They are obviously not using the library facilities other than the rest rooms and the heated space in winter, by they can not be kicked out. They make it impossible for taxpaying citizens to use the library.
These are two of the three reasons I can think of why I stopped using the "public library" when my daughter was six and started devouring books at an alarming pace. That was in 1977.
I have many more responses to wade through in this thread, but the trend is clear: there are widely divergent differences of opinion based on unconscious provincialism, of which most of us are unaware. The dichotomy between the "red" and the "blue" areas. It's like different universes, as wide as the chasm between muslims and civilized people.
I grew up in San Francisco, California, and if libraries today were like the libraries then, this whole discussion would not be necessary.
The difference is that libraries today, in the bluest of states have degenerated into politically correct and pervert indoctrination centers. There is no other way to say it. But that almost certainly is not true of libraries in other areas of the country, hence the seemingly snseless contradictions in opinion. Both sides are right (including the author of the original column) depending on their geographical location. To be specific...
In the old days, libraries presented knowlege in book form to satisfy every level of need. If individuals limited their scope of knowlege the first time, they always had the option of a second chance at learning or a third, simply by returning to the same library.
Then Libraries devolved to catering to the least common denominator over time, made worse by activism driving what was suitable or desireable, sliding into the bottomless pit of perversion and decay: Heather has two Mommies, Perversion is good for you, or Bush planned and executed 911.
Ecology and environmentalism as the new religion became the standard for what needed to be known and learned. Mind you, books of opposing views were published, too, but it was not deemed necessary to include them among the new knowlege palace. They simple were not there; the ex-dope-smokers-turned-librarians simply did not approve.
Whereas, before, one could find the complete technical plans for the construction of the Panama Canal, afterwards it was considered too obscure and "unpopular" to cater to that segment of knowlege, so it was erased as an option forever. Same with all the sciences: mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology, thermodynamics, Engineering, transportation. Same with facts: History, culture, religion, philosophy. All are now the exclusive venue of formal education. Outside of universities, forget it.
But you can find dozens of volumes on aromatherapy, candles and hallucinogens.
My last four attempts at visiting the library for useful, real world information in book form were a dismal failure. Zero for four. The message was clear: you need crap? Go to the public library. You need real-world useful knowlege? Buy your own freakin' books!
Having the taxpayers pay out millions, as the result of a "bookmobile" accident, is a whole other topic that can best be dealt with under "catering to losers" and "bottom feeders"
Well stated and firmly understood and agreed with.
Houston had a recent controversy when they put "How to make love like a porn star" on the "new releases" shelf in the lobby.
If the book is so popular, certainly some people could find a way to buy it.
The Swift Vets book was a long time coming to the Houston library even when it had gone through 7 editions and topped the NYTimes best seller list.
The good thing about a library (which Umberto Eco lamented when he discussed the New York library) is that you can go in looking for one thing and get "lost" in examining a whole different thing. You can discover all sorts of things (same can be said of the internet but it is easier to make such discoveries when adjacent searches take you to unusual areas). Such discoveries can change your life.
I have my own private library (no sharing, no folding the covers back, no dog-earing the pages, eating/drinking only permitted with certain books) and I have picked up a couple duplicates cheap at times so I can loan a particular book to this or that friend. I hate having the storage for all of them but the library does not serve me well (surprisingly I have a number of library discards, some of which sell on Bookfinder.com for $200+).