Prostitution, Simony, and Fees for Service: Walzer's Theory of Justice and a Defense of Communally Funded Information against the Tyranny of the Marketplace

Abstract

The practice of charging fees for service in American libraries remains controversial, primarily because notions at the foundation of this issue lack a thorough and coherent theoretical framework within which they can be understood and properly related. By employing a theory of justice developed by Michael Walzer--one that argues for distributing goods on the basis of principles inherent in their shared meanings--to reframe the concepts at the root of the fee issue, I argue that information should be distributed in ways that are in keeping with its meaning in contemporary American culture. Within the United States, information is understood to be a good in the "sphere" of basic welfare and security, and, therefore (following Walzer's theory), it should be distributed on the basis of the principle appropriate to the meaning of goods in that sphere--communal provision (within limits) based on need and not on the basis of the distributive principle appropriate to the marketplace--money.

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