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I don't think that libraries are - or were supposed to be - the great equalizer. Probably publicly funded education is the greatest equalizer (although nothing can equal being born with $300 million...). The point of publicly funded education was to make available to everyone the type of education that only the wealthy and upper middle class could afford.
I don't think that was ever the main point of libraries, as they fairly quickly amassed a quantity of books that far exceeded what any private individual would own...but you still needed a certain level of literacy to read them. I think the point of libraries was more to make available a large number of books to everyone, rich and poor.
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