Welcome to Library of the Great Lakes
Contained within the immensity, complexity, and beauty of the Great Lakes are stories of shifting tectonic plates, volcanoes, and glaciers; of mammoths, and hunters; of First Nations, explorers, fur-traders, miners, and loggers; of great ships and bustling cities and industries that changed the world; of countless lives altered, enriched, and lost. The Great Lakes region is the home to innovation, research, technology, science, industry, architecture, poetry, theater, freshwater studies, lake effect snow, sustainable agriculture, fisheries, wilderness and wildness.
One fifth of Earth’s fresh surface water is contained in the Great Lakes. Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior are so big they create their own weather.
It is time they had their own Library.
What's the Latest?
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Fresh Coast Bookshelf: Book Announcement #1!
The Fresh Coast
Bookshelf 2026coming soon from the Library of the Great Lakes
All of our local Great Lakes region public libraries will have the chance to apply for a “Bookshelf in a Box” – a curated selection of 12 books across age range and genre that celebrate the Great Lakes, plus a full-color display kit to help promote their new bookshelf!
The selection list includes fantastic, fresh titles from children’s literature, adult fiction, nonfiction and poetry – and…
The first four titles to be revealed are:
Sisters in the Wind
by Angeline BoulleySkating Wild on an Inland Sea
by Jean Pendziwol (author) and Todd Stewart (illustrator)Fresh Water, Women Writing on the Great Lakes
by Alison SwanA Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region
by Phillipa JolySave the Date: Application period opens January 28th!
Program open to all public libraries within the 8 U.S. States and 2 Canadian Provinces in the Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Ontario and Quebec).
Come back on December 15th when we’ll reveal the next four titles!
Post Image: October Saugatuck by John Shultz
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Get Caught Up In The Gales of November!
The Library of the Great Lakes is excited to recommend The Gales of November, John U. Bacon’s new book about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
For three decades following World War II, the Great Lakes overtook Europe as the epicenter of global economic strength. The region was the beating heart of the world economy, possessing all the power and prestige Silicon Valley does today. And no ship represented the apex of the American Century better than the 729-foot-long Edmund Fitzgerald―the biggest, best, and most profitable ship on the Lakes […] When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.
Read Lori Tucker Sullivan’s review of The Gales of November
50 Years On, Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald
'The Gales of November' was a labor of love for Bacon, who, like many in the Midwest, grew up hearing stories of the tragedy. It's a weighty tome, coming in at over 400 pages, and full of interesting facts and heart-rending remembrances… nextavenue.org
Author John U. Bacon is going on tour!
This Fall, Bacon will be touring the country, including several stops in the Great Lakes. For information on tour dates and ordering The Gales of November, visit his website.
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Dive into The Accidental Reef by Lynne Heasley!
The Library of the Great Lakes wants to highlight this engaging, educational, and beautifully-illustrated book The Accidental Reef by Lynne Heasley. Spend some time learning about the nature that surrounds us and what we stand to lose if it is not protected.
2022 NAUTILUS SILVER WINNER FOR LYRIC PROSE
Lynne Heasley illuminates an underwater world that, despite a ferocious industrial history, remains wondrous and worthy of care […] this powerful book takes readers on journeys through the Great Lakes, alongside fish and fishers, scuba divers and scientists, toxic pollutants and threatened communities, oil pipelines and invasive species, Indigenous peoples and federal agencies. […] Suffused with curiosity, empathy, and wit, The Accidental Reef will not fail to astonish and inspire.
Collage Photos:
Top Row, left to right: “Sandhill Crane Flying on and Autumn Morning,” photograph by Silke-Maria Weineck; Photo courtesy of Amanda Rockafellow; The City of Buffalo Steam Side Wheeler, Library of Congress collection; Portion of Detroit Public Library in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 1921, Library of Congress collection; Two Indian guides(?) standing, and two women seated, in canoe, in the Sault Sainte Marie region of Michigan, Library of Congress collection; Montreal Winter Carnival 1887, Library of Congress collection.
Bottom row, left to right: Neighboring Lighthouse, Lake Michigan, St Joseph, MI, Library of Congress collection; Inspection Lincoln Motor Co. Detroit 1914 1915, Library of Congress collection; Sleeping Bear Dune_credit: johnshultzart.com; Great Lakes from space_credit: EPA; Photo courtesy of Amanda Rockafellow; McGregor Memorial Conference Cent., Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, Library of Congress collection.