The Prelinger Library challenges the traditional formula that conventional libraries follow: fluorescent-lit rooms lined with standardized books, sometimes digitized or enclosed collections and large-scale research environments — all of which are surrounded by institutional walls. 

Instead, the entrance to the Prelinger Library is lit by a red neon sign, which reads: “Free speech, fear free,” nodding to their fight against erasure and enclosure of information. The high ceiling and cement-floored room in San Francisco’s South of Market holds space for more than just books. The space shelves a curated collection of ephemera with intentionally ignored expiration dates — brochures, maps, periodicals, advertisements, physical artifacts — and otherwise forgotten or hard-to-find materials that aren’t held at public libraries. 

Since co-owners Megan and Rick Prelinger began the project 21 years ago, the library has shifted from being a hub for unique materials to now, also the center of a community that surrounds those resources.