A personal note
After college, I discovered an immense joy of reading in my spare time and found myself buying books online. However, when it came time to move—first to San Francisco, then to New York City—I found myself dreading the task of packing, shipping, and finding space for an ever-growing collection.
At the time, I was not a regular library user at all. I did not know a thing about public libraries, but a bit of research and thought led me to discover that they were exactly what I needed.
Public libraries gave me the space I was looking for—the freedom to browse and borrow books without adding clutter to my home. They also became a place where I studied while preparing for graduate school applications. With nothing more than a library card, I had access to shelves full of books (and so much more!) that were already mine as a resident of the city.
LibLatch was born from a simple idea: helping more people discover and use a resource that is already free, accessible, and incredibly valuable. Every time I come across a passage that stays with me or a book that changes how I see the world, I am reminded of why reading matters.
As mildly ashamed as I am to admit it, my chronically online self realized many of the books that spark our curiosity today are discovered online through communities like BookTok and Bookstagram. My hope is that LibLatch makes it effortless to bridge that moment of discovery with your local library, helping you spend less time searching and more time reading something that found its way to you.
Happy reading.