The Bottom Line
The August 2006 American Libraries has an interesting story about censorship thwarted. Apparently the Nampa Public Library in Idaho was willing to let a donor with $10,000 walk away rather than bend to his desire to have several books, legitimate sources of information about sex, be removed from the stacks. Yay, Nampa PL!
The would-be donor reportedly said of the library official’s decision, “from a business perspective that’s a bad policy.” Yes, from a business perspective, it is a bad policy, but (and here is the point) not everything is (nor should be) run like a business. Business’ bottom line is profit. Any thing that detracts from that profit is a bad thing. On the other hand, governments and institutions of cultural knowledge are not businesses and should not be run like them. The bottom line for these institutions is the people they serve (all the people, not just the majority of them).
Yes, governments and libraries (and museums, etc.) have budgets and must have sound fiscal policies but these are things that serve the people who use their services (not the other way around). This is one of the reasons I’m very happy about working in a library (and probably making less than I could make in the commercial sector). There is the feel good factor that we are doing something good, something that really matters. Hip, hip, hooray for institutions that make people the bottom line.
Leave a Reply