No, they are not a waste. There are some absolutely amazing libraries in the United States - some cities have far better ones than others.
As far as I'm concerned, NYC's only possibly redeeming feature is the NY Library.
NYFD?
But the NY library has already been built, as has the LA downtown library. Both are wonderful, its true.
Chicago probably already had a good library too.
There maybe one or two other branch libraries in those towns worth a darn, but that would be it.
With those libraries already in place, why would any of the suburbs need their own libraries? They're not going to be as good as the main library and probably not much better than the local bookstore.
I think the point this guy is making is that for most cities, investments in new libraries are not all that wise. Either the libraries are already there (as is the case in big cities) or the funds aren't there to create a library that's any good.
In Brownsville, where my parents live, they finally got a new library. It's nothing but Harlequin romance novels. I donated many books to the library. When I went to find them there later, they weren't there. I asked the librarian what had happened to them and was told that they sold them to buy other books because "no one would read those."
These included books from my childhood (the "Great Brain" series) and many many excellent books I had read as an adult.