Pretty much.

Seriously,

I think there are uses for libraries. I just think we need to take a realistic look at what they are, how to best provide them, and how to fund/write policy accordingly. Also, I see great uses for academic/school libraries. I see great uses for special libraries. I think library of congress is great- I like archives, too.

I just see failure, sentimentality and job justification as opposed to true service and honesty.

That being said, public schools and junior colleges, not to mention work force commissions and unemployment offices, meet most of these needs already. If a void was created by removing the libraries, I think that the market could easily fill them with charitable endeavors or even low cost, for profit enterprises.

Now, what “need” isn’t filled is that of extremely low cost wrestling… oh wait, it is! ON TELEVISION FUNDED BY ADS. So, the need would be on demand, selective entertainment? As long as we’re up front about it. (Also, I’m more than cool with that on a local level, but let’s not fool ourselves).

Cheers!!!

Annoyed Librarian actually agrees with many of the points made in “Anarchy in the Library” and that appears to freak her out and provoke her nitpicking. Annoyed Librarian thinks that anarchists annoy everybody so they’re not the allies she wants public libraries to have during the austerity cuts. This reaction is very typical and usually indicates that the person can’t admit that their job/social position is slipping across the line from “safely middle class professional” to “increasingly precarious because audaciously not market-driven/oriented.” Talk to some adjunct university professors and roving nurses. Actually, better idea, talk to the various activists organizing to defend _your_ library, learn from each other, and come up with a way to work together.

I am sympathetic that AL does not want public libraries to become the next issue around which both the far right and far left take extreme and intractable positions. It also appears that crankypants just wants to be left alone. But I could take as much issue with the three paragraphs of over-privileged “let them give up martinis” nonsense plonked into the middle of her statement as she takes with Bay of Rage. But I don’t expect rants to provide lucid in-depth analysis on every point. I suggest that AL actually engage with all the library’s allies because the library needs them. What the anarchists have admitted that she hasn’t is that many public library systems are under attack and somebody needs to “stand up, fight back.”

I was going to write that people living near colleges and universities with paid membership options could receive very good library service at a reasonable cost. But on further reflection, this option only works on a large level for clean-looking adults. Children, childish adults seeking entertainment, rough looking folks, and communities with no colleges or universities (or stuck up ones that don’t have paid membership options) need public libraries. At the very least, the children need to read and the schools…well, never mind.

Perhaps, just over the horizon, there is a Utopian Technocracy with flying cars and an amazing virtual library where people can purchase unlimited access to all of the world’s knowledge for a few bucks a year. When that day comes, I will be having too much fun to care about public libraries.

It’s also troubling you seem to think anarchists want to force equality through taxation. Do yourself a favor and learn to distinguish between ideologies, cultures, and bumper stickers.

Really, AL? Why are there so many people clogging up the public computers looking for a job–any job–at the library where I work?

“They don’t pay much, but you don’t need to make much for the necessities of life…Give up the cable TV, the iPhone, the big house, the most expensive car you can afford, and anything you buy because it’s a fashionable brand you’ve just got to have, and living is actually quite affordable.”

Really, AL? Have you done the math on that one? Minimum wage won’t cover half a month at a $600/month roach infested apartment complex around here if you also want luxuries like electricity and food.

Brrr…sure is cold in your world.