textfiles/uploads/diz-libraries.txt

Why I Steal from Libraries

BY: DIzzIE [antikopyright 2007]

To say that you steal from the library is to be met with mortified
disbelief followed by swiftly rising umbrage alongside swelling
plumage as the moralist, smelling the blood spilt by the perceived
violation of some moral maxim, puffs up to thrice zir size and swoops
in for the always laughable impartment of Higher Moral Values. How
can you steal from the library, have you no soul?

Here then is a brief text outlining a few reasons why I steal from
libraries. Any one would be sufficient on its own to warrant a theft;
the fact that more often than not more than one applies in any given
situation or library should be all the more cause for concern over
the esteemed edification of the library as some sort of illusory
bastion of knowledge as opposed to wretched dungeon of the repression
of information, which it most certainly is in this day and age.

I. I don't like to be tracked or surveilled. No one has a right to
know the names of the books I read, the movies I watch, the music I
listen to, the animals I fuck, or the people I eat. Libraries keep
intricate records of all of the books you check out or have checked
out in the past. Libraries with CCTV are even more troublesome, as
are the libraries that force you to undergo searches prior to
entering/exiting the library. This is unacceptable to me much like
search engines keeping logs of searches you make or credit card
companies keeping logs of shit you buy, or say government agencies
keeping logs of every inch of movement you make, every flush of your
toilet. The fact that Section 215 of the US Patriot Act specifically
states that the pigs can subpoena your library records (as well as
any other "tangible things") is obviously troubling, but hardly
surprising. That some libraries have 'fought' a government request
for records here and there is immaterial. The problem is that the
records exist in the first place, not that some agencies obviously
want to get their hands on them. I don't want to be in any fucking
records, to have to worry about the possibility that my habits may be
passed on to whoever for whatever motive, therefore I steal the books
instead of checking them out.

II. I don't like not being able to take some books out of the
library. I see no reason to restrict some books to the musty confines
of an archaic institution, to be able to be read only in the
establishments the library deems to be fit for said impartment of
knowledge. I like to read what I want, whenever the fuck I want,
therefore I steal the books instead of checking them out.

III. I cannot trust the libraries to take care of the books I want
to see preserved. Sorry, libraries do not take better care of books
than us smelly laypeople. I've been to many a library and in every
one I've found evidence of abuse. One example seen only last week
would be several boxes of newspapers stacked right next to the
fucking radiator! Other cases would be books that have been
desperately in need of new binding, books covered in dust and filth
attracted by the glue overflowing from apparently botched binding
attempts, books literally soaked from leaky water pipes right above
the shelving, and on and on. I have even found boxes upon boxes of
uncatalogued books stowed away in the bowels of the library's cellar,
apparently deemed unfit for public circulation. If the complaint is
that the libraries do not have sufficient funding to take care of
their books, I fail to see why I should be asked to provide that
funding when I and perhaps others are perfectly capable of taking
care of the books without monetary compensation. I don't want to see
treeware tomes destroyed from neglect (at least not before I get a
chance to digitize 'em), therefore I steal the books instead of
checking them out.

IV. I don't like paying for information. All information must be
free. Libraries charge for information by way of taxes, late fees, or
(as in the case of, say, university libraries) by charging a fee for
access in the first place. I like my reading to be constrained
neither by price nor by time, therefore I steal the books instead of
checking them out.

V. I want to disseminate information as widely as possible, this
desire to free the world's knowledge extends to the digitization of
books. Librarians tend to go ape shit when they see you scanning a
book in the library, as they do if the binding is slightly damaged
from a thorough scanning session before you return the book, perhaps
even demanding that you pay some atrocious fine (which leads us back
to IV). I want to share information across any illusory borders or
human-made boundaries, therefore I steal the books instead of
checking them out.

I support free universal access to information without the
impediments of surveillance or payment. Libraries, as they currently
exist, are in direction opposition to these goals, therefore I steal
the books instead of checking them out.

In short: if you are a librarian, go motherfuck yourself.

Oh, and if you're interested in a few tips on how to easily go about
stealing books from the library see the 'free books from the library'
section of Stop Paying for Shit.

Finally, in anticipation of the aforementioned repugnant knee jerk
reactionism of you, the moralist, I'd merely like to point out that
nowhere in this text do I preclude the possibility either of stealing
the books back to the library after you're done with them, or of
setting up your own free libraries using stolen bounty; think that
one over for a little bit.

-
Comments? Get in touch: xcon0 @t yahoo \/d0t/\ c||o|m 
(or call +1 (610) 887-6072)

For more knowledge check out www.rorta.net and www.dizzy.ws