
Against Little Free Libraries (2017) - Tomte
https://www.citylab.com/navigator/2017/05/the-case-against-little-free-libraries/523533/
======
beat
Virtue signaling goes both ways. Yes, there's plenty of middle class
progressive virtue signaling in having a little free library, but there's also
plenty in bashing them as a threat to the public library system. Progressiver-
than-thou is a seriously annoying thing.

My own gripe against them isn't the virtue signaling, but rather the KonMari
problem. People who read tend to treat books as sacred. Throwing books out is
a sin, even if the books are, frankly, junk. I live in one of those
neighborhoods they describe, with a little free library or two on every block,
and they are often stuffed with garbage books that someone couldn't bear to
throw out - old Danielle Steele and Steven King novels, obsolete computer
books, etc. It's okay to throw books out, it really is. The magic isn't in the
book, it's in the reading.

That said, there are other ways to do Good Work with books besides little free
libraries and the public library system. My spouse works with a nonprofit that
distributes books for underprivileged children. Every time she buys something
on Amazon, she also buys a children's book - exclusively books that feature
non-white characters. Her goal isn't just to get books in the hands of poor
children, but to get minority kids images that look like themselves, and get
the white kids images that look like someone else.

~~~
Tomte
I've finally come around to think that it's okay to throw books into paper
collection. It feels wrong, viscerally. You do it hoping nobody is watching
you. But that feeling is stupid. It's ecologically okay to recycle paper, and
the books you're throwing away aren't one-of-a-kind. You're not depriving
anyone of the book, they can lend it from a library or buy it themselves.

~~~
fedorareis
Personally my solution to this is either giving the books to a thrift store or
donating it to the library. Then it at least has a chance of finding a new
owner, but if not they can decide to recycle it.

~~~
Tomte
Another solution is trying companies buying old media. I finally got rid of
Lisp in Small Pieces, which I would never have worked through anyway and some
other comparable book I cannot remember for double-digit Euros!

It's hit-and-miss, though. I see no rhyme and reason in which books they're
interested in, and the prices.

Just the day before yesterday I took some cooking books in pristine condition
to the library. They used to have a book-swapping box outside. It was gone.

I went in (not too thrilled with the prospect of lugging it all back home) and
asked about it. No, they don't have it anymore. I can put my books in the
"free section" inside.

I did that, the librarian walked by to take a look and snatched the books
away. "They are good, I'll see whether we can use them for the library.
Usually we only get books we throw away immediately."

~~~
daly
Lisp in Small PIeces is one of the best books I've ever read. Besides being a
deep reach into programming decisions it is one of the best examples of a
literate program.

By "getting ride of it" I assume you put it into a glass case on your office
wall. I admit it does deserve such a place of pride.

------
hiei
Look I don't use the actual library as much as I want to (Seattle). When I was
job hunting it was one of the last places I went to to be productive. The open
hours are abysmal,(10AM-6PM) was a common one. That being said I have found
use in these tiny libraries just knowing I might pick up something interesting
- and I try to return or find another spot to donate a book of my own. It's
not like they're stealing funding from the city? Virtue signaling? Wealthy
neighborhoods? Some people just like books and want to give back.

~~~
Tomte
I agree. There's no reason why a LFL would affect the public library
negatively.

Nobody will cut funding for public libraries, because "we have a LFL now".

~~~
hprotagonist
Want to bet? Library budgets are on the front lines, and have been for
decades.

~~~
beat
The people who build and use LFLs are the _most_ likely to support a well-
funded public library system, not the least likely. That's one of the key
conceptual failings of the article.

~~~
dtornabene
whatever the motives of the people building them, they absolutely will be used
by _others_ as a means to attack a vital state service.

~~~
beat
Nah. I don't think I've ever heard the argument that LFLs are a substitute for
public libraries, except in this article. Library defunding is always done on
an "everyone needs to share the pain" ground, we can't raise taxes, we need
the money to deal with crime, stuff like that.

If someone wanted to argue that public libraries are irrelevant, the Internet
is a better argument than LFLs are.

