Published September 22, 2026 at 12:54 PM CDT

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America is experiencing a public health crisis, and the sickness is loneliness.

In a Petrie Dish two-part series on loneliness, we explored how much isolation can cost us, physically, emotionally, and as a society.

In "The Lonely Body," we learned that broken social bonds don't just hurt; they can make us physically sick, raising the risk of heart disease, cognitive decline, and early death.

Jacob Rosati

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TPR

The Charles Santore Branch Library in Philadelphia.

In "The Social Cure," we asked how we might fix that through everything from teen-friendly public spaces to nutrition programs that offer human connection for older adults, and "chatty cafes" designed to help strangers talk to each other again. And we learned about what experts call "third places," where people can gather and reconnect, rebuilding our bonds with one another.

Now, in this Petrie Dish: Side Dish, producer Jacob Rosati took us to one of those third places that we can access immediately in nearly every neighborhood in America: a public library. Rosati took a local look at a large idea: that the treatment for loneliness might begin with getting a library card.

Listen to the full Side Dish episode, and catch up on our two-part series on the American crisis of loneliness, "The Lonely Body" and "The Social Cure."