Because of the budget crisis in L.A., Mayor Villaraigosa has been cracking down on the LA public library — not only freezing journal and database subscriptions but limiting new book purchases. Now there’s apparently a plan to charge a fee for library books that come from other library branches. So naturally, there’s a big hullabaloo (what a great word — I should use it more often on this blog).
Unfortunately, for a lot of the small branches around LA with miniscule holdings but a wide network, the fee means a significant number of books checked out would now have to be paid for. Which would be a travesty. Because as much as I teach my undergraduates that the notion of the “slippery slope” is a logical fallacy, I can’t help but suspect that starting the trend of charging for any library service will only end in taxes hefty as cell phone bill surcharges.
However, the Save the Library site isn’t taking the best tack in combating the proposed increase. The hyperbolic language on the site borders on scaremongering:
Imagine children having to ask their parents’ permission to order books they desperately want to read, and being told they can’t request them, because gas prices are higher this week, or the rent has gone up, or mom has been laid off. Imagine a gifted student at a poorly performing high school unable to get books from the Advanced Placement reading list they need to get themselves caught up with their peers in private prep schools. Imagine elderly people having to give up a lifetime habit of reading because they’ve exhausted the selection of large print books in their local branch.
Imagine every book in your entire library taken out to the street and burned in a wicked conflagration. Imagine the apocalypse has come and anyone who can read is taken out to the barn and shot. Imagine if Mayor Villaraigosa was secretly a book-Nazi who wanted to make his constituency both poor and stupid so he could declare martial law and become despot of the city.
Okay, I’ll stop now. Really. Because when it comes down to it, I’m on the side of the people trying to guard against library taxes. Stop Library Taxes Now! Maybe some traffic-interrupting protesters with witty placards will help the cause. What book lovers wouldn’t march?
