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Your argument makes more sense if you turn it upside down. Blockbuster made a big smash in the media and expanded when people weren't aware that quality video materials were available in libraries. So the question wasn't whether Blockbuster could succeed despite the powerful competition of public libraries, but whether libraries could provide a worthwhile video service as an alternative to outlets like Blockbuster.

And they have. Plenty of people subjected to all the advertising and hype for Blockbuster would be surprised and pleased to find that they can get a lot of the same stuff at public libraries for free. Not the very newest stuff, and not everything, but a lot, especially since you can get videos from other libraries through inter-library loan. If the public library were the only way to borrow videos people would certainly want a better alternative. But as an alternative to mass-market commercial services they do quite well and fill an important niche.

Now of course it's your taxes that pay for it, but in that case, isn't it wise to take advantage of what's available? Perhaps you'll find other things that aren't available at Blockbuster as well.

My overly snidely asserted point was that if people would rent video materials from a for-profit business like Blockbuster (a single store routinely stocks thousands more materials than your typical public library), what would happen if government failed to provide library services? We really don't know, but we might get more and better literary services from private companies.

I am not anti-library, by any stretch of the imagination. I think libraries are unique among government agencies. No one is compelled to go to the library. It's there for you, if you want. If you don't, well, that's ok, too.

Most other government agencies, from the police department to the waste department to the water department to the sewer department, rely on compulsion and force in connection with their services.

I regularly went to libraries as a child and now I regularly take my four children there. My family is recognized by library staff as one that shows up regularly. And while our local library system is excellent, its materials are limited. Any one of our local Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, or Borders has an infinitely broader selection of materials on hand (which goes back to my earlier point).

And government-run libraries aren't necessary for there to be good libraries. My church, for example, has an excellent library (mostly, but not exclusively, religious materials). Not at all at government expense.

Perhaps you'll find other things that aren't available at Blockbuster as well.

Indeed you will. Because of economic incentives, the library will have stuff sit on its shelves for years between check-outs. Blockbuster's real estate costs are such that it has the incentive to get rid of stuff that people don't watch. The library counts the unviewed-for-years video as a part of its collection.

The library cannot and will not meet every esoteric need. I recently asked my library to obtain an inter-library loan of a recently published historical atlas of central Asia. It was "no can do." I don't blame them. Nor do I blame them for not purchasing the atlas. At $150.00 it was more that I am willing to spend to purchase it myself.