How Far Is the Library?

Each dot is a public school in Charleston County, South Carolina, colored by how many minutes it takes to reach the nearest public library. On a map, most schools look close. Switch to walking or the bus, then add the new branches, and watch which schools the map was hiding.

What this demonstrates: the measuring stick decides the answer. Charleston County built new branches after a 2014 bond vote. By car they barely matter; by foot or bus they cut some trips by more than an hour. Studies that measure "access" as a straight-line radius see mostly the car picture, which may be why effects on children can look smaller than they are for families without one. Travel times are computed on OpenStreetMap roads and the CARTA bus timetable for a weekday after school, with library locations from the federal Public Libraries Survey (2018 and 2024 sites) and school locations from NCES. One county, one departure time: a demonstration, not a survey. The national study this comes from: Do New Libraries Help Children Read? (preliminary findings).