Let Them Eat Cake! And Let Them Go To Amazon Book Stores!
Dear Professor Mourdoukoutas,
Congratulations! You’ve united people in a way that doesn’t seem possible. You suggested that public libraries should be replaced by Amazon stores. No, it wasn’t a Modest Proposal a la Jonathan Swift, you were serious. Or at least many think you’re serious. Well, Pan (can I call you Pan? It would be easier to type out Pan rather than Professor Mourdoukoutas) many people disagreed with you.
It reminded me of a sketch Bill Hader did a couple of years ago when he’s asking thirty-nine cents for a starving African village, only it’s not an African village and the villagers think he’s asking way too little. It ends up with the village taking him hostage and asking for two hundred dollars for his safe return. I’m betting if people knew your address they would’ve done the same thing and asked for money for the local library. At least I like to think they would’ve. The essay is no longer on Forbes’ website, so forgive me while I go by memory on your essay.
First off, you didn’t cite any sources in your essay. The first thing I learned from Mrs. Terry Steele at Pleasant Hill Elementary is to cite your sources. It makes your argument stronger and the reader knows where you received your data. To be honest, this is Journalism 101: cite your sources! Even if it is an editorial, it makes your argument stronger.
Now let’s address your arguments:
You said that Starbuck’s can be a “third place” for people to study and convene. As a person with a sensory disability, this simply would not work. Sometimes at Starbuck’s work perfectly. However, with coffee brewing, people talking, a baby crying, and Joni Mitchell playing in the background, forget it. Libraries have afforded me quiet and calmness as I did my writing and reading.
People have Kindles now and don’t need printed books. True, I adore my Kindle. But when I was playing with my new kitten and I, um, sat on it, I was bereft. However! The library is walking distance from my house. I lucked out and they had Ariel Gore’s We Were Witches and the new Anne Tyler. Also, let’s be honest: the Kindle is not for everyone. Could be people need to feel paper as they read. Or they want to look at the pictures. Or maybe it’s this: they don’t have the money to get a Kindle. As my friend Alice tweeted to you, thinking everyone has a Kindle or access to one is the height of privilege.
This leads me to my second point: I’m living in a city that sadly has a high poverty rate. Yet when I go to my library it’s a shot in my arm seeing people trying to do better, and people helping them to do that. Every other day, a woman comes to help Veterans get access to benefits and mental health. Teenagers come into work on getting their GED or write college essays on the computers. There are story times every weekend. This summer at noon, free lunches are given to children under eighteen. Why? Because many of them go without food. To my knowledge, Amazon Bookstores wouldn’t be so charitable.
My library is near several courthouses and the welfare office. Many times homeless people come in to fill out applications for housing or a job. One time I walked into the ladies room and saw another woman wash her hair in the sink. Where should they go, sir? Would a bathroom be available in an Amazon bookstore for these people?
So now let’s talk about my reason for why libraries are so incredibly important and necessary:
I was sixteen years old when I got my first job, a student shelver at the Pleasant Hill Library in California. I was there for ten years. I learned how to treat people, how to treat books. I watched everyday librarians help people find what they were looking for. I watched people become incredibly upset when they were closing too early. Why? The hours were cut in 1993. You complained you have to pay over four hundred dollars a year for your library in taxes. Sir, if you did that for one week in Pleasant Hill, it would keep the library open extra hours during finals week for school. It would be a lifesaver for many teenagers.
Five years ago I started writing about a cold case about a girl named Suzanne Bombardier who is buried near my grandparents. I couldn’t find anything online about this girl. I went to the Pleasant Hill library, where they have an old-school microfilm machine. Student helpers and librarians helped me loop the microfilm for viewing. In minutes, I was looking at old newspapers from 1980, which helped me do my research. I wrote drafts of my essay about Suzanne at the Lafayette library. I’ve written drafts in several libraries, building on the story. Seven months ago, a suspect was arrested. I didn’t do it alone. Libraries helped. To the best of my knowledge, Amazon Bookstores don’t have microfilm machines. They don’t have a sense of history about them.
I’m sorry your essay was pulled from the Forbes site; I believe, even when we disagree, to read the essay in question and discuss. One thing for sure: you have united many people that haven’t been united in a long time. I hope it inspires you to go to your local library and see what your taxes are paying for. You may be surprised.
Yours Truly,
Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons, Library Girl
Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons has been published in Salon, Stereo Embers, and The Billfold. She has also written about the cold case about Suzanne Bombardier, which was solved in December 2017. She is writing a memoir about her involvement with the case, along with a collection of essays. Both are seeking agent representation.
