Serendipity's Charm

Praise

About the book

In May 2025, the abrupt firing of the Librarian of Congress and the Register of Copyrights sent Anita S. Coleman down a trail of unexpected connections — a misclassified butterfly, a forgotten cataloging experiment, a modern city quietly becoming its own library system for the first time in fifty years. Serendipity's Charm collects the essays that trail produced: on the difference between freedom to read and freedom to think, what addictive design is doing to the mind, the AI copyright litigation case of Bartz v. Anthropic, a trip to Washington D.C. on the fiftieth anniversary of the American Library Association's National Library Legislative Day, and Huntington Beach librarian Erin Spivey. It follows those questions home, to Irvine, California — one of the first American cities to build a new municipal public library system in the twenty-first century — through field notes on libraries transitioning and reopening, community planning, and stories from the congressional trip to advocate for the libraries that raised her. Part personal essay, part civic chronicle, this is a book about what it takes to keep a promise — the promise of a citizen who can find out — when the systems deciding what we find are less visible than ever.

Forms and themes

• Nonfiction
• Civic Life
• Intellectual freedom
• AI and copyright
• Public libraries
• City of Irvine
• National Library Legislative Day

Who might enjoy Serendipity's Charm?

Serendipity's Charm may appeal to readers who enjoy:

• Writing about libraries, librarians, censorship, and book banning
• Questions about our future selves and the freedom to read and think
• Connecting everyday technology use to culture, libraries, and democracy
• Stories about how communities build, protect, and use public libraries
• Local history and civic life in Irvine and Southern California
• Books that connect national events with ordinary places and personal experience
• A misclassified butterfly, unexpected discoveries, and the delight of following a good question wherever it leads

It may especially interest librarians, information professionals, educators, writers, library supporters, and readers concerned about who controls access to knowledge—and how citizens can continue to find out.

Contents

Page numbers are omitted, and will be added once the book is typeset.

About the author

Anita S. Coleman has spent more than three decades in library and information science as a librarian and a professor. She founded dLIST, the field's first open access repository, and writes the weekly serial Infophilia. A lover of books, libraries, nature, and technology, her writing draws on a literary life and a library life formed in diverse communities, dioceses, and parishes across two continents. She is a member of the Authors Guild. Read more about her research at Infophilia.

About the foreword writer

Chris Bronk, the author of the foreword, is a cybersecurity scholar and former U.S. diplomat, now a professor at the University of Houston and an expert on information as an instrument of power.

Cover art

Back cover forthcoming

Book details

Author

Anita S. Coleman

Foreword

Chris Bronk

Title

Serendipity's Charm: Essays on Intellectual Freedom

Publisher

Infophilia Press

Design

Cover and book design by Alan Drake. Cover photo by Anita S. Coleman.

Format

Paperback, 222 pp (pending Foreword) · Ebook forthcoming · Audiobook expected late fall 2026

Publication date

2026

ISBN (Paperback)

979-8-9965489-3-4

ISBN (Ebook)

979-8-9965489-4-1

LCCN

2026919872

LC Classification

Z711.4 .C65 2026

Dewey Decimal

025.2/13; 027.4794

Subjects

Intellectual freedom · Public libraries—California—Irvine · Libraries and community—California—Irvine · Irvine (Calif.)—History

BISAC Categories

LAN025000 — Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / General · SOC052000 — Social Science / Media Studies · POL004000 — Political Science / Civil Rights · LAN025030 — Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / Cataloging & Classification · COM060000 — Computers / Internet / General