In Franklin, Massachusetts, one of the country's earliest public libraries established in 1790, when locals distributed volumes provided by Benjamin Franklin. In 1731, the Founding Father established the Library Company in Philadelphia, but it demanded a subscription fee of 40 shillings.¹⁾

Between 1886 and 1919, the rich manufacturer gave $55 million (about $1.6 billion in today's currencies) to open an astounding 2509 libraries worldwide, including 1679 in the United States.²⁾

Carnegie supported multiple libraries in New York City, and the buildings were frequently designed with flats on the top level. The goal was to provide living accommodations for the library's caretakers so that they could continue shoveling coal into furnaces at all hours of the day and night.³⁾

The technique was common in the late 1800s, when library pioneer Melvil Dewey (of the Dewey Decimal System fame) and other early collection managers thought that readable handwriting was required for card catalogs. As typewriters became more prevalent, the practice vanished.⁴⁾

The Library of Congress (LOC) is the world's largest library in terms of catalog depth, with 168 million items. That achievement follows a disaster in 1814, when the then-14-year-old collection of 3000 books was destroyed after British forces burned down the Capitol building.⁵⁾

The LOC is so committed to making information accessible to all that it pays to have popular journals reproduced in Braille. In 1985, an enraged senator from Ohio called Chalmers Wylie battled against the publication of a Braille version of Playboy. Following objections, it was reinstalled.⁶⁾

The McAllen Public Library in McAllen, Texas, is situated in a converted Walmart and may be the country's largest single-story library facility. The 123,000-square-foot facility has a computer lab, a cafe, and an auditorium with 180 seats.⁷⁾

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is located right on the US-Canada border. You may walk from Stanstead, Quebec, to Derby Line, Vermont. You don't need a passport to cross the (actual) line that runs through the building, but you must return to your own country or face fines.⁸⁾

The Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra in Portugal is home to a number of bats, but no one is asking for an exterminator since the bats eat insects that may harm book pages. Staff cover tables overnight and clear up the guano in the morning.⁹⁾

Paranormal romance, young adult novels, and the Left Behind series are among the most popular genres in prison libraries.¹⁰⁾

The Bethlehem Area Public Library in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has a publishing arm that issued two volumes in 2018: Bob Cohen's Home At My Typewriter: Selected Poems and Matt Wolf's A Journey. The titles were designed and edited with the assistance of library employees.¹¹⁾

Everything from cocaine traces to the herpes virus to bed bugs has been discovered on sampling pages, but don't worry, there has never been a reported example of someone contracting anything from a library book.¹²⁾

The only risk a filthy book poses is to the book itself, since dust can trap moisture and harm the pages. That's why the Boston Public Library has a machine called the Depulvera that works like a little car wash for books, blasting dirt off volumes via a conveyor system.¹³⁾

Larger cities' libraries may collect millions in unpaid penalties. The San Jose Public Library reported $6.8 million in unpaid fees in 2016, with 39% of members owing money. If a customer's charges surpass $10, certain establishments will submit the debt to collection agencies. Other libraries, such as the Queens Library in New York, will credit fines if users come in for “reading time.” Sitting at the library with a book gets you credit toward your debt.¹⁴⁾