Source: Law & Liberty
by Robert C Thornett
“American steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie donated over $40 million to construct 2,509 libraries — 1679 in the US and others in the UK, Ireland, Canada, and even distant countries like Serbia, Malaysia, and Fiji. By 1919, nearly half of the 3,500 libraries in the United States were Carnegie libraries. ‘A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people,’ said Carnegie. … By contrast, from the fall of Rome to Nazi Germany to Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the dismantling of libraries has been a mark of cultural decline. It demonstrates an indifference, if not hostility, toward the intellectual needs of society. Yet today, an increasing number of schools are defunding, closing, or repurposing their libraries under the banner of ‘progress’ and ‘innovation,’ and under the false assumption that libraries are just rooms full of books which can be found online or stored in a cheaper or more convenient location.” (06/16/25)