What would happen to libraries in a Libertarian world?

[bill1971]

I enjoy going to the library, donating books, checking out new ones and such. Would that be privatized? Maybe a slight library fee per year.

PS. Fairly new to the forum and really enjoy it.

[Pericles]

One possibility:

http://www.clpgh.org/about/aboutCLP.html

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

If there is a demand for libraries the demand will be met. This much is certain. Therefore, this great quote is always by my side:

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.

PS: I imagine that in the future conventional libraries would be less frequent (without being funded by thieves -- Government), most being philanthropic endeavors. Those who enjoy the feel of books and paper would frequent those, enough to sustain them, and the rest who love reading will move to online libraries like OLL, Mises, FEE, and like many collegiate students use -- JSTOR, etc. I am not much into fiction, but I imagine there are online libraries for fiction also.

[TCE]

If there is a demand for libraries the demand will be met. This much is certain. Therefore, this great quote is always by my side:

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.

PS: I imagine that in the future conventional libraries would be less frequent (without being funded by thieves -- Government), most being philanthropic endeavors. Those who enjoy the feel of books and paper would frequent those, enough to sustain them, and the rest who love reading will move to online libraries like OLL, Mises, FEE, and like many collegiate students use -- JSTOR, etc. I am not much into fiction, but I imagine there are online libraries for fiction also.

Pretty much this. A philanthropist could simply donate money and allow people to rent books at below market prices. Or, the library system could be setup to break even or potentially make a slight profit through mass donations of books. The current library system contains so much waste, that making it more efficient would be easy.

[wormyguy]

Libraries might have to start charging small fees or subscriptions to check out books.

[Kludge]

In the east US, they apparently have many public libraries. I didn't grow up with that. Where I was, there was the Hillsdale College (which accepts no public funds) library with an enormous selection and very reasonable fees, as well as a very small private library with no fees.

Though, I'm not sure physical books have too much more of a future.

[isrow]

Intellectual property is an artificial property right created by government; for example, copyrights were first used by government/The Church to stop the dissemination of critical literature. In MY libertarian world once a piece of literature was shown to another person it would be in the public domain and could be replicated or incorporated into another piece. Ideas cannot be owned. Libraries wouldn't be essential to spreading ideas because the ideas are no longer tied down by copyright holders. It seems to me libraries are already close to irrelevant thanks to the internet.

[Stary Hickory]

Um pretty sure there were libraries before the government took it upon itself to run them. In other words the government did not invent the library. They were here before government came along and they will be here after government goes away.

With the internet it makes it that much easier to maintain and distribute material as well.

[Kregisen]

Intellectual property is an artificial property right created by government; for example, copyrights were first used by government/The Church to stop the dissemination of critical literature. In MY libertarian world once a piece of literature was shown to another person it would be in the public domain and could be replicated or incorporated into another piece. Ideas cannot be owned. Libraries wouldn't be essential to spreading ideas because the ideas are no longer tied down by copyright holders. It seems to me libraries are already close to irrelevant thanks to the internet.

Intellectual property is a tough one. Using libertarian logic, yes there shouldn't be copyrights or anything, since you can't own ideas, but on a practical scale, you need patents to protect whoever invested the money into the idea, otherwise, for example, no new medicine would come out as the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't invest the billions of dollars necessary just on research of a product, when once the research is done all other companies can profit off of it without paying for it.

[silverhandorder]

That is not true. The inventors would simply hold back on ideas until they can capitalize on those. When America had no copy right on books and Britain did British author still made more money here selling their books. Same goes for anything else, the first person to innovate has a big advantage in the market place.

[ForeverAlone]

At lease private sector libraries would probably keep bums from blasting feces all over the restroom. I think public libraries are disgusting. For real!

[BamaAla]

They would be like Blockbuster Video stores.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Intellectual property is a tough one. Using libertarian logic, yes there shouldn't be copyrights or anything, since you can't own ideas, but on a practical scale, you need patents to protect whoever invested the money into the idea, otherwise, for example, no new medicine would come out as the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't invest the billions of dollars necessary just on research of a product, when once the research is done all other companies can profit off of it without paying for it.

In the Early 1960's, before the FDA got involved in drug approval, developing a new drug costs hundreds of THOUSANDS of dollars and took about 2 years between discovery and market. Today it costs between 750 Million and 1.2 Billion and takes 10+ years. As a result, many drugs are never developed or if dual use, never submitted for the second use, especially if the population that would use the drug is poor. We also have the problem of evergreening - developing a copycat of a drug in order to get a new patent. Nexium is inferior to Prilosec, for example, and independent researching verifying effectiveness have been caught falsifying results because the stakes are so high.

