The Boston Athenaeum: Can Library Exclusivity Be a Good Thing Even as the Times Change?

There's a private library called the Boston Athenaeum that's been around since 1807. According to the Boston Globe, the Boston Athenaeum has been quite an elite place to be able to sit down and read something, that catered to the "better class" of Boston, and once required four references as a prerequisite for membership. But in these tough economic and changing times, the Boston Athenaeum has found itself reaching out in local magazines and creating a Facebook page to increase membership, even though patrons still pay $115-$230 a year for individual memberships to access its half million-plus volumes, Confederate documents, and much of George Washington's personal library holdings. What does the idea of a library mean to you? Is it something that should be accessible to all, or is it good that there are still "rather exclusive" libraries like this one?

The Boston Athenaeum: Is Library Exclusivity A Good Thing?

When I first read about this private library which has quite a beautiful reading room (that's shown in the Boston Globe article), the first three things that came to my mind were these, rightly or wrongly: I'll bet this library doesn't have a problem with smelly transients stinking up the place and sleeping on the more comfortable sitting areas which I've seen happen in public libraries. Or better yet, I'll bet the Boston Athenaeum doesn't have to regularly deal with certain inconsiderate parents who bring their screaming infants or toddlers to the library to disrupt others, paying no mind to the inconvenience and distraction they're causing because these inconsiderate adults are so caught up in their own dramas. What kind of look do you think you'd get from the Boston Athenaeum library staff if you talked a mile a minute and loudly on your cell phone? I think people having to pay a membership fee on a yearly basis to access a library cuts down on what one often witnesses in public libraries.

The Boston Athenaeum and the Reality of Public Libraries

Over my lifetime, I've heard librarians talk about how libraries are there for all and how important it is for books and other documents to be available to the public. What's unfortunate is the number of people who abuse this privilege with their Neanderthal ways of acting. But the reality of publicly accessible libraries funded by the taxpayers is that with the vast majority of decent acting folks comes the unfortunate side effect of the dregs of humanity. I guess if such a private library like the Boston Athenaeum is available in your area and you don't mind paying a yearly membership fee, you can enjoy more "exclusive" company, even as the times are changing for more inclusion at such places.

Sources:

Sarah Schweitzer, Old Boston, new ways: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/15/with_membership_dwindling_boston_athenaeum_steps_up_marketing_itself_to_a_new_generation/?page=2 , November 15, 2009, Boston.com/The Boston Globe