We eagerly look forward to bringing your our regularly scheduled Staff Summer Reading Selections later on this week, beloved patrons. However, there are some times when we need to interrupt our regular routine to really have a go at some privileged absurdity on the internet.
This past Saturday, Forbes magazine published an online editorial by LIU Post economist Panos Mourdoukoutas entitled “Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money.”
According to the (grossly misinformed) piece, doing away with libraries would save taxpayers’ money, while concurrently raising the price of Amazon stock. According to the piece, Amazon should open its doors (meaning its brick-and-mortar bookstores) to the public, and thus obliterate the need for public libraries; thus reducing the cost to taxpayers, who don’t use the library because they are (allegedly) sitting in Starbucks.
We’re not linking to the piece for two reasons. First, Forbes took the piece off its site (you can find it, and lots of analyses of it, floating around the internet). Secondly, we believe in good information here and the library. And this article did not contain good information about libraries, their purposes, or their use to the community. It is a pleasure to see how many other websites, news outlets, libraries, publishers, and individuals have gathered together to defend libraries, and emphasize the good that they do. But we’re adding our voice to this chorus nonetheless, because disinformation makes us sad. And angry. And like writing a blog post about it.
First of all (and it’s really rather tragic that someone had to point this out to a grown-up person), Amazon is not a Library. It is a store. Moreover, it is a store that is stocked and run by analytics. Which means it only stocks best-sellers and other such high-interest titles. So finding an obscure or older title? Most likely not going to happen. Quality control? Not much. Also, you cannot take books out of an Amazon store unless you hand over money. Libraries allow you to take out books (and cd’s and dvd’s and other media equipment and physical items) by virtue of you living within the bounds of a specific community.
Do your taxes pay for the library? Yes, in part, they do. According to the 2018 Peabody Fiscal Report, the Main Library receives approximately 1% of the total city budget. We also receive money from the state and the federal government, as well–just like most libraries across the country. And we make that money work for us and for you, by investing in paper-and-ink books, ebooks, dvds, streaming services, digital subscriptions, and other technology that you and many, many other people can access on-site and remotely.
Do you know who doesn’t pay their taxes? Amazon.*
But, sarcasm aside, there are two major, fundamental problem about thinking that Amazon can ever replace a library: First, Amazon is a private company. It is designed to make money; not to serve a community. A side note worth making is that Amazon’s presence in a city has a direct and distinctly negative effect on the way-of-life of its residence. Due to the rise of housing prices near Amazon warehouses, and a lack of corresponding pay for employees, there have been numerous reports of Amazon employees forced to live in tents near the warehouse in order to survive. This is somewhat an aside, but it is important to remember in terms of the kind of community Amazon fosters.
Which brings us to the most important things that Mourdoukoutas’ piece ignored.
His argument mentioned that people were more likely to go to a bookstore/coffee shop (pardon, a brand name bookstore or coffee shop, like Amazon and/or Starbucks) to do their work. Which inherently assumes that people have their own access to the tools they need to do that work, such as a laptop computer, tablet, or phone. This implies that people know the work they need to or should be doing. It assumes that people can afford to sit in a place of commerce, like a bookstore or coffee shop. It seems to forget how problematic and downright dangerous such places have proven for community members in the past. And it absolutely overlooks the realities of life for many members of our community, and others, as well.
A 2017 joint report by internet industry trade group Wireless Broadband Alliance and research firm IHS Markit stated that about 44% of people on average living in rural areas in the U.S., as well as a number of other developed nations don’t have access to or can’t afford broadband internet. All told, that’s approximately 62 million Americans in urban centers and 16 million in rural locations who can’t access fast internet. We in Massachusetts are more fortunate than most, living in the 5th most connected state in the country. But that still means that some 3,000 people in Essex County are completely without wired internet access. The cost of living in Peabody is more than 12% above the national average, meaning that we pay more for our services, our housing, and our food, than many others–meaning it is more difficult to afford luxuries and non-necessary items and services. The unemployment rate in Peabody (as of October 2017) was 5.7%.
The people mentioned in these statistics–those not connected to the internet, those unable to afford items like computers or tablets or smartphones, those without jobs or in between jobs–those are the people that libraries are specifically designed to assist. Those are the very people that private stores intentionally ignore.
Libraries are institutions of conscious equity. They ensure that the underprivileged, the unemployed, and the ignored have a place to go, and access to the resources necessary to improve their lives; from a glass of water and a bathroom, to access learning materials and job applications, to a place to study for an exam or finish an important report. We offer homework assistance for students so that they have the opportunity to shape their future to their own dreams. We provide language assistance for non-English speakers so that they can communicate effectively in whatever situations they encounter. We offer safe spaces for children to learn and play. We offer activity and discussions for the elderly. We connect people to the material they need to learn, be entertained, and feel validated as people. We ensure that everyone in our community has a place to belong, regardless of their ability to pay for it. Libraries are the absolute antithesis to the capitalist, for-profit business model that Professor Mourdoukoutas describes, that relies on a privileged elite to function. And that is precisely why they are so revolutionary, so necessary, and so popular.
As this article from Quartz Media noted, the link to Professor Mourdoukoutas’ article was active at 10am, and had garnered some 200,000 views. By 11am, it had been removed, in the wake of a full-bodied internet revolt. According to a statement from a Forbes spokesperson, “Forbes advocates spirited dialogue on a range of topics, including those that often take a contrarian view…Libraries play an important role in our society. This article was outside of this contributor’s specific area of expertise, and has since been removed.”
You know how you can get better informed about these things? Go to the Library. Even you, Professor Mourdoukoutas, would be welcome. It sounds like you could really benefit from a visit to an actual library before you produce any more opinions about them.
* While we made have taken a bit of a stand against Amazon here, we don’t want to negatively influence the way you spend your hard-earned funds. But if you do feel like helping out your beloved local library in any way, when you make your purchases via Amazon, feel free to go to the Amazon Smile page and direct your donation to go to the Friends of the Peabody Library, as shown below:
