Comments on: Reinventing the Media Rental Center

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:42:13 +0000

I live in Alberta, the one Canadian province most city library systems charge an annual fee for their cards. People who move here from out-of-province are often indignant at this, including my husband. I’m also indignant, but I point out to him that Albertans hate taxes and love user fees. Why? Because the people here are mostly right-wing, and there’s a deeply entrenched belief that only those who use a public service should have to pay for it, and taxes should be kept as low as possible. Americans appear to have a similar hatred of taxes. So obviously public services need to be funded through user fees. I think this is happening across all sorts of services as governments are too cowardly or gridlocked to raise taxes, as they need to do. So instead of raising taxes, they run deficits and charge user fees. The money has to come from somewhere – if not from taxes, then from your after-tax dollars and your grandchildren, who will be paying off your monstrous debt 100 years from now.

By: Spekkio

Spekkio — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:56:23 +0000

I think it’s worth noting that Cranberry Township is a rather wealthy and fast-growing suburb of Pittsburgh. (That stands in stark contrast to much of the rest of the area, which is in steady decline. See especially Braddock, PA, whose recent claim to fame is being used as a setting for advertisements for Levi’s jeans. But no, they don’t make pants there. Those are still made overseas.)

Anyway, I am fairly certain they could afford, say, a small tax increase to support their library instead of charging for DVDs. But it’s a politically conservative area where taxes are the devil and people scream about them an awful lot – even though their taxes are still a good bit lower than Pittsburgh suburbs in Allegheny County. And you wouldn’t hear the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review suggesting a tax increase – it’s the area’s conservative paper, owned by Richard Mellon Scaife.

Cranberry is represented in the U.S House by Jason Altmire, a “conservadem.” In the PA House, Cranberry is represented by a nut named Daryl Metcalfe who has in tvhe past refused to support legislation about Domestic Violence Awareness Month because he thought it promoted a “homosexual agenda.” He also put forward a law echoing Arizona’s infamous SB 1070 (“papers please”) law. And that’s just two things.

By: Jeff Allen

Jeff Allen — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:12:36 +0000

“I’m trying to make out if the reinvention means libraries will start charging for books, DVDs, and CDs. If that’s the case, libraries will be “reinventing themselves” into your local Barnes and Noble.”

DNF, as my professor used to write in the margins…

For one thing, I get to keep/give away/annotate heavily whatever I _buy_ from Barnes & Noble: rental is different business model? For another, I believe the subscription libraries were driven into the wilderness by the Public Library Movement? Maybe they survived…

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:28:10 +0000

My former library had a rental collection that was self-sustaining. The initial funding came from the Friends of the Library but after that, the rental fees paid for the collection. High demand books were bought for this collection and when they were no longer in such demand, these books would be integrated into the collection or sold at book sales. I see no reason that the same could not be used for “hot” DVDs, while the older and less in demand books and DVDs would still circulate for free. Sure, it makes the library sound a little like Netflix or Blockbuster but it satisfies those who “want it now” and still allows those who can wait and are not as choosy to get their materials free.
BTW, it is pretty bad that you mispelled the capital city of Canada twice in your article. Who does your editing?

By: Raynor

Raynor — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:18:19 +0000

http://www.librariesareessential.com/why-are-libraries-essential/

Have fun.

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:21:59 +0000

It’s Ottawa. And it’s the capital of Canada, so it’s a bit embarrassing that you couldn’t spell it right. At least I can spell Woshington. :)

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:57:49 +0000

For once, AL, I agree with you. I can’t believe someone in our capitol city, the home of Library and Archives Canada (Canada’s equivalent to the Library of Congress), would make such inane suggestions.