Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomk2
About 20 years ago, I lived in an unincorporated neighborhood on the edge of town. I went to the library to get a card, and they looked up my address, then informed me I had to pay about $350 for the library card. Since my property was not assessed the library portion of property taxes, I had to pay it myself if I wanted to use the library. I left without a card, because there was no way I could possibly benefit from paying that much for the library, and I didn't ask how many years the fees would cover
5 years later, I moved to a home that was part of the town and got a library card. In the fifteen years I lived there, I doubt the purchase price of any books I checked out would have totaled $350 for the entire fifteen year period. Only the last few years had digital downloads available.
I think that libraries spend more per capita (the number of residents they serve) on books than the general population does on themselves. Only high use patrons of a library get a value for their tax dollars. Think of the many who are taxed for little return, other than the satisfaction that a library is deemed an important facet of infrastructure. What is the effective use of any particular library branch? One out of ten local residents use it more than once a year? One out of a hundred? I don't know. But my local branch is being converted to a high school library, since so few of the local residents use it (and it is on the High School campus).
edit:
Digital downloads is the only thing that generated increased interest in the library by adults, and I think library managers realize this and want to serve more of their residents to remain useful. But libraries are terribly inneficient uses of "book dollars." 67% of the budget goes to staff, 21% for "other" expenses including providing computers and internet, and the smallest part of the budget is 11% for the collection of materials. http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactshee...aryfactsheet04
so of the $350 they wanted to charge me less than $39 would have been for buying books. Is eleven percent of your library taxes more than what your local population spends on books themselves? Publishers probably wish they had a bigger portion of the library budget.
And all of what I posted above doesn't change the fact that I agree with you about the blackout period for libraries is not a big deal, except to libraries who are trying to maintain relevance to the community. |
The library I attended for many years, since when I was a child until a few Years ago, is free for everyone, also if they don't live in the town or in the region or in Italy. Now I live elsewhere, in another town, but I still own the card and I use it for digital lending (it uses ADE, 14 days for a ebook, not more than 3 in a month while for pbook 30 days and not more than 3 books togeter without a monthly limit).
And about publishers: they should not fear libraries: all that increases the percentage of readers is good for them: a child that attends a library when he will be adult may be he will buy books.