$112

In the late eighteen hundreds, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie gave more than $50 million ($3 billion today) to build 2,509 libraries worldwide.  His goal was to give free access to public information for all citizens -- regardless of wealth.

The great Carnegie

Yesterday, B and I went in to Calgary and thought we'd get a membership in the Crowfoot library because we're in there quite often and they have a wider selection than the Cochrane library.  What I learned was shocking!  

To get a card, it would have cost us $112 because we live in Cochrane.  Just because we no longer live around the corner doesn't mean it's costing the library $112 more to deal with us.  What's the $112 for?  That's ludicrous!  Naturally Indigenous people don't have to pay that fee.  (Funny, didn't seen many of those folks there when I lived in the area.)  I thought libraries were created so kids with little money could check out books and improve their education, no?  Apparently, it's a profit business and I was very surprised.  What am I missing here?  

I think libraries have gotten over their skis, with a myriad of programs, staff and weird stuff disconnected to their basic mission.  So, I guess we'll stick with our local library and just wait longer for the remote, esoteric books B orders.

The other thing that surprises me is that you have to fork over $50 to get into the zoo.  So, for a family of four, that's $200 to stroll around to look at a few monkeys.

Either I am out of it, or the rest of the world is.