Guns for Librarians
Or
Libraries are really remarkable when you think about it. When I first heard about DNA I thought about libraries. DNA holds the information about how we are organized as biological beings. Libraries hold all the information about how we are organized in our social relationships, how the body of knowledge that we got from that ‘tree’ somewhere in our past has grown and changed, and perhaps most importantly they store the record of our languages.
The evolution of languages is most like the actual strand of DNA I think. If we can ever have the sophisticated tools to break that down like we can with DNA we will be even more able to see how we are all related to each other. Maybe then we can break through this barrier that makes us think in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’.
I have been using libraries for research since I was a tot. Libraries are evolving too. When I was young for example I could go to our county library and look up things in the card catalog. If the library did not have the book I was interested in they would call another branch of the county library. If they did not have it, the city library might. They were able to assist me in locating the information, but I had to have my parents actually drive me to get the book.
Now, I can sit at my computer and look at the card catalog for the city library that I have a membership in. All of the holdings are there for me to browse. When I find the item I want, I check it off and tell them where I want to pick it up. When it is ready I get an email telling me it is there.
Librarians have even more access to information than I do yet. All libraries in this country are linked. They have not progressed to the stage where I can log on and find some obscure book that is in Hotchkiss New Mexico (fictional place I hope) for example and have it delivered to my local branch. But, I am thinking that this is within the realm of possibility in the next few years.
I don’t know exactly how much I pay in taxes towards the library system. I don’t think that it is very much at all. I bet that there is some neoconservative out there who thinks that government – who can not do anything right after all – should not be the ones to run libraries. I bet they figure that private enterprise can do it more better cheaper and all.
I don’t want the for-profit sector to get into libraries. I know that this would eventually destroy them. I know this intuitively for some reason. The privatization of our library system is something that I would take up arms to prevent.
11:56:19 AM 
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