Serendipity's Charm

Praise

For book clubs and classrooms

About the book

In May 2025, the abrupt removal 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 building its own library system for the first time in its history.

Serendipity's Charm collects the essays that trail produced: on the difference between the freedom to read and the freedom to think; on the self-censorship we practice before anyone asks; on Bartz v. Anthropic, the $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement, and the library organizations that sided with an AI company; on former Huntington Beach librarian Erin Spivey and California's Freedom to Read Act; and on infrastructure literacy as the new information literacy. It then follows those questions home to Irvine, California, one of the first American cities to create a municipal public library system in the twenty-first century, through field notes on branches transitioning and reopening, community planning meetings, public records requests, and a trip to Washington, DC, for the fiftieth National Library Legislative Day.

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. With a foreword by cybersecurity scholar Chris Bronk, an Intellectual Freedom Index, and discussion questions for book clubs and classrooms.

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

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, teaches at the University of Illinois iSchool, and writes the weekly serial Infophilia, A Positive Psychology of Information. A lover of books, libraries, nature, and technology, she draws on a literary life, a library life, and a family 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

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.

Trim size

6 × 9 inches, perfect bound

Format

Paperback, 302 pp · Ebook and audiobook planned for 2027

Publication date

November 2026

Price

$24.95 (paperback)

For booksellers and libraries

Available through Ingram; returnable · Sell sheet (PDF) · view online

Review copies and media

publisher@infophiliapress.com

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

POL039000 — Political Science / Censorship · LCO010000 — Literary Collections / Essays · LAN025000 — Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / General

The story of the cover photograph

The photograph on the cover was taken on May 15, 2025, outside the Heritage Park branch library in Irvine, California — the branch's last day under Orange County Public Libraries, though the county's contract with the city would not end until June 30. It was also the week after the Librarian of Congress and the Register of Copyrights were removed, and the author had walked over to the library for comfort. Three centuries earlier, Maria Sibylla Merian painted the same butterfly on a vanilla vine in Suriname, each creature drawn on the plant where she had found it. Here is what the author wrote two days later, in Infophilia:

What a week it’s been! … I put aside my books and walked to our local library. It was the last day this dearly beloved branch would be a part of the Orange County Public Library system. We’d waited decades for this moment that was coming too: Irvine Libraries. I stopped to take it all in. Children were running into the library. Butterflies in a striking orange color with silvery spots and white markings along the edges of their wings were flying among the lantanas. This Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) butterfly to me is a symbol of the non-duality in life, and how the local sometimes is the ‘other.’ Orange the color of joy and exuberance intertwined with the glittering silver of mystery and intrigue, forming a unified whole rather than separate entities. Interestingly, the Gulf Fritillary is not a true fritillary; it’s a longwing butterfly, part of the subfamily Heliconiinae. This misnomer itself is a metaphor for mistaken identity or disguise. Fascinating indeed!

The threads of literature and life were weaving together, capturing California’s warm light in intricate patterns. These patterns of sunlight and shadow were weaving tales of contentment and delight. The ‘whole book approach’ had led me to unexpected connections and sweet comfort. Even in the most ordinary-seeming moments and deep troubles, wonder is waiting just around the corner. And so, with Lucky Day Books still on my mind, beauty, change, and vulnerability never far away, I resumed my meander across the plaza, and into the library, following the crumbs of curiosity.

Stay curious. Stay connected. Keep reading! …

Coleman, Anita S. (2025, May 17). Serendipity’s charm: “major changes start with small beginnings.” Infophilia, A Positive Psychology of Information, 3(27). https://infophilia.substack.com/p/serendipitys-charm