I've said over and over in this blog that I love the Toronto Public Library. It's the best public system I've ever used even if some of its circulation rules rub me the wrong way. And even if it can take an age to deliver a book: I've been waiting an eternity for Hugh Ford's Four Lives in Paris.
So it is with some alarm that I read Mayor Rob Ford is apparently considering the privatization of our libraries. That can't be good. Cultural property such as libraries are best "owned" and operated by the public sector. Why? For purely selfish reasons I worry that the scope of a privatized system will be reduced. Will Private Libraries Inc. find me such as esoterica as Hugh Ford's book? How about the writing of Vichy apologist Sisley Huddleston who wrote about the the Lost Generation in real time when he lived in Paris in the 1920s? Kay Boyle? Wambly Bald? What about inter-branch loans? Private Libraries Inc. might not deal with other public systems. After all, TPL found and delivered a book located in the archives at Royal Military College. At no charge. Can't see a privateer doing that.
TPL should remain public property. I might even sign a petition to that effect.
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