The Power of Libraries

Roger Ebert recently posted his updated list of the ten greatest films of all time (with thanks to John Gruber’s Daring Fireball for the link).  Obviously, Ebert is an acknowledged expert on film, and it would take a pile of chutzpah to disagree with him, however, cinema is not math.  There is no one correct answer, and there is room for interpretation and disagreement.  My visceral reaction to some of his selections convinced me to write a response to the list, which is forthcoming.  In preparation for writing that post, I decided to re-watch the films on his list, as well several other films which I may suggest as alternatives for such a list.  In the case of two of the films on his list, I will be watching them for the first time.  Luckily, I already own copies of five of the films on Ebert’s top ten list, as well as several of my own possible choices.  It was my plan to catch the others on Netflix.

I happily pay my eight dollars monthly for Netflix streaming.  My wife and I use Netflix for two primary purposes: first, to regulate what our children watch on television; second, to catch up on previous seasons of both current and old television shows that we either follow or would like to follow.  For movies, however, Netflix’s streaming options  leave a lot to be desired.  While I understand the greed and shortsightedness of the Hollywood studios that has led them to starve Netflix of premium content, including recently released films, it is actually the dearth of quality older films that vexes me.  I could not find any of the films on Ebert’s list, for which I do not already own a copy, on Netflix.

This brought me to my local library.  Luckily, I live in a part of the world where education and literacy are highly prized.  My local library is, to use the modern vernacular, pimped out with free public wifi, large collections of DVDs and CDs, ebook lending, an enormous children’s department, and most importantly, a lending network consisting of dozens of surrounding town libraries and numerous local university libraries, including Harvard and Tufts.

Even though my local library only owned a DVD copy of one of the six films I wanted to watch, the librarian was able to request and reserve the other DVDs from libraries around the region.  As each DVD arrives at my local library, and is checked in by the librarians, an email is automatically sent to me to inform me that my reservation is available for pickup.  Over the next ten days I will receive and watch what Roger Ebert considers to be five of the greatest films of all time.

This is merely a personal, niche example of what a free public library means to the intellectual development of the local citizenry.  It encourages and inspires public discussion and debate.  Minds wiser than mine can calculate the annual cost of funding all the public libraries in the United States, but I am confident that it is a drop in the metaphorical bucket compared to the annual cost of the defense budget, oil subsidies, or Bush tax cuts for the 1%.  Perhaps there is no clearer example the moral failure of American leadership over the last generation than the fact that the brilliant institution that is my local library has to make up budget shortages with bi-annual used book sales.