When I tell people what I do, and where I work, and say that one of the public things that is sometimes under threat of privatization is the public library, that inclusion is usually met with shock.
How and why would a community privatize its library? Surely the library is one of the very few places that would never see privatization, right?
The privatization of libraries follows a similar pattern as a lot of privatization schemes–a financial shortfall creates a crisis (or the appearance of a crisis) and a magic solution appears: turn the public good over to a private company who will “run it like a business” and make it more efficient.
It’s a prevalent enough concern that the American Library Association a decade and a half ago published KEEPING PUBLIC LIBRARIES PUBLIC A Checklist for Communities Considering Privatization of Public Libraries. In it, the organization spells out its policy toward the practice: “ALA affirms that publicly funded libraries should remain directly accountable to the public they serve. Therefore, the ALA opposes the shifting of policymaking and management oversight of library services for the public to the private for-profit sector.”
Sometimes the privatization of libraries comes about because of a crisis of a more political stripe, like when a small group of people gets upset over programming, such as having LGBTQ Pride-themed library displays.
Politics may or may not be involved in the case for the Fresno (California) County Library System, which earlier this summer began exploring the possibility of turning the management of its 116-year-old library over to a private company, amid both financial shortfalls and some complaints about programming. Three years ago, when controversy arose over an initiative to create a children’s book “review committee,” private equity-backed Library Systems and Services (LSSI) showed up with a proposal to take over and, it claimed, save the library system $85 million over a ten year period.
But with private equity’s lust for profit, where would those savings come from? What happens to the staff, hours of operation, and transparency and control over decision-making?
At least one library supervisor, Luis Chavez, has expressed opposition to privatizing the Fresno library system. “Handing over library operations, budgeting, and management to a private company is the worst thing we could do. It doesn’t yield savings, pays low wages and benefits if any and reduces the library experience to a simple book-borrowing enterprise where certain books and materials can be censored.”
A scheme to privatize Huntington Beach’s public library system was rejected after public opinion turned against it, and Santa Clarita took back control of its library system at the end of its contract with LSSI. But other libraries, including additional California libraries, have fallen to the privatizers.
Public libraries have become more than places to borrow books. They offer power tools, toys, and seeds to plant gardens. They provide central locations for community meetings, 3-D printing workshops, a place for summertime lunches for kids who might otherwise not have full meals in a day. They are lifelines to people, both rural and urban. They are the only free-access indoor space not purposed for commerce. Public libraries are, to borrow a phrase, one of the things that actually makes America great–provided we can keep them public.
Jeff Hagan, ITPI Communications Director. Jeff is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. For 14 years he was editor of the alumni magazine for his alma mater, Oberlin College. He previously held communication positions for the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development at Case Western Reserve University and, before that, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
In the Public Interest is a national nonprofit research and policy organization that studies public goods and services. We help community organizations, advocacy groups, public officials, researchers, and the general public understand how the privatization of public goods impacts service quality, democracy, equity, and government budgets. We also advocate for strengthening, adequately funding, and building popular support for a government that works for all of us.
