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California Library's Plan: Get Rid of Books
HansonMB writes "Facing the likelihood of state budget cuts that would eliminate $15 million for library and reading programs – and, apparently, create a future in which people no longer read things on paper – the city of Newport Beach is considering turning its first library into a community center that would host all the same amenities – except for the books."
The library has been inundated with hate-mail as people around the country have learned of their idea, and they hastened to clarify that no final decision has been made; carting books in as needed from other locations was always part of the plan. Whether or not they go through with it, efforts are underway elsewhere to create a massive, public digital library, spurred in part by the recent ruling against Google Books.
Late last century Stallman predicted as much:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
> ... there was a time when anyone could go to the library and read journal articles, and even books, without having to pay....
well, it's probably two different publics, with little overlap...
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
Except right now, libraries present little to zero cost for the user. A person can(in many cases) walk or ride public transportation to a library, where at no charge they can get a library card and have access to the books. In your future, a person will need to have access to a computer or a tablet/similar device. Unless these devices(and the various services that go with them such as internet, WIFI, 3G, whatever) get so cheap as to be virtually free, then you are in effect going to be preventing a rather large proportion of the population from accessing these books. A proportion of the population that, arguably, would need this access the most. So, unless you want to help pay for the government to give out tablets/computers to everyone on welfare, libraries going all digital won't be happening any time soon.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
just the sort of "educated" idiots who need access to a book.
most of these people probably have law and business degrees so no book can undo that level of brain damage.
From TFA:
the city's Balboa branch - which "accounts for about six percent of the 1.3 million visitors that utilize Newport Beach Public Libraries each year" - is underutilized and "could be changed to better fit the community's needs."
"patrons could 'order' books from the large Central Library (located about four miles away)"
This isn't about closing the only library in town. This is about cutting the cost of maintaining a branch that a small percentage of people use by not buying books for that branch.
As much as I hate the idea of libraries losing their funding, I can't honestly say I would be against this if I lived there. It's about 3 miles from my house to the nearest public library and it isn't a difficult trip. It's what most people I know would consider to be within walking distance.
There is no single "public". Some people don't want to pay for the library other people love the library and are outraged. Sounds a little less irrational that way.
The public doesn't want to pay taxes to fund 6-figure public sector salaries and pensions, and the people making that pay decide to cut libraries and schools instead of their own pay (shocking, I know - but to give some excuse, at the state level the constitution requires pensions be funded first), and the public is outraged.
Cali is doomed anyhow - we may be the pioneer of state bankruptcy before much longer here, and many local governments are in crisis already (as the state's ability to bail out local governments is quite limited), and things like keeping the streeghlights on, the roads patches, and the trees clear of the power lines are fading before the all-consuming pension costs. (No joke: in my city the city switched from cutting trees away from roads and power lines to requiring homeowners to hire someone to do that - permit required, of course).
Still greed and stupidity, of course, but not so simple as you make it out to be.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I see your definition of "poor" includes possession of shelter (so the rain doesn't get on your 400 dollar device) wired to the electric grid (to power said device). And credit cards.
After all, when I want to give a handout to a beggar on the street I prefer to use a credit card swiper, or direct deposit my spare change into their tin cup.
I don't think "poor" means what you think it means.
The public doesn't want to pay taxes to fund 6-figure public sector salaries and pensions, and the people making that pay decide to cut libraries and schools instead of their own pay
That maybe true, but the public is grossly misinformed if they think there are many public sector workers making those kinds of salaries. The average salary of a local public library librarian was $47,940 in 2008, for example. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm
(shocking, I know - but to give some excuse, at the state level the constitution requires pensions be funded first), and the public is outraged.
And why shouldn't pensions be funded first? They are nothing more than deferred payment of a worker's salary. Not paying a paying the pension is basically saying "We'll give you $100, $80 now and $20 later, to do x amount of work." Then after the work is done only paying them $80. I can't imagine any other scenario where that would be fair or legal.
Cali is doomed anyhow - we may be the pioneer of state bankruptcy before much longer here, and many local governments are in crisis already (as the state's ability to bail out local governments is quite limited), and things like keeping the streeghlights on, the roads patches, and the trees clear of the power lines are fading before the all-consuming pension costs.
Employee salaries and benefits only make up about 10% of the state budget ($7B salaries + $3.4B benefits) (p.177). This can hardly be blamed for the budget woes of California. Much more serious are Prop 13 and 2/3 majority needed for the state senate to pass any tax increases.
If I only had mod points - being married to a librarian, I can only say this: librarians are civil servants who look to better our society by helping people obtain and use information. If the rest of us should only be so luck to find ourselves doing something half as laudable.
I've recently rediscovered the joy of wandering a library with physical books, due to a new library in my community. And it's a pleasure that electronic distribution can't match. Yes, I use an ereader, and it's convenient, but wandering the shelves, seeing what your eye lights on, physically picking up a book and flipping it open... it's just a wonderful experience that communities should hesitate to throw away. Particularly since libraries can also function as social areas to help bring communities together... something you certainly can't say about ereaders.