Libraries have existed since antiquity, mentioned in records dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE. One of the most famous libraries in history is the Library of Alexandria, Egypt (for which Alix Watson is named), said to be one of the largest and most significant collections of texts in the ancient world. It was established around 285-246 BCE, contained an estimated 400,000 scrolls (roughly 100,000 books), and was intended to house the entire collected knowledge of the Greek world, where all the great scholars of the time came to work and research (Phillips, Heather. “The Great Library of Alexandria?” Library Philosophy and Practice, 2010).

However, until the mid-1800s, libraries were primarily not open to the public. Rather, libraries were created and guarded by national rulers, religious institutions, universities, and wealthy private individuals. The public lending library truly began with the Museums Act of 1845 in the United Kingdom. Though some town-run public libraries already existed by this time, this Act codified the laws that allowed the use of tax revenue for the construction, inventory, and management of public libraries that would be open to anyone (Starmans, Barbara. “Public Lending Libraries.” The Social Historian, 17 Jan. 2016). Such public libraries were instantly popular with patrons in the UK and the US, leading to some of the most enormous public library systems in the world, including the Boston Public Library, where Alix works.

From the beginning, various entities have argued about the purpose and value of public libraries. The creators and managers of the earliest libraries, such as in monasteries and universities, believed that their primary purpose was to support research and scholarship, and that they should not be accessible to the public. Collections were restricted and individual libraries chose who had the right to access them—i.e., the wealthy, educated, upper classes. The public libraries that began to open after 1845 slowly changed this attitude.

Public libraries were also one of the first places deemed socially acceptable and respectable as employment for educated, middle-class women (Brady, Hillary, and Franky Abbott. “A History of US Public Libraries.” Digital Public Library of America, Sept. 2015). Public libraries, funded by public taxes and open to all, are now also considered crucial third spaces, defined as “social environment[s] that exist outside of the home (first space) and the workplace (second space) […] where people can connect with others, form relationships, and engage in leisure or recreational activities” (“What Is a Third Space?” The Third Space Collective).

Many both within and outside libraries supported public libraries embracing new technology, such as computers and the internet. Additionally, amid decreased public funding, pushes in the last two decades towards commercialization, and federal censorship concerns, many American public libraries have been forced to decrease their collections, alter their programming, or redesign their spaces to be more acceptable in the current political climate (Brady). Many disagree on the proper balance between providing access to books, public “third spaces,” current technology, and profitable programming. These tensions inform the core plot conflict in The Astral Library.