Defining A Library

While Illinois raises taxes to deal with a bloated debt load, New York takes an axe to spending.

Hence, the public library system in Queens, New York, will stop buying books.

What is a library these days? Doesn't it exist as a repository to hold books so that those of us who can't afford to fund our voracious reading habit have an affordable source?

Apparently not, or at least not in Queens.

After spending tons of money on expansion and facility upgrades, the library system finds that it's broke. Newly added facilities require heating and lighting, along with computers and librarians and pages to stack the shelves. Expenses went up, while revenue has dropped during the current recession.

It's impossible to reverse the upgrades and recoup the costs, so where to find savings?

Other libraries might reduce operating hours and decrease staff positions. Tom Galante, the Queens Public Library CEO, decided that the new books could go.

What is a library? In Queens, it's not so much a place to borrow books as it a place where one obtains English as a second language instruction. It's a place to go when you need Internet access for your job hunt. It can even be a place to go if you're homeless and seek a safe place to find warm shelter.

But it's not the books that are critical any more. So the library in Queens won't be adding to its collection any time soon.

The public is being tapped to donate, if they believe that libraries are first and foremost a place for the general public to find knowledge and entertainment in the written word. If everyone gave $25, Queens could have a traditional library, and not one of those modern inventions that isn't much of a library at all.

It's the cost of a single hard cover. Not much to ask, considering how much use a single hard cover could get as a lendable commodity.