RicodJour wrote:

There is no building that could hold all of the knowledge on earth.
Expecting your local library to have every book is basically asking
for higher taxes. And zoning.

I didn't ask for EVERY book, I only asked for common reference works.


There are even "libraries" (in Berkely and maybe elsewhere - or
maybe not, there aren't any other places as screwed up as Berkely)
that loan out TOOLS (power saws, ladders, spray-painting equipment,
drills, hammers, post hole diggers, all of it).

So, if your library in Arkansas rented tools, you would refuse to rent
them? I think not.
In a library you might have found an alternative spelling of
"Berkely"...which for some reason the natives seem to prefer.

The library in Berkely doesn't RENT tools, they LOAN them - like books. If
there were a similar situation in Arkansas - and I lived in Arkansas - I
WOULD borrow the tool from them because there wouldn't be any tool rental
places left in business!

My objection centers around a government entity in competition with private
business. The tool-loaning endeavor by the city of Berkely (by whatever
spelling) could be the death of party-supply rentals (need 200 folding
chairs for a garden wedding? just borrow them from the city - and by the
way, you can borrow a tux too). How about car rentals? Trailers/trucks?
(Goodbye U-Haul) Small aircraft? get a city-owned Cessna for the week-end.
Gas prices too high? Just fill up at the city-owned, non-profit pumps! Want
an ice-cream cone? just visit the city's Two Flavors On A Stick stand. And
so on.