~~~
dtornabene
I mean, I mentioned in another thread here that in my own town there are
attempts to attack the library, and its not a "everyone share the pain"
argument. It was national news. The people pushing it are straight up trying
to get the library delisted from the ALA and the TLA, precisely so they can
control the content on the shelves. You can go to youtube _right now_ and see
the arguments, made in a Texas county commissioners court, to the effect; "if
we can't succeed in having these books pulled we'll start our own library or
get the county library funding pulled". Its not a rhetorical point, I've been
active in fighting it here in my community.

------
jpm_sd
I live in a relatively wealthy neighborhood (Alameda, CA) next to a relatively
poor neighborhood (Oakland). Lots of LFLs around. Recently we've had an issue
with people raiding the LFLs - taking all the books at once. When confronted,
one of these raiders admitted that she was taking all the free books in order
to sell them to the nearest used bookstore for a quick bit of cash.

~~~
toast0
My wife put up a LFL in front of our house and this would have been great. We
put a sign up asking for books when we started, and we got so many --- it
really wasn't a big deal if people took the books.

------
JohnFen
I think they have their place, though, depending on the circumstances. In my
town, you don't see these in the higher-income neighborhoods at all, you see
them in the lower-income neighborhoods where there are no public library
branches.

They tend to be filled with light recreational reading and children's books.

The main problem I've seen with them is that they usually aren't
weatherproofed enough, causing books to get water damaged, and they provide an
irresistible temptation for vandals.

------
lootsauce
The quality of content, other than popular fiction which I care not to read,
is horrendous at every community library I have browsed the stacks of. What
the librarians decide we should like just seems not a good enough solution.
Perhaps a more distributed model where people can bring their own books to
share, silently hoping someone else will enjoy them, is far more interesting
than that of government employees (regardless of their great intentions)
deciding for us. Probably unrealistic but my $0.02

------
Causality1
"Little Free Libraries predominantly appear in medium- to high-income
neighborhoods" Because they don't want them vandalized or raided.

"registration fee of $40 to use the Little Free Library name." OK, legit
criticism. The idea you can trademark a phrase as generic and descriptive as
"Little Free library" is bullshit.

~~~
LeonB
It probably also puts you on their map.

~~~
amelius
Shouldn't this kind of data just be available in a generic service like Google
search/maps instead?

~~~
Mediterraneo10
Rather, shouldn’t it be available in OpenStreetMap? And OSM does indeed
already have a way of tagging these little libraries.

------
Spooky23
I get the perspective, but the public library folks pushing this position are
really cheapening what libraries are.

Books are a commodity with low or no value very very quickly. 90% of books as
a commodity are worth less than a bottle of soda within months of publication.
A LFL is really a way to connect with neighbors and get rid of surplus books
taking up space in a way that is potentially better than dumping them in a
bin.

A public library is in my mind a nearly magical place that's about learning
and information. I'm lucky to live in a place with a vibrant library system.
Our local branch is full of kid and adults doing homework, reading, playing,
etc. Books are a big part of the expression of that, not the mission.

