Big publishers think libraries are the enemy

I’ve seen quips to the effect of “if public libraries were invented today, they’d be outlawed.” The joke is increasingly becoming reality, most recently thanks to a decision in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Particularly in a country where we’re seeing rapidly intensifying campaigns against books, libraries, and librarians, I am extremely concerned by an outcome that not only imposes further limits on how libraries can provide books to the people who need them, but seems to view libraries as detrimental to society. We must fight to protect our rights to read freely, and fight back against the censorship, surveillance, and rent-seeking that publishers and book distribution platforms have been working to not only normalize, but protect by law.