Chapters 1 through 3 – What is the reader’s connection with books – a reader? A collector? A borrower? What is the reader’s perspective on the differences between gathering information from books and gathering it from other sources – e.g. online?

This question opens the door for the reader to consider his / her relationship with books from a similar perspective as Orlean has written this particular book. It invites the reader to consider his / her perspectives in relation to the author's, which Orlean herself did when she started her investigations into the fire, and into libraries in general.

Chapters 4 through 6 – What does Orlean mean when she refers to libraries as “a portal … a transit point, a passage”? How do these terms relate to, or evoke, the experience of going to or making use of a library?

The essential purpose of a library, in all of its functions, is to...