The Public Library of the Future Could Stand as a Critical Force for Evidence-Based Health and Cancer Information

To set the scene for this commentary focused on the critical yet vast topic of the uncertain and disquieting future of publicly facing cancer information, I begin with a description of a recently published comic featuring a young girl holding a book while sitting next to shelves of other books.¹ The caption reads, “And on this quiet morning in the year of 2026, Emma realized the library was a real place with real books, not just an app on her phone.”¹ The truth can be painful.

On a more serious note, consider the words of the Roman statesman, Cicero, who is reported to have declared: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”² Or, moving closer to our own times, it is relevant to acknowledge the poignant opinion expressed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the role of the public library system: “I have an unshakable conviction that democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of using them.”³

And to the specific point of this commentary regarding the future role of public libraries in providing nonjudgmental, apolitical, evidence-based cancer-related information and serving as a meaningful countervailing force against misinformation, there can be no more powerful statement than that attributed to Albert Einstein: “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.”⁴ 

Tax-supported public libraries have existed in the United States for almost 200 years.⁵ It is likely that a large percentage of Americans have their own story or stories related to a personal relationship with a local library during their youth or in later years. Perhaps it was a particular book or book series that inspired a love of reading or a book club or community program centered around books or other educational activities. Of course, there are other types of libraries, including those within schools, universities, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations.

But the point of this commentary is to focus on the unique nature of public libraries for meaningful lifelong education, perhaps beginning as early as several years before public (or private) kindergarten and continuing for many decades beyond the end of high school. Although the need for population-wide, publicly supported continuing education beyond the age of 18 years may have been of questionable value in generations past, that is far from our current reality.

Today and in the future, the relevance of efforts to help individuals and society at large understand and effectively respond to what will be a remarkably complex and rapidly changing information universe cannot be overstated. Public libraries, through educational outreach, will surely play a key role for many in attaining essential reading skills, improving financial and numerical literacy, and achieving a sensible and practical real-world degree of critical thinking.

In the coming years within the domain of health and wellness, we can be certain that society will be absolutely flooded with deep-fake pictures, videos, podcasts, publications, and pronouncements that will challenge and aggressively seek to replace well-established basic, clinical, and regulatory science and to undermine the legitimate authority of effective public health leadership. How will we respond?

To be crystal clear, there is no intent in this commentary to suggest a particular political point of view. In current and yet-to-come discussions related to topics such as nutrition, wellness, exercise, obesity, cancer screening, and an ever-increasing variety of proposed cancer prevention, diagnostic, and treatment strategies, there will—and should be—thoughtful and deliberate discussions, fervently held and expressed opinions, and in some settings, rancorous debate involving both the existing and required science associated with proposed interventions.

Further, in the future, this will increasingly include considerations of costs as well as who will pay for any newly introduced strategy or intervention. And, of course, there will always be hardcore promotion, both overt and hidden.

How will people be able to make informed choices? Whom should they trust to advise them on both individual and community/public health decisions? What information should they demand to be able to review and evaluate in this process?

One can argue that in the future, public libraries will have available to their patrons an expanding variety of highly sophisticated, technologically advanced decision-support tools to mentor both younger and older individuals on existing beneficial and proposed health-related tactics. The information must be able to be presented in formats that permit meaningful independent review and careful analysis of claims related to the health and wellness of individuals (and their families) and the community (public health).

And it is appropriate to acknowledge here that in the future, artificial intelligence will surely play a relevant role in the preparation of effective educational products that are objective, regularly updated, and factually correct (based on existing knowledge) as well as age and schooling-level appropriate. 

For example, one could imagine employing the resources of the apolitical public library system and their librarians to encourage the viewing (perhaps several times) of a thoughtful, previously rigorously tested, nonconfrontational, educational activity (or activities) that carefully and nonjudgmentally discusses the nature of human papillomavirus infection; the highly negative impact on individuals, families, and society of the associated cancers to be prevented (cervix, head and neck, etc); and the clearly documented safety and efficacy of the existing vaccine products.⁶

Further, and of critical importance, this material should be both thoughtful and respectful and must also directly address any concerns expressed by individuals and various groups about why adolescents should be vaccinated, particularly at such a young age.

In conclusion, recognizing the enormous impact of social media leading to increasingly limited attention spans, another example of how public library resources may communicate short, relevant, and solidly evidence-based information can be found in a provocative paper by Jackson et al that highlights the stunningly negative impact of cigarette smoking on anyone who elects to engage in the addictive habit. The simple, pithy, essential message to be delivered to both young and old is, “On average, smokers…who do not quit lose approximately 20 minutes of life expectancy for each cigarette they smoke.”⁷ Think about that fact the next time you light up.

References

1. Ella Audrey. Pepper…and Salt. Wall Street Journal. May 18, 2026:A16.
2. Cicero MT. Book 9, Letter 4. In: Letters to Friends. Williams WG, translator. Loeb Classical Library; 1928:148.
3. Letter to Herbert Putnam. In: Waters EN. Herbert Putnam: the tallest little man in the world. Q J Libr Cong. 1976;33(2):171.
4. The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library. Librarianship Studies and Information Technology. July 27, 2019. Accessed June 24, 2026. https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2019/02/the-only-thing-that-you-absolutely-have.html.
5. Kevane M, Sundstrom WA. The development of public libraries in the United States, 1870-1930: a quantitative assessment. Inf Cult. 2014;49(2):117-144. doi:10.1353/lac.2014.0009
6. HPV vaccine safety and effectiveness data. CDC. July 9, 2024. Accessed June 24, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/vaccination-considerations/safety-and-effectiveness-data.html
7. Jackson SE, Jarvis MJ, West R. The price of a cigarette: 20 minutes of life? Addiction. 2025;120(5):810-812. doi:10.1111/add.16757