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The US has by far the largest public library system in the world, and it's not close. So by what metric would you consider it underfunded?

by yucky 4y ago

cnelsenmilt 4y ago
What measure are you using for "largest"? The US is 3rd in the world by population and 1st by GDP, so in absolute terms it's to be expected that they would be "large" in many categories, simply by having more people and money. (And then there's geographical extent.) The relative (per capita, perhaps) measure is more salient.
- yucky 4y ago
  Based on books in circulation (overall and per capita). Also for anybody who isn't familiar with interlibrary loans, check it out. In the US you can get access to almost any book around the country sent to your local library. The system is amazing.
mynameisnull 4y ago
If you mean the library of Congress sure. If you mean the most libraries not based on a quick google (https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-most-libraries-total-and-which-has-the-most-libraries-per-capita https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-mos...). But I guess it depends on what you mean. I am genuinely curious as there are several ways of looking at this. Also, the person above could have been talking about compared to days past. I can tell you the libraries I had access to when and where I grew are less funded (many closed), but again depends on where and what you’re comparing against.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
divided 4y ago
Comparing size without considering population will only lead to bad conclusions. Could you imagine someone claiming cancer deaths in Germany aren’t a problem because it doesn’t have near as many deaths as the US, it’s not even close? Sounds silly, right? The US is reportedly 62nd in the world in libraries per capita. [1] Given the US has more wealth per capita than most of the world as well, I think claiming we underfund our public library system is fairly obvious. [1] https://onlinegrad.syracuse.edu/blog/best-countries-book-lovers-accessible/ https://onlinegrad.syracuse.edu/blog/best-countries-book-lov...
- Kamq 4y ago
  > Given the US has more wealth per capita than most of the world as well, I think claiming we underfund our public library system is fairly obvious. This is only the case if you think the proper level of funding is a function of population size or wealth instead of whatever is required to obtain sufficient results. If you're looking for results, it seems the proper level of funding would actually scale with population density (sparser areas require higher funding per capita to provide the same access). I think you can make a case for that sort of model, but I don't think it's "fairly obvious".
- yucky 4y ago
  Mentioned elsewhere, but books in circulation (overall and per capita). Also, in the US you can get almost any book from elsewhere sent to your local library at no charge.

The US has by far the largest public library system in the world, and it's not close. So by what metric would you consider it underfunded?

by yucky 4y ago

The US has by far the largest public library system in the world, and it's not close. So by what metric would you consider it underfunded?

cnelsenmilt 4y ago

What measure are you using for "largest"? The US is 3rd in the world by population and 1st by GDP, so in absolute terms it's to be expected that they would be "large" in many categories, simply by having more people and money. (And then there's geographical extent.) The relative (per capita, perhaps) measure is more salient.

yucky 4y ago
Based on books in circulation (overall and per capita). Also for anybody who isn't familiar with interlibrary loans, check it out. In the US you can get access to almost any book around the country sent to your local library. The system is amazing.

mynameisnull 4y ago

If you mean the library of Congress sure. If you mean the most libraries not based on a quick google (https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-most-libraries-total-and-which-has-the-most-libraries-per-capita https://www.quora.com/Which-country-in-the-world-has-the-mos...). But I guess it depends on what you mean. I am genuinely curious as there are several ways of looking at this. Also, the person above could have been talking about compared to days past. I can tell you the libraries I had access to when and where I grew are less funded (many closed), but again depends on where and what you’re comparing against.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

divided 4y ago

Comparing size without considering population will only lead to bad conclusions. Could you imagine someone claiming cancer deaths in Germany aren’t a problem because it doesn’t have near as many deaths as the US, it’s not even close? Sounds silly, right? The US is reportedly 62nd in the world in libraries per capita. [1] Given the US has more wealth per capita than most of the world as well, I think claiming we underfund our public library system is fairly obvious. [1] https://onlinegrad.syracuse.edu/blog/best-countries-book-lovers-accessible/ https://onlinegrad.syracuse.edu/blog/best-countries-book-lov...

Kamq 4y ago
> Given the US has more wealth per capita than most of the world as well, I think claiming we underfund our public library system is fairly obvious. This is only the case if you think the proper level of funding is a function of population size or wealth instead of whatever is required to obtain sufficient results. If you're looking for results, it seems the proper level of funding would actually scale with population density (sparser areas require higher funding per capita to provide the same access). I think you can make a case for that sort of model, but I don't think it's "fairly obvious".
yucky 4y ago
Mentioned elsewhere, but books in circulation (overall and per capita). Also, in the US you can get almost any book from elsewhere sent to your local library at no charge.