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Public Libraries
Britain's Public Libraries Act (1850) and Boston's public library (1854) offer free books to everyone, paid for from public funds.
Open in the interactive tree →Earlier libraries served rulers, clergy and paying subscribers. Tax-funded lending libraries spread with mass schooling and later Carnegie's gifts, and they remain a free access point to information, now including internet access.
Prerequisites
- Libraries~650 BC
- Printing Press~1450
- Compulsory Schooling & Literacy1763
Unlocks
- AI Reads Archives & Inscriptions2022-2026
- Global Literacy at 88%2024Free libraries were a main route to mass literacy