India makes great drugs, but they patent the synthesis, not the molecule - that's why you can't get Indian drugs in this country and just about every NGO in the world uses them - they are cheap. Once again, government *IS* the problem!

On Libraries - yes, angels donating the seed and establishing an entitlement to keep it running. I've also gotten library cards from several university libraries for no cost, and their tuition keeps the collection up to date. Locals donate books to community libraries that may be added to the collection or sold for funds at book sales, some rent movies and there are always fines. THen there are things like Google books or Oreilly and associates has a subscription thing for electronic book access. Also used to belong to something called the Light Living Library - actually I think I'm confusing that with a nomadic zine thing, Earthbooks lending Library maybe? - anyway, you paid up front, they sent you a book, if you liked it you could keep it and they would keep your money. If you returned it, they would charge a rental fee, and you could order other books.

Many options here.

-t

[james1906]

They would be like Blockbuster Video stores.

Either this or Borders/B&N would start letting people rent books for a fee. Maybe Netflix would offer books as well.

[amy31416]

http://www.prattlibrary.org/about/index.aspx?id=1604

This is one of the few historical libraries that I'm familiar with, and up until 1908, the library did not receive any taxpayer funds....too bad it didn't stay that way.


The City of Baltimore gave its first appropriation to the Pratt Library. Up until now, the Pratt Library's funding came solely from income of Enoch Pratt's original bequest, other gifts, and any fees that the library collected.

This is an issue where I almost always go for private funding--the one exception is the Library of Congress. I think it's just as important to preserve our intellectual history and have the research facilities available to everyone, as it is to have a military (if not more so).

[MelissaWV]

Either this or Borders/B&N would start letting people rent books for a fee. Maybe Netflix would offer books as well.

There are already groups online that read books and pass them along. There are also used books, of course, available for cheap online. Tangible libraries will still be around, but I think it'd be something charitable and probably linked to a community center (think along the lines of the YMCA having a reading room, or something similar). There would also be the delightful and huge libraries where people go more to stroll around than to actually check out books, but I'm ignoring that. I would be more than willing to let my old books go to libraries, and have often donated them in big bulky batches.

[tangent4ronpaul]

I don't think they are still around, but I found this online from a 1977 issue of The Mother Earth News - and 1977 is way before I would have used them:

HOMESTEADING BOOKS AND MAGAZINES FOR RENT, with option to buy ... that's what Earthbooks Lending Library is all about. Here's how it works: After paying a lifetime membership fee of $5.00, Earthbooks member/customers may rent any of the hundreds of "how to" books and periodicals (including back issues of MOTHER) carried by the Library, for just 75¢ per book per month. Want to keep a particular volume? Just put it on your book-shelf and send Earthbooks a check for the amount of the book (which is always less than the cover price, since the books are considered "used") minus the rental fee. Sound good? Check it out: Earthbooks Lending Library, Sweet, Idaho 83670.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1977-03-01/Nuclear-Proliferation.aspx#ixzz194ozUphn

We also have a "FREE" Bookstore in this town that's been around for years. People bring in boxes of books to donate, and anyone can come in, browse and take books at no cost. I'm pretty sure they accept donations to cover rent and utilities.

-t

[Working Poor]

no new medicine would come out as the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't invest

and you think this would be a bad thing?

[MelissaWV]

and you think this would be a bad thing?

It might be if absolutely NO new medicine came out, but I doubt that would be the real case. It's more likely that the companies would be less interested in releasing a huge volume of drugs just to get their names out there and do their "marketing" as they currently do. One would hope that maybe --- just maybe --- medications might succeed or fail based on their efficacy rather than their brand name or how hard their marketing team worked.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Yes - Pharma companies spend $2 on marketing for every $1 they spend on R&D

A lot of drug development is done in Universities, and people trained to develop new drugs can't get jobs doing that because the regulatory burden is so huge that few drugs are in the pipeline at once.

-t

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

I don't think people quite realize how much Government has artificially raised the cost of nearly everything. Without Government we would be so much more wealthier, which isn't a huge revelation, seeing as Government is merely a band of thieves. Stop getting robbed and suddenly you find yourselves with more money. Without burdensome regulations you suddenly find your operating costs go crashing down. It appears the intelligentsia still has a few people here under their rhetorical spells.

[cindy25]

libraries have many untapped revenue sources, such as snack bars/gift shops; selling instead of destroying used books, charging for computer time. .

they can also be staffed by volunteers from the community.