It's a completely defensible use of tax dollars to fund access to knowledge for all, regardless of income, which is the function libraries have traditionally served. But what about now, when their role has changed so drastically?
Libraries are now equipped with full multimedia capabilities and serve less as educational opportunities and more as neighborhood entertainment centers. Library patrons have expanded from those who need no-cost materials to free-riding wealthy people looking for some free entertainment. Get a library card and you now have full access to a wide variety of music CDs, DVD movies, and video games, all for free — which is to say all at taxpayer expense.
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When we consider the proper scope of government, do we really think of free entertainment as a basic public service? Has anybody ever answered a citizen survey listing “ability to rent Superbad for free” among their top-ten government priorities? And wouldn't the public be better served if people who could afford it went to a video store and paid for their DVDs? Wouldn't that create jobs and economic activity?
It can be argued, of course, that libraries also serve as gathering places, which is especially important in smaller communities. And libraries have also been repositories of culture, and in moving to provide "entertainment" media for their patrons they are merely changing with the times. But in a time of increasing focus on excessive government spending, this is at least worth debating.
