Let's Hear it For the Library

I see a lot of stuff on the internet about the urgency of saving independent bookstores.  When Slate writer Farhad Manjoo wrote about his dislike for independent bookstores, people rose up from all corners of the internet to denounce him. (here's a nice summary of the whole affair) Some said stuff about how bookstores are a sacred public trust and the custodians of literary culture and such things.

I love independent bookstores. I love browsing in them and getting recommendations and the company of other people who like books.  I would like independent bookstores even more if so many of them didn't have such desultory genre fiction sections.  But I do like them a lot. 

But two things. One: if you want to support and save independent bookstores, go shop at one.  Period.  You don't need to waste what little energy you have for advocacy advocating for independent bookstores. They are businesses. If they make enough money, they will survive.  And if they don't, they won't. 

The other thing: Bookstores are awesome, but they are not guardians of literary culture.  That would be the public library.  Because while bookstores make literature available to anyone who can pay for it, libraries ensure that knowledge and culture are available for free. And I'm not just talking about books.  Those people who can't afford a computer or internet access can still use the awesome research power of the internet for free at the library. They've got movies and music too.

And this isn't just a benefit to the completely broke among us.  I, for example, read more books than I can afford to buy.  Two weeks ago, I took about eighty dollars worth of books out of the library.  I will get through all four books before the month is out without straining my already tight family budget by eighty bucks.  And the books, which I will only read once (I'm not a rereader), will not become decorations in my already full bookshelves, but will, rather, go back so they can be read by other people.

Another example.  A while back, I wanted to do some research on Lon Chaney for a project that never wound up getting off the ground.  I found that what most people regard as the best biography of Lon Chaney is out of print.  Amazon offered to put me in touch with some used booksellers who would kindly sell me a copy for 45 bucks.  I went to the library and got it for free. 

Commerce is not under threat in our society, but the very idea of the public good is under threat.  As long as there's money to be made, people will sell books.  But we live with the very real danger that government funding will be eliminated for things like libraries that provide an intangible, immeasurable, yet critical benefit like general access to information, like an introduction to the world of literature, like a society in which everyone has the ability to be well-informed as well as entertained regardless of income.

So do yourself and your community a favor and go check some books out of the library.  They can use circulation figures to justify their budgets.  And you'll be helping the authors you check out--libraries pay attention to which authors circulate, and they buy more of their books. At least this is what I gather from following librarians on twitter.

And the next time you feel the urge to advocate for the guardians of local literary culture, call up your mayor or city council representative or whoever and tell them how much you love the library.  Libraries don't ask for your money (except as a small percentage of whatever local taxes you pay)--but they can sure use your voice.

Image of the Boston Public Library's Reading Room courtesy of flickr user John W. Schultze, who shared the image under a creative commons license.  Another awesome thing about the BPL is that anyone can go and read and study in this gorgeous space.  You usually have to shell out a bundle for private university tuition to get access to spaces like this.