Is this in USA, how does state provision of such services pair with USAmerican hatred of communism? Libraries, tool-shares, hackerspaces and such seem to be the epitomy of communism.
1) it's paid for mostly by your local government, not the federal government, so there's some self-determination.
2) You can get your books there, but you don't have to get your books there, and you can still have your own collection.
Meanwhile, many US citizens, even conservative ones, enjoy and endorse some ideals that are communitarian or were popularized under communist societies (state-endorsed curricula, vaccination/healthcare/drug treatment, and more).
A lot of people like to decry that as hypocrisy, but I see it simply as a difference in perception/definitions of communism instead.
I find both viewpoints in myself. I think it's important to be able to pick and choose tactics and governance techniques without committing a state to a heavily ideological philosophy of order. Not that I think the US is currently doing too great a job at either of those.
This is in Illinois; the public library district is primarily funded by local taxes within its service area, and referenda on such were passed on multiple occasions. Some state and federal grants have also funded tech improvements. Its current land was purchased from the local school district in the 1970s.
Overall, regardless of today's bullshit political climate on the national level, there's a great deal of local civic pride here. The local government (which is separate from the library district) runs a balanced budget, the municipally-owned water system charges significantly lower rates than a neighboring town's privately-owned water system even though both of them get their water from Chicago, and the village has (when it made sense to do so) entered into electrical power purchase agreements that have resulted in lower electrical rates for residents. There's also a long tradition of reusing civic buildings; the village hall is a former school building, and the original fire station became the police station when the fire district expanded to three stations to deal with the town's growth.
>the municipally-owned water system charges significantly lower rates than a neighboring town's privately-owned water system //
Which, as far as stereotypes goes at least, is "un-American, are you some sort of commie?" because it's a cooperative governmental system in which state ownership reduces costs and prevents a private enterprise from profiting from it.
Some interesting answers, including yours, thanks.
The definition of socialism is shared ownership of the means of production. A public park isn't socialism. A nationalized industry is.
The definition of communism is socialism + post-scarcity, ostensibly making economic classes redundant.
To some extent, I guess, a library (or rather the knowledge contained in it) could also be claimed to be the means of production. But I don't think that's the consensus among the adherents.
.... a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
.... synonyms: collectivism, state ownership, socialism, radical socialism;
(Oxford Pocket English Dictionary, via Google)
The notion that communism equals state ownership is particularly funny, given that Marx (and all his followers) defined communism as a stateless society.
The libraries make no attempt to abolish the bourgeoisie, which I think was more to the point of communists than providing free literature.