I've been a library person all my life. I always loved reading and informing myself and used to be so happy that I could either spend hours in them engrossed in reading or borrow some books for reading at home usually late at night in bed. " Me, poor man- my library was dukedom large enough." I'm still grateful to my mother who'd inspired me to become a reader when I was a young boy. No doubt, I'd be a - well, let me say - different person today if I hadn't followed her advice. I appreciated it, too, when the public libraries in the cities I lived in were all refurbished and modernized some years ago. I just couldn't afford to pay for all those expensive mags and books that I read each year. The fee of $18 a year is just ridiculously low by comparison. True, I have to make a move and go there to borrow everything I want to read which takes me half an hour by car plus $2-3 parking fee. Yet it's really worth it. Although I like computers and really are what you may call a digital person (not native, though) I simply can't enjoy reading books and mags on my notebook. I've tried e-Readers and the range of stuff they provide but they aren't any better and, for sure, don't offer the things I want to read. So no improvement or alternative. For me, a public library (at least one because in university towns you have more than one) is an indispensable part of an urban infrastructure and urban culture. I think it's a severe mistake to impose library taxes on the individual. Totally wrong. If you start doing that, there will be no infrastructure left in a community at all other than pubs and shops.
You have to pay a fee to use your public library @Thomas Stearn ?...ours are free... paid for through our taxes...
Yes, I have and I'd have to for any other public library of which there are at least two more. As I said, yours is by far the better approach when it comes to funding them, i.e. indirect taxes. Reader fees are not sufficient, though. There's public funding as well and that's the bigger share.
I'm happy to say that here in our City Libraries are still alive and doing just fine! And I hope they stay that way for many years.
The main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library has started a program to lend out musical instruments! So far, there are only 48 instruments and a lot of folks have reserved for the opportunity. Since Brooklyn has a population of 2.649 million the amount of instruments on loan may seem miniscule, but it only just started; they are experimenting with the idea and if it goes well will expand to contain more instruments and to the other 4 boroughs, perhaps. It began 7 months ago, but I only learned of it today.
Our library is alive and well. You can even check out a dog if you feel the need for one staring lovingly at you while you're reading. You can learn to knit, argue politics or learn to speak Mandarin. You can play with Legos or delve into Dungeons & Dragons. You can even sit quietly and say "Ommmmmm." I love our library.
Our libraries are community centers as well. A number of them are in very small towns, but one in a nearby town just built a brand new beautiful building, as they had outgrown the old building--it was too small. I attended a meeting not long ago there and it was fantastic. The meeting room had a small kitchen and all the desk/table had charging stations/USB ports so you could use you laptop or charge your phone or tablet. All the libraries here have Story Time at least once a week for pre-schoolers, and have reading programs during school vacation times for older kids. There are also videos and audiobooks to check out. All is free.
“I received the fundamentals of my education in school, but that was not enough. My real education, the superstructure, the details, the true architecture, I got out of the public library. For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it. Now, when I read constantly about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.” ― Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov Our library system is doing well and I hope that other generations continue to see the need for a safe and encouraging place to discover the World...