Posted on 04/24/2005 9:49:51 PM PDT by SmithL
Books are fine, but why do we need taxpayer-funded bookmobiles?
For that matter, why do we even need taxpayer-funded libraries?
Hasn't anybody heard of the bookstore?
I thought government was to put out fires and defend the borders. Not to give us stuff to read. I mean, thanks to the private sector, it's already everywhere you look. If I simply bought one copy of every magazine offered at the corner Mobil station — covering everything from Kawasaki motorcycles to Esquire women we love to Forbes financial advice — I'd be reading for the next year.
Yet, now the poor taxpayers in Orland Park are stuck three times over. First, they paid for an unneeded library. Then, they paid for an unneeded bookmobile. And now, they must pay the $8.5 million bill to settle the lawsuit over the 2001 bookmobile crash that left a man brain-damaged.
All this foolishness could have been avoided if government had just stayed out of the library business in the first place.
But, you might say: "We need a library system so that our neediest citizens can read as much as the well-off! Books are expensive!"
Well, it depends. If you buy hard-cover and full-price, then, yes, books can be expensive. Last Monday I bought "An Incomplete Education," the 1995 edition, by Judy Jones and William Wilson, off the shelf at the Borders bookstore in Evanston.
Later, looking at the receipt, I must admit I felt pretty stupid. List price for the book was $32.50. Adding tax, the total was $35.34. If books were always so expensive, there might be a case for keeping libraries. (Not bookmobiles.)
But, you see, there now exists Amazon.com, where you can order nearly any book you can think of for a bargain price, and in less than a minute. I kid you not. A couple of days after my purchase, I made a sample buy on Amazon to see the alternative price.
I have ordered from Amazon in the past, so they already have my billing (home) address, my work (delivery) address and my credit card number. I typed "Incomplete Education" into the search field. The book popped up as $21.45 new.
Trying to demonstrate thrift, I clicked on "used." I found a copy for $6.25. The seller labeled the condition as "very good." In other words: "crisp/clean/unmarked pages, in firm binding, with straight spine. Minor wear/scuffing to dust jacket. Minor edge wear."
This was good enough for me. I want to read the book, not mount it in a glass case.
Postage was another $3.95, for a total of $10.20. If I had proceeded, I could have had the book delivered to me at work by this coming Tuesday, for a savings from Borders of $22.30.
And you know how much time this order would have taken me? I counted the seconds: 31.
An excellent book (delivered to your desk, no less) for $10.20. Hmm. That sounds like a bargain to me. Let's do some math here. Divided by the 55,000 residents of Orland Park, the $8.5 million bookmobile settlement comes to $155 apiece. By my calculations, with that money a family of four could have bought 61 books from Amazon.
Now, instead, they have to sink it into a boondoggle.
There's another reason citizens should buy books rather than borrow them from a library. In my opinion, the only good books are those worth keeping. Then, in the future, you can return for the pleasure of rereading; or to refresh your memory about a certain quote; or to reprint a compelling passage for a column like this one.
If a book isn't worth keeping, it probably isn't worth reading in the first place.
Consider my new book. "An Incomplete Education" is just the reference for people like me who didn't pay attention in college. It's divided into 12 chapters: American Studies, Art History, Economics, Film, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Science and World History.
If you don't know something, you can just dip into the book and fake it. For instance, did you miss the movie "Citizen Kane"? Then read the synopsis here. It tells you what the fuss was back then and what the fuss is today. Now you can utter "Rosebud" with the best of them.
Another example: Suppose you get invited to a royal wedding and quickly have to learn the hierarchy of British peerage. Per my book, the mnemonic to remember is "Do men ever visit Boston?" Take the first letter of each word and you can impress for success: duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron.
The book also gives you crucial pronunciation information. For example, despite all logic, viscount is pronounced VYE-count. I knew that one. But I didn't know this: Marquis is pronounced MAR-kwiss.
Finally, the book lists some really useful foreign phrases, such as the French "nostalgie de la boue." It means "yearning for the mud."
As the authors explain, the phrase refers to wallowing by a person you would have thought was above such a things — "particularly in a guess-who's-sleeping-with-whom context."
