How would a privatized library work?

[Brett]

Can someone explain it? Books are expensive to buy in huge bulk and I don't see a possible way for a private business to make it profitable.

[heavenlyboy34]

Can someone explain it? Books are expensive to buy in huge bulk and I don't see a possible way for a private business to make it profitable.

IMO, all the books would be in pdf format now, and printable on demand for a small fee (fees have been minimized due to advances in technology). The physical books would be sold to pay for this process. The Mises Institute and MIT seem to be good models. Woot for free markets! :cool:

[Brett]

IMO, all the books would be in pdf format now, and printable on demand for a small fee (fees have been minimized due to advances in technology). The physical books would be sold to pay for this process. The Mises Institute and MIT seem to be good models. Woot for free markets! :cool:

What if your poor like me (only 17) and have parents that wouldn't let you read Liberty/Right-Wing books if you had to pay because they disagree with them?

[brandon]

There are tons of private libraries already.

[Brett]

There are tons of private libraries already.

I mean somewhere I can rent and give back, not buy each book I read. Unless you're referring to University Libraries, which I don't know much about at all.

[SimpleName]

What if your poor like me (only 17) and have parents that wouldn't let you read Liberty/Right-Wing books if you had to pay because they disagree with them?

That is a tough one. Do you mean THEY won't pay for it? If so, you could get a job (if they're ok with that). Just something minimal that gives you enough cash to buy books. Private libraries seem rather "blah" though. It would really just wind up being a book store that gives away pdfs. And I HATE reading on computers. Still better than nothing, but relatively useless for me. One way to get around it is if private non-profits got together to offer the service. Sounds difficult, but maybe it could happen. Downside of total privatization.

[RSLudlum]

Have you ever rented movies before? The same concept can be applied to private libraries with membership, in-library viewing, and loaning/rental. But as HB pointed out, technology has made it much easier to get ahold of books/info for a small price while not even having to leave your seat. Have you looked into any of the online book sharing communities?

[micahnelson]

Whats wrong with libraries? Jefferson himself started the Library of Congress.

[Andrew-Austin]

Without IP laws they'd be far more cheaper then they are now. Books that is, and thus wiping out any need for libraries.

[heavenlyboy34]

Whats wrong with libraries? Jefferson himself started the Library of Congress.


They're over-priced and out of date, as I noted earlier. :cool: w00t for my astute-ness! :D (the LoC was another of Jefferson's slip-ups that I point out as a sign of how even great men cannot be trusted with great power unchecked)

[LibertyEagle]

Without IP laws they'd be far more cheaper then they are now. Books that is, and thus wiping out any need for libraries.

Yup. If you remove the monetary incentive for people to write the books in the first place, the need for libraries will be drastically reduced. Yeah, sounds like a plan.

/sarcasm intended

[heavenlyboy34]

Yup. If you remove the monetary incentive for people to write the books in the first place, the need for libraries will be drastically reduced. Yeah, sounds like a plan.

/sarcasm intended


With due respect, books were written for profit long before IP laws existed. You need to add more detail to make a solid argument.

[micahnelson]

People wouldn't make music without record companies either. Thats why the invention of the corporation and the phonograph had to come before the first music.

[rp08orbust]

Um... every library at every private school is a "private library." Most of them charge an annual membership fee for those who are not students at the school.

[torchbearer]

It would work like Blockbuster.

[emazur]

Sometimes people refer to this this as 'the Netflix of audiobooks'
http://www.simplyaudiobooks.com/
That being said, I fully support public libraries and think they should be the last thing to go in a libertarian society. I also like the community center ~ event aspect of local libraries

[heavenlyboy34]

Sometimes people refer to this this as 'the Netflix of audiobooks'
http://www.simplyaudiobooks.com/ (http://www.simplyaudiobooks.com/)
That being said, I fully support public libraries and think they should be the last thing to go in a libertarian society. I also like the community center ~ event aspect of local libraries


I agree they should be among the last things to go, but they should go due to their outdated nature and that they feed on taxes (very un-libertarian:p)

[MelissaWV]

A library doesn't need to "buy in bulk". All it needs is a willing and able group of people who donate used books, or who are willing to purchase services from the library (making copies, use of classes held there, binding, lamination, etc. can often be had from the library at cheaper cost than an office supply store).

