PurposeThe authors ask the question of how libraries can advocate for themselves and for those who most need the library during the pandemic, and evaluate how the authors adapt to a future of helping underserved and underrepresented populations in new ways after it subsides.Design/methodology/approachUsing data currently being provided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources, prior issue analyses dealing with library programs and advocacy, and lessons from a few dystopian novels, the authors lay out the political and social implications of the coronavirus on libraries now and in the future.FindingsBecause the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic shut down physical library buildings everywhere, forcing extremely slow re-openings and decimating library programs, conversation is building now on how libraries will overcome its massive blow. Underrepresented populations who most need library information (namely, the homeless, Native Americans, Black and Hispanic peoples among others) are suffering disproportionately from the pandemic and its aftereffects that are just beginning to reverberate.Originality/valueThis paper presents a viewpoint backed by lessons from American history, specifically the Civil Rights Movement, and the dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell. Currently, the conversations around what will happen to libraries are limited, but will hopefully grow as libraries (and the rest of the world) attempt to move forward in an unprecedented situation.