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The law establishing public libraries doesn‘t just say "let there be public libraries". It designates a source for funding, making it a reason that taxpayers ar
by yccs27 4y ago
The law establishing public libraries doesn‘t just say "let there be public libraries". It designates a source for funding, making it a reason that taxpayers are less free. It forces publishers to sell/give books to the libraries.
If it could just exist without restricting someone‘s freedom in the wider sense, we wouldn‘t need a law.
- AnimalMuppet 4y agoRight. Privately funded libraries didn't need any laws. It's even worse for authors. They pay taxes to support institutions that exist to lend out the author's books for free.
- Spooky23 4y agoLol. Libraries are huge buyers of books and drive demand. Publishing wouldn’t exist without libraries. Something like 90% of book retail space has vaporized, and the ruthless consolidation makes the top 50 authors utterly dominate sales.
- giaour 4y ago> Privately funded libraries didn't need any laws. Not sure if this was meant to be a troll, but obviously private libraries depend on someone enforcing private ownership in general. Public libraries have some very specific legal carveouts (e.g. around protecting patron privacy) but otherwise are treated the same as private libraries, only publicly funded.