Love the library? Mat-Su library boosters want your stories

What you need to know:

• Mat-Su library supporters want local residents to submit first-person stories about how the library has impacted their lives. The submissions will be printed in a “Little Book of BIG Stories” as part of a library fundraiser and shared with Alaska legislators to emphasize the importance of libraries.
• The effort is modeled after the World War II-era Armed Services Editions, a government-publisher project that distributed books to American troops. That project showed the lasting impact and value of books.
• Stories should be about 250 words and submitted by Nov. 30 for publication ahead of the 2026 Alaska legislative session.

Mat-Su library supporters are drawing on a World War II-era troop morale book project to share their love of the region’s libraries — and they need residents’ help.

During World War II, American book publishers and the U.S. government joined forces to distribute nearly 123 million paperback books to troops across the theater of war. From Midway to Monte Cassino, homesick American GI’s fighting fascism abroad could escape the horrors of war through Gatsby’s excesses, the struggles of the Joads or the adventures of the Count of Monte Cristo. 

“Books are weapons in the war of ideas,” proclaimed the Council on Books in Wartime, which worked with the government’s Office of War Information to distribute a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction titles. 

According to the Library of Congress, the phrase was first coined by publisher W.W. Norton, but later used by President Franklin Roosevelt “to contrast with Nazis burning books.” 

While the distribution of the oddly shaped paperbacks – the editions were printed landscape style to more easily fit in soldiers’ pockets – was motivated as much by profit as patriotism, the effort is now widely credited with a postwar literacy boom. 

“By giving away the best it had to offer, the publishing industry created a vastly larger market for its wares,” The Atlantic’s Yoni Appelbaum wrote in a 2014 story that details the wartime project.  

The Community Library Association of Idaho and the Idaho Library Association recently used the Armed Services Editions as inspiration for a book project designed to highlight people’s love of modern libraries. Published in 2024, the association’s landscape style “Little Book of BIG Stories” is a collection of first-person love letters written by patrons from across the Gem State about their favorite libraries. 

“This is a story of Idaho, as lived through its well-loved libraries,” Community Library Association Executive Director Dr. Jenny Emery Davidson wrote in a brief preface to the book, which was later distributed to Idaho lawmakers as part of an effort to convince them of the importance of libraries in their constituents’ lives. A PDF of the books is free and available for download on the group’s website.

Library lovers in the Mat-Su Valley took note and decided to try and replicate the unique anthology. Friends of Sutton Library’s Joseph Davis and Friends of Wasilla Library’s Jeanne Troshynski recently issued a call to patrons asking them to contribute local stories for a Mat-Su version of the book. 

“Let’s do it again!,” the group wrote in a flier announcing the project. “Let’s share our BIG Mat-Su Borough Library stories and make our own book.” 

The group received a grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation to publish the book, which will then be given to each member of the Alaska Legislature. Now all it needs is a little help from the folks who use the seven public libraries in the Mat-Su Borough.

“We’re just trying to get the word out,” Troshynski said during a phone interview earlier this month. 

The group already has a number of stories from area contributors but would like to have more. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 30, which will allow enough time to publish before the Alaska Legislature goes into session in January. 

Anyone interested in contributing a short story (250 words or less) about how a local library has impacted their life can either email the group at aklittlebook@gmail.com.

Troshynski said she loves the idea of linking the current effort to the Armed Services Editions, whose publication proved to be a major victory for the forces of literacy. 

“It’s a small book but it’s got a really interesting history.” 

Troshynski said libraries are “so much more than books.” They provide community meeting areas, children’s storytimes, nature walks, and a variety of programming that allows them to serve as a vital hub for the cities and towns they serve.

“Libraries are so loved in our Valley,” she said. 

She said the project’s unique connection to American history is in keeping with librarians’ long history of finding new ways to bring a love of reading to as many people as possible.

“Librarians are always finding the coolest, craziest ways to connect things.” 

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com