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There may be no more eloquent statement about the erosion of our civic
connectedness than the news that public libraries around the country are
starting to outsource their daily operations. Yes, public libraries are
being privatized. This should not be entirely surprising, given how jails,
highways and even military operations are being privatized these days. Yet
it does raise the distressing question - If libraries are vulnerable, where
will this momentum for dismantling our civic institutions end?
Julia Silverman of the Associated Press reports {1} that about fifteen
cities and towns around the country have outsourced their libraries by
signing on with Library Systems and Services, Inc (LSSI), a privately held
Germantown, Maryland, company. Among the cities that have privatized their
library management are San Juan and Leander in Texas; Redding and Moorpark
in California; and the Jackson-Madison County library system in Tennessee.
The reason given for outsourcing library services is always the same: cost
savings. But rarely do calmer-minds-in-charge stop to ask how those savings
are achieved and what they communicate to the public. The first step in
privatization is the hiring of new employees and the laying off of existing
public employees and union members. LSSI also shortens library hours,
sometimes dramatically. To reap new efficiencies, one can imagine a
standardization of book acquisition. Will the new management really care
about local needs and sensibilities?
The biggest loss from privatization may be the changed image of the public
library. A civic institution serving public needs becomes a quasi-business
dedicated to profit. That, in turn, changes our commitment to it. Would you
volunteer and sacrifice to help out a local library that is run by an
out-of-state corporation?
"This is a shift from the public trust into private hands", one librarian
lamented after his library was privatized. "Libraries have always been a
source of information for everyone and owned by no one". Libraries are not
just another "cost-center" on a budget sheet; they are symbols of a
community, democratic culture and equal opportunity. The privatization of
libraries symbolizes our political unwillingness to provide for the common
good.
Most cities and towns have financial troubles at one point or another, and
any responsible government has to make ends meet. But it is telling that
this necessity is not being met with belt-tightening or higher taxes - or
some other community-based solution - but with a surrender of the
institution itself to a private contractor. Our problem may not be with
municipal finances per se (although much could be done there), but with our
waning sense of the commons ... at least, in fifteen cities and towns.
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