one of the best ideas humanity ever had.  Sorry to disagree, but libraries buy a ton of books and influence book publishers.

thus far in history, though I see the point.

I'm not sure socialized bookstores are such a bad thing. If ideas come from a meritocracy, the less affluent should have an equal share in the "marketplace of ideas."

by going to DailyKos you are reducing the incentive for newspapers to be written

</snark>

Just like affordable medicine will reduce the incentive for pharmacudical discovery ;)

i spent countless afternoons in the library as a kid. they work well, and they provide a valuable service to people who can't afford to buy every book they want to read.

but libaries have been around for a while, and new books keep coming out. where does this knee-jerk anti-socialized anything response come from? where something works in a socialized setting, fine. where the market work, fine.

i like my air, water, food, transportation, military, etc... to be socialized too. that is to say, i like to pay my share and cooperate with the people around me to be able to enjoy things i can't afford on an individual basis.

should i and my neighbors each shell out for water testing services and purification? maybe i'll buy a fighter jet and he'll buy a tank?

I love our local libraries and use them extensively.  It doesn't stop me from buying books.  It's a shame that more people don't use them, and that people like yourself have such attitudes.

another public good?

From what I know, we're awash in new books. I think there's plenty of incentive to write them, although most don't make money and this has always been true.

Yesterday the NY Times had an article about the correlation between doing poorly in school and not reading for pleasure.  We need books to be widely available.  Not everyone can buy them.  Perhaps the ones who could benefit most are the least able to buy them.

This post stands alone as a shining, glorious monument to utter and absolute idiocy.  Please tell me that you're kidding.

If you want to encourage books to be written, buy Valarie Plame Wilson's Fair Game. Pages 224-227 will tell you all you need to know about Scotty.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the benefit to soceity of public education, public libraries, public sanititation, and that sort of stuff outweighs the cost of lost revenue.

Maximizing profits should not be confused with the creation of wealth.

I also suspect that those authors who decided against writing a book because it would be made available in a public library wouldn't be worth reading anyway.

Profits are also not a good indicator of value. As an example I point you to the collect works of Rush Limbaugh. (Note to publisher: I would like Rush's books a lot more if the pages were perforated, perhaps two-ply.)

If it were not for libraries, there would be many books that simply would not get published.

Libraries are a vital attribute to an educated citizenry.

Some pulp fiction and non-fiction will always appeal to the masses. But how many published books ever see the light of day at a book store?

Sorry, but I think publishers like to have library systems buying multiple copies of their best sellers as well as buying the arcane, low volume titles. Not every book is a best seller and libraries play a vital role in creating demand for low volume editions.

You can do it selectively, right?  

over and over as years go by.  Other than the works of my favorite authors, I never buy a book I haven't taken out of the library first.  Thus the library has given countless authors the chance to sell books to me, and in many cases, to become my favorites.