Name: Independent Lens: Free For All: The Public Library
Uploaded: 2025-04-23T17:44:34+00:00
Duration: 5061 s
Description: Free For All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.

Free For All: The Public Library

1h 24m

Free For All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.

Episodes
Extras + Features
Schedule

A Town Called Victoria | Episode 2

S25 E5 - 54m 12s

With the arson trial near, the suspect’s family argues his innocence. Meanwhile, facets of Victoria reveal the ingredients that might have turned him to hate and support for the town’s Muslim community begins to wane.
A Town Called Victoria | Episode 1

S25 E4 - 54m 41s

A south Texas town is thrown into the national spotlight when a local mosque is burned down in an apparent hate crime. After the media moves on, the community is left to reflect on its complex history with racism.
Three Chaplains

S25 E3 - 55m 43s

Muslim chaplains uphold the First Amendment and vow to protect service members' right to practice their faith freely, despite facing long-held prejudice and disapproval from their own communities. The Muslim chaplains work hard to ensure that all service members have access to religious materials, services, and resources regardless of the religious beliefs they hold.
El Equipo

S25 E2 - 1h 25m

Legendary U.S. anthropologist Dr. Clyde Snow sets out to train a new group of Latin American students in the use of forensic anthropology. Their goal: to investigate disappearances in Argentina during the “dirty war”. The group expands its horizons, traveling to El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico, doggedly working behind the scenes to establish the facts for the families of the victims.

Spring Season Trailer 2024 | Coming to Independent Lens

S25 - 1m

We’re blooming this spring with a lineup of docs, including Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's, Space: The Longest Goodbye, One With The Whale, and The Tuba Thieves. Stream Independent Lens with the PBS App.
How Did Opinions Get In Our News?

S25 E11 - 7m 44s

Even though objectivity is seen as the gold standard for news coverage, OpEds and commentary have been part of the news landscape since the early days of America – and it's not always easy to spot the difference between facts and opinion.
Has Journalism Always Been This Stressful?

S25 E11 - 8m 52s

As news evolved over the last 40 years from a single daily paper or nightly news show to something that's pushed 24/7, a mental health crisis has taken shape in our newsrooms as journalists race to cover traumatic events and get the most views.
How Did This Women-Owned Newspaper Revolutionize Journalism?

S25 E11 - 7m 8s

In 1850s America, one women-led newsroom blazed a trail for women's rights, shifting the media landscape and ultimately affecting how we see and cover "women's" issues today.
Trailer | Breaking The News

S25 E11 - 30s

A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo to launch news startup The 19th*.
Trailer | Sister Úna Lived a Good Death

S25 E10 - 30s

Following a stage IV cancer diagnosis, wisecracking Sister Úna chooses to live as she’s dying.
Trailer | Razing Liberty Square

S25 E9 - 30s

Liberty City, Miami, is home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the United States. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood’s higher ground has become something else: real estate gold.
Trailer | Racist Trees

S25 E8 - 30s

When an activist campaigns for the removal of a controversial wall of trees, one which forms a barrier believed to segregate the community, the history of racial tension in the city comes to light.
If Dreams Were Lightning | One Veteran's Story | Clip

S25 E18 - 2m 37s

A clip from the documentary If Dreams Were Lighting by Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani.
Herzog Interviews Bahrani | If Dreams Were Lightning

S25 E18 - 21m 12s

Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Nosferatu the Vampyre) interviews Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes; Man Push Cart; Chop Shop) on his Independent Lens documentary If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis.
Winter Season Trailer 2024 | Coming to Independent Lens

S25 - 1m

We’re heating up this winter with a lineup of docs, including Beyond Utopia, Racist Trees, Razing Liberty Square, and Breaking the News. Stream Independent Lens with the PBS App.
Trailer | A Town Called Victoria

S25 E4 - 30s

When a devastating hate crime reduces the local mosque to ashes, the community of Victoria faces the daunting task of bridging longstanding political, racial, and economic rifts in order to discover a unified path towards healing and progress.

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Independent Lens

Free for All: The Public Library

Saturday
May 3

12:00 pm

1 Hour 30 Minutes

The women behind the "Free Library Movement" to the librarians who service the public amid an age of closures and book bans, creating a civic institution that is free and open to all.
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Independent Lens

Free for All: The Public Library

Sunday
May 4

12:30 am

1 Hour 35 Minutes

The women behind the "Free Library Movement" to the librarians who service the public amid an age of closures and book bans, creating a civic institution that is free and open to all.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Monday
May 5

10:00 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
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Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Tuesday
May 6

3:00 am

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Wednesday
May 7

7:30 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Thursday
May 8

12:30 am

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Thursday
May 8

8:30 am

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Saturday
May 10

12:00 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My ALS

Saturday
May 10

1:00 pm

1 Hour

Three people face different paths as they live with the progressively debilitating illness ALS -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Saturday
May 10

8:00 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Saturday
May 10

11:30 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Sunday
May 11

4:00 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Monday
May 12

4:00 am

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Monday
May 12

4:00 am

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Monday
May 12

2:00 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

Monday
May 12

4:00 pm

1 Hour

A portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer's and how the disease transforms roles and relationships.
Image

Independent Lens

And So It Begins

Monday
May 12

10:00 pm

1 Hour 30 Minutes

The Philippines' turbulent 2022 presidential race in which Bongbong Marcos waged a combative social media campaign against his more progressive opponent, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.
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Independent Lens

And So It Begins

Tuesday
May 13

3:00 am

1 Hour 30 Minutes

The Philippines' turbulent 2022 presidential race in which Bongbong Marcos waged a combative social media campaign against his more progressive opponent, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.
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Independent Lens

Free Chol Soo Lee

Wednesday
May 14

7:00 pm

1 Hour 30 Minutes

Sentenced to death for a 1973 murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese and Chinese Americans helps to overturn his conviction.
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Independent Lens

And So It Begins

Wednesday
May 14

8:30 pm

1 Hour 30 Minutes

The Philippines' turbulent 2022 presidential race in which Bongbong Marcos waged a combative social media campaign against his more progressive opponent, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo.

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