BPL Featured in Atlantic Article: Our Towns: Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19

Where Birmingham area residents can find up-to-date coronavirus information and links you can trust.

The Birmingham Public Library was featured in an article by The Atlantic highlighting how libraries are reliable sources of information and provide valuable online programming for their patrons at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

BPL was highlighted for its website link to resources related to COVID-19. The BPL coronavirus resource page, set up by BPL web administrator Melinda Shelton, is http://www.bplonline.org/coronavirus.aspx 


Tthe Atlantic stated, “The Birmingham Public Library in Alabama has a list of valuable links, including one that shows exactly where to get tested and includes details of hours, location, and necessity for call-ahead appointments."

The March 20, 2020 article, “Our Towns: Public Libraries Respond to COVID-19,” was written by Deborah Fallows, a writer for The Atlantic. Fallow has written several features on the Birmingham Public Library and the historic features of the Linn-Henley Research Library in the past.

Read the full article by here: https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2020/03/public-libraries-novel-response-to-a-novel-virus/609058/

Fallows' 2016 article about the history of the Linn-Henley Research Library is entitled, "The Treasures of Birmingham: For almost a century, a local library has guarded its city's history." 

In a December 2019 feature called  "Our Towns: A Portrait of Public Libraries,"Fallows wrote about murals painted by Ezra Winters on the walls of the first floor of the Linn-Henley Research Library.