.

Maybe the only benefit of rising temperatures is that it will bring more people to our public libraries. And then when folks see how cool libraries are, in both senses of the word, they will start patronizing them more and supporting them as they face budget cuts from misguided governments, attacks from book banning zealots, and dwindling numbers due to plunging literacy rates.

Libraries are Cooler than Data Centers

The largest library in the world, where largest refers to the amount of items in the collection, is the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Reportedly, they have millions of materials in their collection and their bookshelves, if stretched out, would cover over eight miles. That is a lot of space for a lot of information to be stored. But even still, The Library of Congress is way cooler than any data center. Literally and figuratively. The building is gorgeous and open to the public. Their collection of books is open to the public. They host events for adults and children, including the always exciting, National Book Festival.

The largest data center in the world is reportedly in HohHot Inner Mongolia and takes up 10.7 million square feet of space. It uses billions of liters of water annually and emits tons of toxic carbon emissions. Also, they don’t host a book festival, nor do they offer any children’s programing. And I don’t think anyone would classify this data center as beautiful

This is me sitting in a book museum in The Hague, thinking about a cool library.

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Suffice it to say, public libraries are way cooler than data centers. And they provide knowledge, aka power, without destroying the planet and making you hot and thirsty. If you’d like some recommendations for some of the coolest libraries in the world to visit, follow 1000 libraries on Instagram, and /or read my post about The Peabody Library in Baltimore, two very cool libraries in The Hague, and the Casa Saramago, which is a library and shrine to the writer Jose Saramago in Obidos, Portugal.

Write on and please support your local libraries!

By the way, what’s the coolest library you’ve ever been to?