I don't know when, I don't know how, but someday I simply have got to work that delicious phrase into a column. And to think I never would have heard of it if not for "An Incomplete Education." If you can't afford $10.20 to buy such a valuable book, then you've got bigger problems than the price of books.
So, a memo to Orland Park: Dump the bookmobile. And maybe dump the whole library too. Let your citizens keep their tax money and buy their own books. It's the American way.
This is typical 1% libertarian thinking. Attack a popular institution that needs marginal financial support. Stuff like this hurts them more than it helps them.
I work as a reference librarian in a blue collar community. Books on test preparation, resume writing, self-improvement, auto repair, and legal matters circulate heavily. Curiously, witchcraft is also a popular topic. However, books on political topics tend to be slow movers. Men in Black and South Park Conservatives, which I had the library buy, have been in our new book display for about three weeks now, and there have been no takers.
School children are also heavy users of our library. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to maintain an up-to-date collection of books on the states of the US, ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, California missions, and science projects.
Of course the book would be available too, to Conservatives who are curious enough to do their own research and thinking without bumping Hillary's book sales : )
Ben Franklin started the first library in America. They're the one bond issue I ALWAYS vote for.
That will be easy with (required for safety - it's for the children) GPS reporting systems. where ever you go is automatically tracked, any distance on private roads is automatically billed, any excess speed is automatically fined, and you'll never forget to feed a parking meter again...
Aha, I was trying to figure it out.
True. The library has stuff one would never guess existed.
Libraries are cool. Anyhoo, how else can I gain access to Janes books when I want to do research for military vehicles for my Twilight: 2000 and Morrow Project role playing games. Janes cost an arm and a leg. Also when you think about it libraries are not only places to find books to read, they are also goodp laces to interact with others who have similar literary interests, books clubs and so on.
Thats a shame Libertarian, I have been associated with librarys for a number of years and have found that librarians get there highest job satisfaction helping patrons.
Libraries have access to classic books and literature that some people otherwise wouldn't be aware of. Furthermore, libraries are quiet, peaceful places where people can concentrate in solitude without interference from outside factors, like salespeople. Many homes are too noisy and, in low-income peoples' cases, crowded. People can learn more by reading in such a setting than from prolonged sitting in a classroom. In addition to these factors, libraries offer access to the internet for people who otherwise can't afford it.
You're correct that government spending has a lot to answer for. But libraries are a sound expenditure.
*sigh* They're way ahead of me...
Actually the author is on to something here, he is just wrong in his methodology.
Libraries are inefficient, and a massive waste of resources because they deal with hard copies known as books.
It takes lots of dead trees to make these things that are hard to store and tend to wear out in a very short time. Also it takes a great deal of energy and time to make them when you consider the tree needs to be cut down, and then put on a truck and hauled to the lumber mill then processed into pulp then the pulp must be processed and shipped to the paper mill then turned into paper then shipped to the book manufacturer, then turned into a book, then shipped to a publishing warehouse then shipped to the book store. Then for the customer to actually get the book he either must drive to the book store, drive to the library or someone must drive to him and deliver it (UPS, MAIL, or BOOKMOBILE)
Lots and lots and lots of waste there when you consider that an author can write and produce an electronic book and put it up on his/her website and send it out to the end user bypassing all that waste for a mere fraction of the cost and time.
Yes libraries and bookstores are dinosaurs and should be morphed into the digital age.
Although I can afford to buy as many books as I want, I rediscovered the public library after I discovered the wonders of books on tape. I go to the library weekly. It is filled with home schoolers, many of whom are lower middle class, lower middle class Asians and to my surprise Mexican illegals.
Although I detest our illegal immigration policy, I am very happy that illegal families seem to be making use of the library.
Neither will you find them at most libraries however you will find many of their main works at places like these: Know Better
Ben Franklin never proposed the government should provide libraries. Ben's library was formed by private citizens.
The public library is one the the central parts of my life.I use it for books,CD-Roms,CDs,Videos,and DVDs.
I cannot imagine not having one.
I hope it was written tongue in cheek!I cannot imagine that anyone would feel this way.
As a 65 year old bookworm, who loves books, I believe anybody that wants to do away with libraries is an idiot.
I hope you are not an idiot.
I'm a 72 year old bookworm and some of my best moments are spent browsing in my public library.
See my post #237
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.