Public Libraries Rock!

Have you been in this situation? You wake up one day, and you really feel like watching Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Absolute classic by Carl Rainer. Now, how do you get your hands on a copy of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid?

• You can go to the thrift store and hope to find an used copy of the film on home DVD.
• You can check the usual online streaming services and see if they are currently streaming Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
• You can buy a new copy of the film on home DVD, which will cost a bit and also take a while to arrive.

Option 1 isn't very reliable, although it somewhat depends on the film you want to watch. If you are for some reason looking to watch "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", I can ensure you that there is always one copy of that movie in the DVDs section of your local thrift store. But any movie that is actually worth watching, well, tough luck.

Option 2 is equally unreliable. The streaming service with the red N in its logo offers almost exclusively its original productions and the rest of the movies are rotated constantly, so you have to be very lucky to catch the film you want to watch while it's in rotation. Other streaming services follow suit as the focus shifts to original productions. These streaming services effectively become direct-to-stream production companies, not only controlling the production, but also directly controlling the distribution. In a way, a subscription to these services is not "rent" one has to pay to access the already existing archive of content that is being offered by the service, but rather to fund the original productions of the streaming service, hence one is paying in advance for films that will be exclusively available on that service. Wholly legitimate, but this somewhat eliminates streaming platforms as a place to find a movie you are looking to watch, especially if it's not a modern Hollywood blockbuster.

Option 3 is just not very resourceful unless you are planning to watch Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid multiple times (I wouldn't judge you for it, it's a great film!). I never purchase an hard copy of a DVD unless I am very sure that I will rewatch that film multiple times, else it's just plastic waste and additional stuff I need to cram in my library of music CDs and videogames.

…and so, it seems like we have exhausted all of our options. But you really, really, really want to watch Dead Man Don't Wear Plaid. You really want to see Steve Martin say "Immeressen" and get shot by Bogart through a door (not necessarily in that order). Luckily, if you are living in a somewhat larger city, you have another option: The public library!

Bit of a hot topic nowadays: Ownership of media. In a time and age where greedy corporations want to reprogram us into believing that everything can be a subscription (looking at you, Ubisoft), it's a bit odd for a person like me, a staunch DRM hater and overall proponent for anti-consumerism, to effectively tell people to rent all of their books and movies. It's nuanced, though. A public library isn't just some book subscription service.

Let's break it down:

For me, anti-consumerism means:

• If you don't need it, don't buy it.
• If you need it, maybe buy it:
  • If you will need it constantly, buy it.
  • If you need it only once, lend it.
• If you want to buy something, see if you can get something without buying it.

A public library supplements exactly this mode of consumption:

• Unlike a subscription service, a public library has no "rotation" of media. All media in the public library are available for all library card holders. So there won't be a month you'll pay for your membership but have no interesting books or movies in the rotation.
• Very little people actually re-read books. We usually read a book only once. Same applies for movies. A public library allows you to consume media without having to buy media. In exchange, you pay a nominal fee (I pay 12€ for my yearly library card!) which is used to purchase more media. It's not like all media should or will be interesting to you, but it's about solidarity: Everyone pays their share and the library extends its inventory with media from all possible areas of interest.
• A book isn't something you destroy upon consumption. It makes no sense to purchase something that will effectively become a cinder block after you have consumed it; it's a waste of resources. Consuming media over a public library makes your carbon footprint smaller.
• If you are lucky, your public library might also have music CDs. "…see if you can get something without buying it.", hmm.

In short: Public libraries help you save money and reduce your impact on the environment. Stop normalizing shelves full with big, unread books and start normalizing a stack of library-lent books on your bedside drawer!

I'm off to watch Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid now, catch you later!

kby