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July 19, 2007
Doing Good isn't Always Easy: Starting a Library
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Inspiration
The Freakonomics blog has a nice little piece pondering a curious what if: What if libraries didn't exist today? Would a rich person like Bill Gates be able to start libraries all across the country much like Andrew Carnegie did (in 1919 there were 3,500 libraries in the U.S., nearly half of them funded by Carnegie)?
At first it seems like a silly question--who doesn't love libraries? Why would we stop such an act of charity and good will. But what would today's publishers say?
Given the current state of debate about intellectual property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of strangers borrow it?
It seems if we did it all over again today, libraries might not happen. It's a good reminder that charity and generosity and life-changing ideas can be scary and dangerous and a lot easier to do today than tomorrow when the problems are worse and the resistance hardened. (You can help build libraries in developing countries by supporting Room to Read. Link via Good)
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