User Fees, Community Goods, and the Public Library

Abstract

The recent debate about user fees in public libraries has lasted over twenty-five years and still continues to be an emotional and heated one. Likewise, those from both the pro- and anti-fee camps seem commonly to argue across one another, with little meaningful communication taking place. A close analysis not only of the content, but also the form, of the arguments from the proponents and opponents of fees illuminates the situation. The pro-fee position is based largely on teleol-ogical or pragmatic arguments, while the anti-fee position is centered primarily on a communitarian ethic based on a historical relationship between public libraries and their communities.

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