Comments on: Would Public Libraries Be Founded Today?

By: Mr. Kat

Mr. Kat — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:19:15 +0000

In a general sense, the materials taught in K-12 is indeed al available through the Internet. It is not until perhaps the Junior Year of college when one needs to start using more specific, focused works. Otherwise, the value of a “general information” collection has essentially shrunk down to, well…zero.

By: Grace Kempster

Grace Kempster — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:09:18 +0000

As powerhouses of revolution and independant thought libraries have never meant borrowing books – instead they are LIBERators from ignorance and a please for reading experiences to enable all to grow, know, find out and illuminate lives.
The meanings and values they hold in the lives of individuals families and communities would be replicated today – as one person recently said “Libraries are fantastic – i don’t mind paying for my use – but i don’t want other people who cannot having to” In austere tmies libraries are the common wealth and recycling kings of knowledge. i believe there is substantial goodness because people refer to My library not The library – they are extraordinarily ordinary and a genius of public good.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:08:14 +0000

Google books are NOT free — they compete with Kindle and Nook on price and you pay for the download of drm-locked pdfs. I’d say with blogs and youtube, you get what you pay for most of the time. We can have an argument about whether ad-supported entertainment sites are really “free,” but if you want premium content, increasingly you have to pay for it. The big sites — itunes, hulu, netflix, top newspaper sites, legit Napster — are all pay per view models for full content access and more are adding premium content subscriptions all the time. Half the articles on Law.com now that used to be free now require premium subscriptions. Even the NYTimes is going pay per view.

By: Dran

Dran — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:07:11 +0000

As has been pointed out elsewhere, nope, libraries wouldn’t be started today because they wouldn’t be able to get the exceptions to copyright law they would need to operate.

In response to some comments… Wikipedia goes further in some ways than plain library access can. Sometimes it’s got awfully good writing and it’s always fast and comprehensive.

The emerging financial model of the Internet is “free,” not pay per view. Google books: free. Wikipedia: free. Pandora radio: free (with ads). Blogs: free (ads sometimes). YouTube: free (w/ ads). Flash games: free. Maybe in a way we’re learning to tune out the free stuff and take it for granted, but there’s getting to be more and more and more of it.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:37:27 +0000

Today, publishers would assure that libraries never got off the ground.

But it doesn’t really matter — we already have a new system of public libraries. It’s called the Internet. And the emerging financial model is pay per view.

By: Raynor

Raynor — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:24:50 +0000

Watermelons: green on the outside, red on the inside.

By: Techserving You

Techserving You — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:19:24 +0000

“Fortunately” most people just pay their property taxes and don’t use the library… just like many people pay their property taxes and don’t have kids in the schools.

By: Randal Powell

Randal Powell — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 09:52:48 +0000

As far as I am concerned, those reasons are just as applicable today as they were a century ago. If the library is not around to provide the masses access to great minds, where are they going to go?

Wikipedia and public domain works only get one so far. K12 education is a sad joke…there’s certainly no truth and beauty to be had there. Even elite universities, with their focus on ferocious competition and perfect appearances, are little more than well-marketed vocational training schools. The library is truly the only American institution that facilitates and encourages a life of the mind — THAT is worth fighting for.

By: Vicki

Vicki — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:41:39 +0000

How about another reason to have a public library? Instead of buying every single book, DVD, audiobook, magazine, music CD, eBook or database that you need or want, why not share the items as a community? It’s a green idea as well as one that saves you money. In my community, if a taxpayer checks out just one or two books per year, the value of the books will be more than what he or she paid in property taxes that are designated for the library.

By: Raynor

Raynor — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:19:43 +0000

No. In an era when an attempt to insure that a free and open capital market is truly free and open gets derided as socialist, what luck would a truly socialist idea have?