Very few libraries, even now, buy brand spanking new volumes for their shelves. It would be an insane expense. Private citizens also donate new books, as evidenced by several drives on this forum to purchase and donate copies of Dr. Paul's or others' books to the local library.

I don't believe books are outdated, personally. I love them, and I would not trade them for some ridiculous .pdf. I read .pdf documents all day at work. A book is entirely different, and illustrations that go along with classics get a bit lost in translation when they're crisped up and incorporated into the e-document. There are still quite a number of bibliophiles out there. Audiobooks do nothing for me... it's like watching the movie version of a book. You are getting someone else's interpretation of the author's point of view. I prefer to do the interpretations myself. It's one of few genuine escapes left in the world.

[constituent]

I am a member of several excellent private libraries in Texas.

There are many, everywhere. A great place to start looking is with non-profits and things of that nature. Below is a link to one of my favorites to visit. It is in San Antonio:

http://www.mcnayart.org/

[GBurr]

I remember reading about a book exchange somewhere. The idea was that you gave a list of books that you wanted to read. You then sent books you no longer needed to the exchange and they would send you an equal number of books from your list. You could keep any book as long as you want but they wouldn't send you more books until you sent them more books.

A person that can afford one book is therefore able to continually exchange that single book for a book they haven't read yet.

[specsaregood]

With due respect, books were written for profit long before IP laws existed. You need to add more detail to make a solid argument.

Books were written before profit long before IP laws existed AND the technology to cheaply copy and reproduce the books was not in existence.

[Andrew-Austin]

Books were written before profit long before IP laws existed AND the technology to cheaply copy and reproduce the books was not in existence.

If people really have something to say they will write books anyways. And they will still make profits just fine, just not to the extent they only have to write a couple good books in order to be able to sit on their ass the rest of their lives.

I doubt the reason Ron Paul wrote End the Fed was to make money, actually I know it wasn't because he said the proceeds were going to some charity.

I doubt anyone who is apart of the Mises Institute writes books for profit, since a) they tend to be against IP laws themselves, b) tend to care more about spreading their ideals than making money, and c) give away a lot of books anyways.

I doubt Professors and scholars write books for money, since they make plenty of money already and are more interested in adding to their reputation/legacy/etc.

And just maybe if new books were five dollars instead of twenty dollars people would opt to read more and watch TV less.

But if you really want to give people a legal subsidy just so they can feel a bit more empowered to write a book, then whatever. Perhaps we should apply this to other industries to, just to be fair.

[heavenlyboy34]

Books were written before profit long before IP laws existed AND the technology to cheaply copy and reproduce the books was not in existence.


the Technology for mass production of text (prepress) is usually attributed to Gutenberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg) ((c. 1398 – February 3, 1468) ) in the West, and many Centuries earlier in China. :cool:

[specsaregood]

./

[heavenlyboy34]

Are you seriously contending that it was just as cheap and easy to reproduce written work then as it is now?
I'm not looking to get into an IP law debate as I have found it pointless over the many years. But you can't really argue that technology has made it much easier to "copy" such works.

No, but the technology for (considering the circumstances) relatively cheap mass printing has existed that long. The fact that it has progressed so far should, in a laissez-faire capitalist world, drive down costs accordingly. IP keeps makes resources (in this case, "ideas") artificially scarce and therefore artificially expensive.

I don't have time to delve into this in detail, but Jeff Tucker and Stephen Kinsella both have written good stuff on IP that should help you understand the libertarian/laissez-faire capitalist perspective.

viz.

(http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker135.html)IP: It's a Market Failure Argument (http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker135.html)

Does Monopoly Create Wealth? (http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker124.html)


and so on.

[The Original Gentleman]

I was at a public library today and thinking about the problem of having libraries in an ideal libertarian republic. Libraries are interesting places to be and good places to learn (since there are other people working around). I doubt, though, that it would be too difficult to remove public funding of them eventually and replace it with charitable funds.

[dannno]

...
I doubt anyone who is apart of the mises institute writes books for profit, since a) they tend to be against ip laws themselves...


lol