Comment by dragonwriter
21 hours ago
> I'm pretty certain that if public libraries didn't already exist and someone proposed the idea now it would be labeled "woke" and "socialist" and not get anywhere.
Public libraries do already exist and they are labeled "woke" and "socialist" and are dealing with both assaults on their funding and on their function.
True. I'm fortunate to live in a community that funds it's public libraries well, but I do know that downstate there are rural communities that have completely defunded theirs. I just don't think the idea of public libraries would get any traction now given how far to the right we've gone.
You don’t think it might have something to do with the Internet and having access to all of the knowledge in the world on your phone?
I’m glad libraries exist but a lack of traction if the idea were introduced today would have more to do with the impracticality of them than any political leanings.
My town spent millions on a small expansion to the library this past year. A project that if it was in the private sector would have cost a couple hundred grand at most. I can’t tell how they managed to spend as much as they did.
Nowadays most library systems offer digital content - ebooks and movies (through services like Kanopy).
Still, it's nice that there are third spaces like libraries in the community where you can go and aren't expected to have to engage in any commercial activity. That requires buildings. Our library hosts all manner of groups & activities. I went to a seminar on seed-saving the other day at our library, for example. I've gone to others on the art of making Japanese tea, candidate debates for local races, local author book fairs, Taiko drumming, etc. All of that requires some kind of physical infrastructure.
Your dumb little phone doesn't contain even the barest shadow of "all of the knowledge in the world" and the people who sincerely believe that are among those who are destroying America right now.
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