When Did Public Libraries Become a “Waste”?

Leah Nyfeler
Nov 5 · 4 min read

On a mission, I bypassed the long line of voters and zipped into the Carver branch of Austin Public Library. Heading straight for the shelves of books marked with bright yellow “hold” stickers, I dodged around the desks filled with folks using the computers, armchairs with readers in the periodical area, and patrons perusing seasonal display racks (lots of cookbooks in preparation for Thanksgiving). Thanks to the automated check-out system, I was back in my car, my book — The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantu — in hand, within five minutes.

What’s not to love about this experience, right? Such an abundance of riches at my fingertips! Aren’t public libraries the finest examples of our shared American dream, a place where information is accessible to all? A home for free meetings and civic duties? A sure-fire leveler of the educational playing field? A great place for freelancers to work?

I’m an ardent public library lover. After all, Austin’s public libraries made me the reader I am. (Proximity of my childhood branch to the local Safeway store played a big part; back in the less supervised days of child rearing, my folks would drop me off while they did the grocery shopping. And when I had homework. And in the summer.) Whenever I travel, I seek out the public library, especially in a foreign country. They’re a glimpse into any city’s heart.

Books have always been my friends. Libraries have always been a safe haven.

So imagine how confused this story, “In the Land of Self Defeat” by Monica Potts, made me feel. In Potts’ look at the politics of a struggling rural community, she profiles the local fight over funding for a public librarian position in Van Buren County, Arkansas.

While I completely understand a community searching to keep salaries in line and desperately balancing a budget, what surprised me were quotes equating library services to “handouts” and “a sad waste of taxpayer money.” According to Potts, “people didn’t want to pay for something they didn’t think they would use.”

I no longer have school-aged children, but it would never occur to me to feel I shouldn’t pay school taxes. Public education is an investment in our country’s future. Only once in my life have I ever used an ambulance and EMT crew, but I certainly see the imperative to provide accessible emergency city-wide care. There are roads I may never drive on, but I pay those taxes. God forbid that I make much use of the fire and police departments for anything but thank goodness we support them.

Every year, we protest our property taxes. I’m not in favor of rampant taxes. Or unfair taxes. Or taxes without representation.

But public libraries aren’t a waste or a handout.

I get that there are people who don’t value a four-year degree in library sciences (I suspect these same people would call my English degree a waste, too). There’s a lot more to librarians than shelving books or sitting behind a desk shushing talkers, but I have the advantage of an inside look at their many roles and responsibilities thanks to my amazing sister in law, who’s a children’s librarian. Public libraries offer services, support, and materials that benefit citizens in real ways — tutoring, events and classes, business resources, videoconferencing, computer use, research materials, youth services, and more.

Public libraries offer and support individual improvement. And we’re all better when the least advantaged of us are better.

My specialization in teaching of reading has shown research supporting the value of books in young children’s lives. As a middle school teacher of remedial reading at an econonmically disadvantaged school, I witnessed adolescents who had no books in their home. When you can’t functionally read at 10, 11, or 12 years old, you’re pretty much sunk for success in high school . . . and that’s a sad waste of potential.

I have another book on hold at my local public library, this one for work: Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream by Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson. The authors address the very issue at the heart of Pott’s article— those geographic divides in talent, wages, and employment that are decimating rural areas and creating expensive and overpopulated big city technology hubs. We need economic growth that benefits everyone.

I’m sure that librarian at the Van Buren County public library will be doing her part to give local patrons every means available to help them grow and benefit. And I hope that rural community comes back to embracing public libraries as a resource and not a waste.

Leah Nyfeler
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