"The common good stands as a menace to the status quo."

December 15, 2022 3:24 PM

The Horrifying War on Libraries (slDiscourse Blog)
posted by box (25 comments total)

I just can't imagine the headspace that believes libraries are bad and that they must be controlled.

Libraries are playgrounds, full of disparate opportunities to try out new ideas. They are an unmitigated good for every community...except for the assholes, I guess.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:40 PM on December 15, 2022 [10 favorites]

Quite. The common good stands as a menace to the asshole.
posted by riverlife at 3:44 PM on December 15, 2022 [11 favorites]

Information is freedom and power. Understanding prevents fear. Fascism runs on fear and ignorance. Of course libraries and schools and health care are targets for tyranny.
posted by Jacen at 4:00 PM on December 15, 2022 [19 favorites]

Any non-market-based community space is one that can’t be relied upon to collaborate with fascism.
posted by Jon_Evil at 4:01 PM on December 15, 2022 [24 favorites]

Been around libraries all my life. (I've talked before about my Gram's two room library in the middle of tiny village in New Hampshire before)

The thing that was illuminating to me about some folks attitudes (beyond the folks who are anti-any public use of funds beyond roads/defense/fire/police) was that column a few years back that suggested we don't need libraries anymore because you can get books cheaply from Amazon.

Last election cycle here in Pasadena, we passed Measure L to keep a parcel tax that helps fund the libraries. 83% voted yes, so that's pretty solid
posted by drewbage1847 at 4:13 PM on December 15, 2022 [14 favorites]

I just can't imagine the headspace that believes libraries are bad and that they must be controlled.

Oh, you haven't heard of "common good constitutionalism" which is grounded in the idea that the government should restrict individual rights and reform society in order to make it "better". Here's Politico explaining it for you: Young Conservaties Think It's Time to Get Ride Of Originalism.
posted by hippybear at 4:21 PM on December 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

the dirty fact is these people already control what their kids read - they want to control what YOUR kids read
posted by pyramid termite at 4:41 PM on December 15, 2022 [26 favorites]

"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master." -Commissioner Pravin Lal (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri)
posted by Wretch729 at 5:41 PM on December 15, 2022 [16 favorites]

Any non-market-based community space is one that can’t be relied upon to collaborate with fascism.

I don't know about that. Some years ago our local State library did a presentation of their work at an arts conference and they very proudly showed off their Nazi collection, sans context or warning, as an example of how committed to free speech they were. I asked them later if they had any collections from people fighting Nazis and fascism; they said they had some materials. But why not show those off, that's a demonstration of free speech too isn't it?

I feel like it really comes to the administration and management decisions of individual libraries. Some are the community utopia people often describe; meanwhile I've been in libraries where people are barked at for sitting on the floor (one time I just held my hands over my face while dealing with sudden bad news and a security guard IMMEDIATELY zoomed over to me to tell me not to sleep in the library). Libraries as a concept are great - on execution, it's a mixed bag.
posted by creatrixtiara at 7:10 PM on December 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

As an Old, this saddens me. But so does the decline of cursive and suntans. Municipal and school libraries weren't a thing until the 2nd half of the 19th century, thanks to Carnegie. But now we've got the internet.

In my day, libraries had books and nothing else. That's all they needed to be both essential and popular. But information has been democratized since then. We don't need to go to a specific building to get it. Now, libraries must provide wifi, computers, playrooms, seminars, CDs, and a welcoming shelter from the cold in order to be somewhat relevant.

Times change.
posted by mono blanco at 7:42 PM on December 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

But very importantly - by providing those services - free of charge, libraries still continue to be a hub and refuge of knowledge to everyone. In our area a ton of economically challenged folks use the library to do email, apply for jobs, etc.

And of course now there's the additional burden of social service work that falls to the librarians.
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:55 PM on December 15, 2022 [14 favorites]

There's lots of places in the US that don't have a downtown or town center... the library is the town center.
posted by subdee at 8:25 PM on December 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

Yes, you are both right. But that's the sad thing. The relevance of libraries today isn't their books. It's all the other services they provide. By default, because no one else is doing it.
posted by mono blanco at 8:29 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Libraries are a place that children and teenagers can get away from abusive parents or siblings for a few hours.