------
dtornabene
Something I'm not seeing represented in the comments: Libraries are _already_
under attack. The library in my hometown was the subject of national reporting
for the attempt by theocrats to attempt to remove gay parenting books from the
library. It was vigorously protested by members of the community, the state
ACLU actually sent someone to speak at our county commissioners court meeting.
Its still ongoing and the fight has shifted terrain, but my point is that
things like the LFL are used, again and again, as ways to undermine state
institutions. When individuals and groups with a motive to attack and
undermine a specific institution can point to an alternative that allows them
to say they aren't actually, say, anti-intellectual, they will do that. On top
of that, its worth pointing out that libraries represent the spectrum of human
achievement _and failure_ on their shelves. There's a beautiful quote on the
wall in the downtown branch (Harold Washington) that goes something to the
effect of "libraries are a record of both human genius and stupidity".
Librarians are there to make sure that books that are records of our past,
that may not have wide cultural currency, are not only preserved and defended,
but accessible to the public _for free_. Exchanging that for an upper middle
class located box of, truth be told, overwhelmingly Dan Brown style potboilers
seems like a really bad call. Librarians as a group are one of the fiercest
defenders of free speech we have in this society, and we subtlety undermine
them when we crow about "free" boxes of mass market paperbacks and, at least
in texas, where for awhile I stopped constantly to check, lots and lots of
conservative Regnery-type political screeds and Protestant apologetics.

~~~
ianbicking
Who is using Little Free Libraries to attack the necessity of actual
libraries? I've never seen that. The one instance they talk about is a mayor
of a small suburb putting up some LFLs because the metro area library system
started to charge a fee for access.

------
TheOperator
The absolite vitrol at the fact that WHITE people were psying money out of
their pocket for community libraries which had the side-benefit of projecting
a certain image baffled me.

The fact that a paid product was used disperportionstely by rich peoppe who
could afford them, and educated people that read was blindingly obvious. The
fact that areas which already had libraries would have many of these paid mini
libraries is fairly obvious because areas with libraries are full of readers.
I fail to grasp the point of much of yheir demographic analysis.

For an article so firm that little libraries were virtue signalling this
article was chock full of bog standard progressive virtue signalling like
bashing on something because white people participate in it. Goddamned fucking
White people reading and sharing after they've finished smh.

------
apocalypstyx
Over the years, I've developed a process:

1) [99% of commodity books are not sacred] -> if it's damaged, through it out
/ break it down for recycling.

2) if it's of general interest, donate it to the friends of the library
bookstore and let them sell it for 25 - 50 cents.

3) if it's too esoteric for [2], pass it along to a used and scholarly
bookstore if there is one nearby.

I am not going to spend my time maintaining a piece of miniature architecture
to do something that can be done so much better and easier already. (And I'm
especially not paying a registration fee to do so.)

------
wool_gather
> [a] librarian [... said] “As a librarian, my gut reaction to that was, ‘You
> know what else is a free library? A regular library.’”

With all respect to librarians, this is a bit silly. There are public
libraries that also call themselves "Free". It's a bit of an outdated
distinction, sure, but they've had their names for decades. (And there still
exist libraries that are not lending libraries or not open to the general
public; mostly attached to universities at this point, but not "free".)

------
username223
For those of you who didn't read to the end:

> Nobody finds Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad in a Little Free
> Library—much less Wi-Fi, college counseling, or jobs services. A well-funded
> library system has little to fear.

"Little Free Libraries" have nothing to do with public libraries, and seem
like a harmless way for people to spend their disposable income. They may be
virtue signaling, charity, lawn decorations, recycling bins, or whatever, but
I don't see any reason to complain about them.

------
jacinabox
Wow what a hit piece, who knew that the venal politics of corporate America
extended all the way down to the knitting circle level.

------
FrozenVoid
More interesting, there are "mobile libraries"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Books)

------
hnlurker
At least LFLs don't have vagrants and homeless lousing up the place like
public libraries do.

------
jasaloo
Bingo:

"'We submit that these data reinforce the notion that [Little Free Libraries]
are examples of performative community enhancement, driven more so by the
desire to showcase one’s passion for books and education than a genuine desire
to help the community in a meaningful way.

[ . . . ]

[Little Free Libraries] are a highly visible form of self-gratification
cleverly disguised as book aid, and the effects of this visibility can be
better understood through a consideration of their role in a landscape . . .'"

~~~
jacobmoe
So what? These sorts of criticisms are irritating. "Such and such is just
virtue signalling and therefore bad" makes no sense. Everyone virtue signals
all the time. It's just one of those things that human beings do. Accusing
others of "just" virtue signalling is itself a signal of ones own virtue (in
having deeper, more meaningful motivations).

~~~
LeonB
“Virtue signalling” is generally an unfalsifiable claim. As such it adds
little to any discussion.

