Free Public Libraries Charging for Survival

This article is introduced with a brief account of the historical development of free public libraries in the United States. This is necessary to set the stage for sound reasoning for charging for products and services in today's vanishing public library systems. To be sure, these libraries are closing everywhere because of the lack of proper funding for survival, and charging a small fee has been debated continuously for the survival of these cultural, social, and informational centers. This is not only a problem throughout the United States but also globally. There are a few public libraries that are investigating this strategy to further serve library customers.