The new documentary, coming soon to PBS, explores how public libraries have shaped the country and continue to serve as a sanctuary for all Americans.

In-person registration for this event has sold out, but livestream tickets are still available. A limited number of standby tickets may be available on the night of the event.

Free for All: Inside the Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who brought a simple yet powerful idea to life. 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.

The screening will be followed by a talkback with the filmmakers, Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor, sociologist Eric Klinenberg, and library worker Sam Jackson.

Due to copyright restrictions, the documentary will not be available for online attendees. A livestream of the talkback, starting at approximately 8:30 PM ET, will be available on the NYPL event page.

To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For LIVE from NYPL events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment; we will do our best to accommodate everyone. Booked seats that have not been claimed will be released shortly before start time, and seats may become available then. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

To join the livestream | A livestream of the talkback will be available on the NYPL event page. To receive an email reminder shortly in advance of the event, please be sure to register! If you encounter any issues, please join us on NYPL's YouTube channel.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dawn Logsdon (Producer/Director/Narrator) has been dedicated to making films about civic issues and city life, particularly at the neighborhood level. She directed and produced Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (2008), which premiered nationally at the Tribeca International Film Festival. It won the SFIFF Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary and was a PBS Black History Month feature presentation three years in a row. Dawn co-directed and edited Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton (2013) and Lindy Boggs: Steel and Velvet (2008). Dawn edited the Sundance Award-winning Paragraph 175 by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Freidman, Academy Award-nominated Weather Underground by Sam Green, Emmy award-winning Have You Heard from Johannesburg? by Connie Field, and the Peabody award-winning The Castro by Peter Stein. Short films she produced and directed include Tomboy, which was exhibited at the Whitney Museum and aired on PBS. Dawn received a BA in Philosophy from UC Berkeley. Her honors include a Soros OSI Media Fellowship, California Arts Council Artist Residency, BAVC Media Maker Award, Djerassi Artist Residency, Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship, New Orleans Contemporary Art Center Artist Fellowship, and the New Orleans Arts Council Award.

Lucie Faulknor (Producer/Co-Director) produced and researched Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans and has worked with award-winning directors Dorothy Fadiman and Lynn Hershman-Leeson in the areas of fundraising, publicity, outreach and community engagement. Faulknor has also produced Dublin, Ireland's first Women in Film & Television film festival and presented a lecture series that included Laurie Anderson, Bobby McFerrin, Wayne Shorter, Sydney Pollack and others. She has worked for a number of arts organizations, including City Arts & Lectures, SFJAZZ, Palace of Fine Arts Theater, the Irish Arts Foundation, Stern Grove Festival, Yerba Buena Gardens, Dublin (IRL) Fringe Festival, and for a number of individual performing and visual artists including Jim Campilongo, Storm Large, Tracy Snelling and Kevin Woodson. She has a Master's degree in Nonprofit Administration from USF's School of Business & Professional Studies and a BA in Arts Management from SFSU. Lucie is a fourth-generation San Francisco Public Library user.

Eric Klinenberg is Helen Gould Shepard Professor of Social Science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the author of 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed (Knopf, 2024), Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life (Crown, 2018), Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone (The Penguin Press, 2012), Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media (Metropolitan Books, 2007), and Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2002), and co-author, with Aziz Ansari, of the New York Times #1 bestseller Modern Romance (The Penguin Press, 2015). His scholarly work has been published in journals including the American Sociological Review, Theory and Society, and Ethnography, and he has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, the New York Review of Books.

A native of the south, Sam Jackson has had the opportunity to speak of her experiences with young adult consulting and learning at several conferences including NJCEA, NYCC, and AnimeNYC; has served as a Coordinator, Stonewall @ 50 Young Adult Activity with The New York Public Library; as a Committee Member for NYPL's Summer Reading Committee and aided in the development of Curriculum for Kean University’s EEO Summer Writing Studio Program (Pilot Program). She continues to work in a multitude of fields and enjoys lending her support to our next generation of youth artists.

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. 

Livestream | Captions and a transcript will be provided. Media used over the course of the conversation will be accompanied by alt text and/or audio description. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

CONNECT

For questions and inquiries, please email publicprograms@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

Please submit press inquiries at least 48 hours before the event: email press@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

The New York Public Library's free services and resources are made possible thanks to the support of the Friends of the Library. Join this group of Library lovers and take advantage of special membership benefits, like invitations to members-only virtual events, discounts at the Library Shop, and more. Join now.

LIVE from NYPL is made possible by the continuing generosity of Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund, and the support of Library patrons and friends.

Courtesy Dawn Logsdon
Courtesy Lucie Faulknor
Courtesy Eric Klinenberg
Courtesy Sam Jackson