Privatize Libraries? 

The Corporate Takeover of Libraries by Ruth Rikowski

The expansion of capitalism is rapidly accelerating throughout the world. This is 'global capitalism'. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) need to be seen within this context. These areas have been explored in other articles in this journal. GATS functions to open up public services to corporate capital. This has direct implications for libraries and information, which I shall explore in this article, focusing in particular on public libraries (although many of the arguments can be applied to other types of libraries as well). As Angela Watson in the Best Returns report on Best Value in public libraries says:

"Government does not believe that it is in the public interest for any single supplier to dominate service provision, either locally or nationally. It is looking for variety in the way services are delivered, and a mix of service providers from the public, private and voluntary sectors. The aim is to improve the performance and competitiveness of services, not create a particular mode of provision." (2001, p.8)

Where will the logic of global capitalism take us? It would appear that it leads to the commodification of all that surrounds us. Within this context, the privatisation and commodification of libraries and information will be a small part in the overall trajectory; yet a vital part nonetheless. [read more]

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Vol. 7, Number 2 - February 4th 2002 First Monday