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Libraries as a Public Good
November 3, 2006 - 5:16pm — John
A trio of readings on the radical idea of libraries in our society:
- An All Things Considered guest commentator wonders if libraries could be created today if they didn't already exist.
- The Right to Read, by Richard Stallman, is an oldie but a goodie. Worth a re-read to see how much more believable the story is than when it was written.
- What if book publishers started to sue libraries? is a rehashing of the now classic Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon.
Also of note is an upcoming UK report stating that
"knowledge should be public good first, private right second"
-- now that's just kooky talk!
Recent comments
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Comments
payback is a b****
How'd you like to be the poor book publisher who sues a library and finds that their sales drop 78% the following quarter because they pissed of the Sisterhood?We are one consumer muscle in the book world that would be fearsome if flexed.
"Public good" idea is a noble one, however...
All this "public good" idea is a noble one, however the reality is information is increasingly becoming commercialised and public libraries are being squeezed out as they cannot compete with commercial counterparts. Public libraries are just the poor version of commercial operations. On top of that, libraries are very poor when it comes to technological creativity and innovation.