I love bookstores for many reasons but revere both the idea and the practice of public libraries. To me, they embody the civic-scale practice of a gift economy and the notion of common property. Libraries are models of gift economies, providing free access not only to books but also music, tools, seeds, and more. We don’t each have to own everything. The books at the library belong to everyone, serving the public with free books (and a wider selection than the corner post!).
