Posted on 04/24/2005 9:49:51 PM PDT by SmithL
.....it's at the expense of ALL taxpayers.
Maybe the problem is with you and not with the librarians ?
Maybe he does not bath?
Unless they can access the Internet for free in the library? :)
I suspect out Libertarian does not bath and librarians are trying to avoid him.
Nope, not a straw man at all. In fact, it's common enough that the "library lady" is a stereotype.
Libraries may have changed a lot in the last few years, but the staff of most libraries are generally still civil service hires, and it usually shows. I'm telling you that most librarians have jobs to do and job priority generally doesn't include customer service. And pointing to signs or computers isn't customer service.
I don't dispute that your library is different, or that your staff is different. But my experience at every library I've visited has been that there are some helpful workers who don't know where stuff is, and older workers who do know where stuff is, and don't want to deal with patrons. If I had a nickel for every annoyed sigh I'd heard when asking where collection X was...and even though the collections had moved from where the signs were indicating.
"I'm okay with private libraries..."
I don't recall why I didn't reply to your post long ago (probably got involved in some other thread), but when we collaboratively rule the world, I'll take you up on your offer.
libraries are more than just lending.
Libraries are to preserve ALL knowledg all opinion all of it.
(this is why liberals write like mad men)
The true libraries job is not to choose but to preserve all.
Interesting ping.
Libraries are great places for research. They have collections of books that would cost you a small fortune. I love libraries and always have. We didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up so I went to the library for my books.
"Well, I think it is one of the few things our government has invested wisely in. I used to skip school and spend all day at the library, reading ."
I wasn't very interested in reading until one of my seventh grade teachers read a science fiction book called "A Wrinkle in Time" and then I was hooked. I couldn't stay out of the library and still read two or three a week if I've got time.
First public library; Library of Alexandria 300 BC
First librarian; Aristotle
http://www.history-magazine.com/libraries.html
"I suspect out Libertarian does not bath and librarians are trying to avoid him."
AP, if you disagreed reasonably with folks, it'd be one thing. But you simply feel compelled to insult and cannot form a cogent response other than that. You're a real negative to this board in your current role.
MSR, it may well be that there are libraries that are worth keeping. But they would probably be supported by the community in a private setting ala NPR fund drives, or membership fees, too. Generally, if only essential public services are funded, libraries are not the last to be axed. They're the first. And I honestly think that most non-essential public services should be privatized. It's not a bias against libraries. Libraries were private long before they were public, and while public libraries are commonplace today, that doesn't mean they're appropriately funded by taking other people's money for the benefit of a few or even a whole lot. Majority rule, even in a way you like, doesn't make redistributionism somehow right. Government pointing a gun to the head of people to take their money for use by other people should be an ability government is only allowed to use sparingly. If I robbed you at gunpoint to buy a book, even to leave it for loan in my hallway bookshelf, you'd still be robbed and pissed.
I once got right through to the front of a DMV line and got my license renewed in 5 minutes. The DMV still sucks.
Look, I think if we looked at the amount of folks who benefit from libraries there would certainly be more average people benefitting per buck than those who receive free medical care or welfare or other non-essential services. But that lots of folks benefit does not somehow make taxation for this non-essential service less than redistributionism for the welfare of those people benefitting.
My objection to public funding for libraries is not due to some hatred for library staff. It's my judgment that, no matter how charitable the intent or productive the result, it is simply wrong to take people's money to use in delivering nonessential services to others through government, especially services that private industry and free association can deliver more efficiently.
Ever been so poor you didn't have a credit card?
Many of these folks do business with money orders.
Because the homeless need a place to slump for hours while they thumb through Barron's.
That sounds like "cutting off your nose to spite your face".
How could "private industry" and "free association" more efficiently provide the services offered by the public library?
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