Libraries are a places that teenagers who have been denied accurate information about their bodies, about sex, about contraception can get that potentially life-saving information.

Libraries are a place that LGBTQ teenagers who have been told at home and/or at school that to be LGBTQ is to be damned to hell can quietly read a book in a library that says "It's okay to be LGBTQ and things will get better"
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:46 PM on December 15, 2022 [17 favorites]

Municipal and school libraries weren't a thing until the 2nd half of the 19th century

Ben Franklin might want to have a word...
posted by hippybear at 8:53 PM on December 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

The relevance of libraries today isn't their books. It's all the other services they provide.

You might think so, and it can be rhetorically useful to highlight all the other services, and you can make a case that the other services are more societally important, but in my experience the vast majority of patrons are there for the books.
posted by one for the books at 10:18 PM on December 15, 2022 [10 favorites]

I just can't imagine the headspace that believes libraries are bad and that they must be controlled.

Oh, it's totally a subset of "I don't want my tax dollars paying for this shit that I disapprove of."

Not that libraries get that much tax revenue anyway. But this kind of thing started happening in school libraries, and now it's regular libraries, and it's been going on with the NEA for years...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:14 AM on December 16, 2022 [6 favorites]

I love our library and use it almost weekly. I was also very proud of my city that we passed a public referendum a few years ago to raise property taxes a tiny bit just to fund the local Carnegie Library system.
posted by octothorpe at 6:50 AM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

Strongly disagree about library books losing their relevance. I'm incredibly basic and bougie and I still go to the library near me for books quite often, because if I bought enough books to keep my toddler interested I might as well open my own library. Being able to get a new bag of picture books every week is great!
posted by Wretch729 at 10:20 AM on December 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

I like reading paper books but don't want them littering the house when I'm done so I love being able to order a book on the library's website, pick it up a few days later, read it and then bring it back. It's free and it doesn't take up shelf space.
posted by octothorpe at 10:23 AM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

I am a librarian. It's 50% looking for books, 50% looking to use the computer, and 100% looking to use the bathroom.

Also, if we're OK to take our tax money out of stuff we disapprove of, let me know who to invoice for my share of supporting the military, wars, and Congress' salaries.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:50 AM on December 16, 2022 [4 favorites]

Also, if we're OK to take our tax money out of stuff we disapprove of, let me know who to invoice for my share of supporting the military, wars, and Congress' salaries.

This is a derail, but is a thought I've had for a while -- imagine if, when doing your tax forms, part of the form was a budget line item list and you filled in how much of YOUR taxes went to which parts of the budget. Different political parties and groups could publish their "preferred budget" which people could copy over to fill out that part of the form. But you could also put in what you feel the spending priorities should be. And then Congress doesn't get to make the budget anymore, but the actual budget is created out of the aggregate of all those percentages of individual taxes being put together. If I want all of my meager share of tax payments going toward libraries and schools, then all of MY money goes into those things. Combine the entire nation together, we get a Federal budget that actually reflects the will of the people and not the will of lobbyists

It's an idea, anyway, and one that might make people feel better about participating in the collective funding of our nation.

And now back to the thread topic.
posted by hippybear at 1:38 PM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

Amusingly I’m joining the board of my local friends of the library next month. Libraries are our friends.
posted by billsaysthis at 9:32 PM on December 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

imagine if, when doing your tax forms, part of the form was a budget line item list and you filled in how much of YOUR taxes went to which parts of the budget.

A long long time ago, I read a science fiction story where something like that was done, which resulted in 90% of the Federal budget going towards "World Peace". I don't recall if this ended up being a good or a bad thing.
posted by Devoidoid at 9:18 AM on December 21, 2022

On the same theme from Popular Information: Meet the Florida English Teacher Trying to Ban 150 Books from School Libraries
posted by box at 9:46 AM on December 21, 2022