| > What is your proposed solution? How does one limit a free, public resource to only people with homes? We already limit library use to those who live within the library's community. Just require a library card to get in, too. Morals aside, the logistics would be simple. > How do people without homes "completely destroy the purpose"? Are they stealing books? Breaking computers? Barricading the doors? Shooting up heroin in the bathroom? Using the water fountains to wash up. Talking angrily to their schizophrenic delusions? Stinking to high heaven? Saying "completely destroy the purpose" is a bit of an exaggeration - but the mission of the library is hampered a bit if you make them defacto daytime homeless shelters. > Do you really believe that all people without homes have "given up on life"? He was exaggerating, but yes - many homeless have no reasonable expectation of improving their circumstances. > Do you think education could be a productive method for reducing the number of people without homes? Those who aren't mentally ill or completely socially maladjusted, sure. Of course, there's a difference between "education" and "just putting them in a building full of information and crossing your fingers". I don't say that all of your criticisms were wrong - but you went off the rails in the opposite extreme of the person you replied to. Any solution we come up with should acknowledge that libraries are vulnerable to the tragedy of the commons, and a great percentage of the homeless are not going to improve themselves without the aid of services that the library has no business providing. |
"You have to be in the same physical location to use a building" is one of the softest restrictions in history.
In order to borrow something, sure, you have to live nearby, but a library is more than a book loan service. For example, I was crossing the US and booking the hotel for the next night every morning. If the motel I was at didn't have working internet, I'd find a library and use theirs to make the booking. I was never blocked on account on not living nearby.