That’s not thievery at the library

I read the letters to the editor daily in an attempt to open my mind up to another person’s point of view (which I might not agree with). Every day, I swear that I will stop reading the letters because there is usually a letter writer whose position is so untenable to me, I am either appalled or amazed at the writer’s lack of insight.

I believe that a letter today may be one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever read. One reader writes, “Anyone who downloads library books for free is stealing from authors and publishers, period. Thus the word thief comes into play.”

I wonder what Amy Tan, Jerry Pinkney, Barbara Kingsolver, Curtis Sittenfeld, Annie Proulx and Neil Gaiman, to name just a few authors, would make of that sentiment since they are on public record in support of public libraries.

In a nod to history, Benjamin Franklin established the first lending library in the nascent United States, the Library Company, in Philadelphia in 1731. While the Library Company was a subscription library, the money collected from member subscriptions was used to purchase new books. Public libraries do not offer free books to patrons. They use tax dollars to

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