The Opinionator

Let's Privatize Public Libraries

Like we've privatized our wars?

Some people are totally convinced that the government screws up everything it attempts.  The words government bureaucracy usually connote red tape, incompetence, overpaid hacks in no-show positions, and ever changing priorities depending on whatever politician seems to be the man or woman of the hour.  For these haters of government, these believers in government inefficiency, turning things over to the private sector is the way to go.  Privatization for many is a panacea.

 It pops up at all levels.

Want to win the war? Turn the fighting over to Halliburton or Blackwater. Why risk the lives of our soldiers when there are mercenaries unimpeded by annoyances such as the civil code or the U.S. Constitution?

 Unhappy with public schools?  Shut them down whenever you can and turn the education over to charter schools, vouchers, choice schools and private ones. Let people choose the kind of education they want for their children.  So what if now and then we have a Nazi, KKK, or Al Qaeda school?  Citizens deserve whatever schools they want for their kids. Get the selfish labor unions out of the picture and use your taxes for the kind of education you want. See here.

 Why tolerate confiscatory taxes?  If we turned government over to private companies, they could eliminate costly pension plans and cut way back on fringe benefits.  They wouldn't have to deal with all the crap of public sector unions working out the agendas of selfish politicians who don't care about the little guy.

A library like grandmother's living room

Citizens plead for "their" libraries
   More than 100 people, primarily seniors, turned out at a public forum last night to speak about the state of municipal budget cuts and how they will affect the town's library services.
   The residents overwhelmingly expressed displeasure at the possibility that one of the town's three library branches might soon be closed. They pleaded with members of the library board to keep "their" library open no matter what was cut from the three libraries collectively to do so.
   Much of last night's rancor was directed toward board members who chose to recommend such a plan to selectmen. They were also criticized for not bringing the figures used to support their decision... CC Times,Oct. 7, 2008.

 The news this week was all about Yarmouth and their three miniature libraries. Visiting them is kind of like visiting grandmother's living room. In order to handle budget cuts, the library people are thinking about closing one and/or fragmenting hours beyond belief so you never know when they are open. This crazy hours business has worked with some of the landfills down here on the Cape, there's no reason why it shouldn't work for libraries.

 People showed up at a library hearing and complained loudly that they do not want this to happen. Agreed, that there is deep support for these little libraries, but it is not very broad. A mile deep but an inch wide.

 How about turning over the whole she-bang to the private sector? People could rent books and computer time to do research. Handle it like a video rental store.  As more and more homes get computers, one must ask how relevant the research aspect of libraries has become.

 When I was a kid, every family tried to invest in a set of encyclopedias to proudly adorn their living room wall.  Kids could use them for school projects.  It was a status symbol to have a set of a fine encyclopedia in your home, and if you couldn't find what you were looking for you could go to the local library where there were four or five sets.  Today, we simply Google for the information and the universe of articles becomes available at the speed of light.  Plus you can command the machine to print out whatever you are seeing on the screen.  We just don't need libraries anymore for their reference function. Even the best seller function is lessened.  You can buy hard cover versions of these books at B.J.'s or Stop and Shop, often for under $10.00.

 Jackson County, Oregon is hiring a firm to run its library. The big private company will use its buying muscle to get volume discounts on books and will handle hiring and firing.  Salaries will be comparable, but benefits will be reduced, replacing expensive pension plan with 401 (k) programs. They won't keep them open all the time and will save money this way, needing only 50 employees, down from the present 88 people. Collection development will probably suffer because professional librarians will go elsewhere, preferring not to be subject to free market demands instead of scholarly ones.

There is a moral argument that taxpayers should not be burdened with the costs of maintaining public libraries. It is common for many people to decline the use of library services, yet they are taxed to support them.  At least school taxes are payback  for when we were educated with public dollars.  Furthermore, it is questionable if taxpayers should be forced to fund library materials they find objectionable.  Just as many conservatives objected to tax supported art such as Robert Mapplethorpe's photography, others may object to paying for pornographic westerns, Rush Limbaugh books or Left Behind recordings with their tax dollars.  In a private library, people can choose whose ideas to support with their money.

Last spring the Boston Globe reported two Massachusetts towns weighing the possibility of privatizing libraries. Towns already charge for school sports, kindergarten and bussing to and from school, Why not extends this to the libraries? The towns of Tewksbury and Dartmouth, facing library budgets forcing overrides, were looking into the option of turning the whole program over to a private company.

Privatized libraries are not unheard of in other states. A Maryland-based company, Library Systems and Services LLC, called LSSI, runs 65 library branches in four states. Generally, LSSI will not hire unionized employees, helping it to save on benefits packages.

The Globe story quotes Robert Ferrari of Tewksbury who said he believes that private companies are held to stricter standards:

"I'm pro-privatizing as much of government as possible. The government cannot run anything that a business couldn't do better."