Is it a tenable position to be someone who loves books but never buys them? Is it in any way unethical? Is it one of the greatest scores of modern life?

Working in publishing and seeing the tizzy the industry gets itself in over sales is a little disorienting for someone who loves books, reads them voraciously, and never gives a thought to how much they cost. I get all my books at the library. If no one bought books, that is, if everyone did what I did, authors wouldn’t get paid and I’d not only be out of a job but out of books.

The sales issue can have a deleterious effect on the publishing process, as I’ve seen, but I also see that so much gets published these days that it’s hard to imagine anything of quality is getting turned down simply because it wouldn’t sell. So overall, I’m benefiting hugely by letting other people pay the bills for my reading.

Of course, I don’t get for free exactly what other people pay for, since I don’t get to keep the book. Plus I often have to wait for a very popular title, or in the case of older books, read around someone else’s fingerprints and coffee stains. But if I had to keep everything I’ve read I’d need a much bigger house. And the democracy of books available for all to share is a beautiful thing.

It’s not like the library is a secret (though you’d be forgiven for thinking so, the way some people neglect it). So I’m not going to advocate that the publishing industry be moved to the public sector and all books be made library books, and I’m not going to feel guilty for having all of the world’s literature at my disposal at no cost. I’m just going to keep enjoying it.
 
 

Note: Many readers have written to say "but you are paying for the library, with your tax dollars!" Yes, of course I am, but it should come as no surprise that I am not paying very much.

I wanted an exact figure, so I poked around on the web a bit, but no colorful pie chart of the city budget was forthcoming. So naturally I went to the library. A librarian (and I hope you are not picturing an elderly woman with a bun and glasses on a string - g-d bless 'em! - this was a handsome young man in earrings and a lime green sweater) helped me pore over the city and library budget. Funding the library is very complicated; much of the money comes from the state, some of which is also tax dollars. I calculated as best I could how much of my city property taxes go to the library, and the answer, I believe, is about 1.7 %. For me, that's less than $16 a year, and I suspect my property tax burden is not the smallest in the city. Even if my state tax contribution is that amount over again, it's not a whole lot.

Moreover, many people pay little or no taxes and are still free to use the library as much as they want. A few years ago I owed no income tax and was sharing a modest rent (renters pay property taxes indirectly through rent to their landlords), and I used the library as heavily as ever.

One reader suggested that it is buyers of used books who are really getting a deal. I love used bookstores. Used anything is the way to go, be it clothes, books, or pets. But cheap is not the same as free. You're paying for the library whether you use it or not. Besides, $16 a year won't get you very far in used books (unless you hit only the buck-a-bag sales and are content to read Gail Sheehy's Passages over and over for the rest of your life). You won't get to read something as soon as it's published. You won't get to read almost whatever you want, via Interlibrary Loan if it's not in your library's collection. So: a big thank you to those who do fund the library, the best deal going!