Have Big Public Libraries Lost Traditional Mission, Become Just Another Government Tax Sink?
Is it wise for a truly free democracy to allow “the government” to fund and operate libraries? — Jim Shaw
Edward McClelland
I can’t think of a more egregious example of government-sponsored socialism than the public library. Unproductive citizens without two nickels to rub together are given access to millions of books they could never afford to buy on their own — all paid for with the tax dollars of productive citizens. Does the government pay for people to rent tuxedos for free, sail boats for free, or play golf for free? No, it does not. So why should it pay for people to read books and surf the Internet for free?
The free market should be left alone to distribute books and computers to those who have earned them. With libraries handing out free books, is it any wonder Borders went out of business? Libraries are also repositories for out-of-print books which can no longer make it in the marketplace. Gary can no longer afford to keep its main library open, but you don’t see the state bailing it out. That’s because Indiana is a business-friendly place that knows how to balance its budget.
In addition, libraries are often used by the homeless to warm themselves during the winter, or to nap during aimless afternoons which might better be spent looking for a job. Advocates of public libraries cite them as “community gathering spaces” — but can’t the market provide those spaces, too?
As the author of three books, I obviously have a grudge against libraries because they enable the public to consume my work without paying for it. Every time someone checks one of my books out of the library, that’s money out of my pocket. There are 79 public libraries in Chicago. If there were 79 filling stations dispensing free gasoline, don’t you think the oil industry would complain? You bet it would, and it would probably get those stations shut down, because the Petroleum Institute has a much better-funded lobbying arm than the Authors’ Guild.
If the public libraries can’t generate enough revenue to support themselves, they should be closed.
Oh, yes, because only people who have “earned” it deserve access to information about their government, their environment, and their history. Only people with money get to enjoy literacy. Corporations should be allowed to control the flow of knowledge, just like every other basic human need.
For someone so deathly concerned about government tyranny, you guys should be deeply committed to ensuring that we have strong public libraries to help all citizens educate themselves about the Constitution and the actions of their governments.
In terms of a library’s educational and civic mission, it is always good to remind ourselves of what public libraries used to be and why they came into existence. Unfortunately that conservative impetus is increasingly outdated, along with other educational institutions that we depend upon. No sense in kidding ourselves. Those rich and poor who seek education in a library must, by definition, already be educated.
Bookstores attract people who like to read. Owing to our culture’s decline in reading, books are being readily discarded, so used-book availability should be a boon to the poor if only that’s what they really want, at garage sales and on Amazon. Thanks to the same “second hand” market, even the poorest homes can have computers, as with televisions and cell phones. Where there’s an educational will, there’s a way.
To be honest, aren’t libraries more about entertainment and welfare-type “freebies” than education? And was Bill Gates being purely high-minded when he started “donating” computers to libraries, or was it another example of the government-corporation complex to promote lots of consumerism in that sector? What better demonstration sites for new electronic gadgetry? Yes, let’s get mothers out of the homes to afford the latest luxuries. It’s all about being liberated, right?
Then, again, conservatives would have less gripe with libraries, schools, colleges, and governments if those institutions didn’t appear to be hijacked by career-savvy liberals with self-defeating socialistic agendas.