Is there a scheme to privatize the Detroit Public Library?
In April-May of 2022, there was an attempt by Mayor Duggan and Councilman Benson for the City Council to take over appointment power to the Detroit Public Library commission, which is presumably the first step to privatizing it (as explained below). However, the City Council's vote on the issue has been repeatedly postponed thanks to pushback from various concerned citizens, including the Save The DPL Coalition.
City Councilman Scott Benson led the call to ask the state for a resolution to transfer the power of appointing the members of the Detroit Public Library Commission. What is behind the move to transfer appointment power from the school board to City Council? So far there has been no explanation that holds water as to why the change needs to be made, or what theoretical improvements it might represent to constituents. But Benson did hint at a desire for the city to be able to dip into the library's funds.
Duggan has privatized (or sold into private hands) the Detroit Medical Center, Herman Kiefer Hospital, the State Fairgrounds, and many other city-owned properties. During the Duggan era we have also seen the privatization or semi-privatization of the Public Lighting Dept., the Water Dept., the Parks & Rec, the Sanitation Dept., and we are watching the current sabotage of DDOT. Basically anytime you see the word "Authority," that refers to a department, service, or asset that used to be city-owned and staffed but is now in the hands of a for-profit contractor.
First of all, the Detroit Public Library is not part of the city government, but a separate, independent public corporation created by state law well over a century ago. Although it can trace its origins back to 1808, the DPL was not legally established until the passage of Michigan Special Act 70 of 1842. The library was under the direct control of the Detroit Board of Education until the passage of Local Act 314 of 1881. This transferred the school board's governing authority to a new seven member DPL Commission, although its commissioners would still be appointed by the school board (today known as DPSCD). It was at that time the DPL’s governance became officially separate from the city government.
The DPL’s finances were also separated from those of the city, in the early 1900s. The DPL Commission was incorporated by Local Act 359 of 1901, which established it as a separate municipal corporation to administer the Detroit Public Library, and gave it the power to acquire land, construct library buildings, and maintain them. Local Acts 390 of 1903 and 460 of 1905 directed the DPL Commission to “transmit to the city council, through the city controller, an estimate of the amount of money the library commission deemed necessary for the proper maintenance of the libraries.” Public Act 26 of 1921 required that the DPL Commission’s budget be subject to City Council approval, and PA 185 of 1947 further strengthened the scope of services the City of Detroit must provide to the DPL Commission. All this information is documented in a City of Detroit Legislative Policy Division report, published April 26, 2021.
Finally, the 1963 Michigan Constitution (Article VIII, Section 9) corroborates that public libraries are an extension of the education system regulated by the state, and therefore separate from local government.
For the city to make a move to usurp the power of appointment over the DPL Commission from the school board is highly suspect. In order to do this City Council had to ask the city's Law Department to create a resolution to ask the Michigan State Legislature to modify Local Act 314 of 1881, which keeps the DPL separate from the City of Detroit government. The memorandum below shows exactly that; I got it from the office of Councilwoman Santiago-Romero:
City Councilman Scott Benson led the call to ask the state for a resolution to transfer the power of appointing the members of the Detroit Public Library Commission. What is behind the move to transfer appointment power from the school board to City Council? So far there has been no explanation that holds water as to why the change needs to be made, or what theoretical improvements it might represent to constituents. But Benson did hint at a desire for the city to be able to dip into the library's funds.
See also: Councilman Benson's attack on the DPL
The resolution was scheduled to be voted on in committee on May 12, 2022. The committee consisted of Councilmembers Scott Benson, Latisha Johnson, and Coleman Young II. If approved in committee, the full City Council would have voted on it on May 17, but the vote was postponed in the wake of negative pushback from constituents.
So why is this seemingly minor change such a danger? Because privatizing public assets is what Duggan is known for. This should be seen as no less than a preemptive move to privatize our library system. By taking the power to appoint the DPL commissioners from the elected school board and giving it directly to the city, it would allow Duggan to stack the commission with people who are beholden to him, so that it becomes his political puppet. He has done this to some extent or other with the DDA, DEGC, DBRA, Board of Police Commissioners, Land Bank Authority, Historic District Commission, Board of Wrecking Examiners—and especially to the school board and City Council itself.
Duggan has privatized (or sold into private hands) the Detroit Medical Center, Herman Kiefer Hospital, the State Fairgrounds, and many other city-owned properties. During the Duggan era we have also seen the privatization or semi-privatization of the Public Lighting Dept., the Water Dept., the Parks & Rec, the Sanitation Dept., and we are watching the current sabotage of DDOT. Basically anytime you see the word "Authority," that refers to a department, service, or asset that used to be city-owned and staffed but is now in the hands of a for-profit contractor.
This is how privatization always works: calculated moves designed to hamstring an institution financially until it starts breaking down, so that eventually a case can be made that privatization is the convenient solution. Those vultures have been feasting on Detroit since the municipal bankruptcy of Detroit, and the so-called "Grand Bargain." Really it should be nicknamed the "Grand Privatization," since the bankruptcy was a contrived corporate takeover of the city's assets, and a move to privatize the library should be seen as a continuation of that effort to slice Detroit up like a pie for contractors and investors.
Related facts to consider:
- There is already a precedent in place for library privatization—since 1997 a company called Library Systems & Services has been running libraries in other cities, except they refer to it as a “public/private partnership” rather than privatization. According to their website they run 80 public library systems (mostly in smaller cities, like Escondido), making them the third-biggest public library operator in the country. An article about Library Systems & Services was written in 2021: "A For-Profit Company Is Trying to Privatize as Many Public Libraries as They Can"
- Detroit's librarians are union, so we can assume they have a target on their backs, just like the union DDOT bus drivers and union DPS teachers that the austerity hawks have been trying to break for years. They will claim that it's the "lazy, overpaid" union librarians who are draining the DPL coffers, while they suck millions from the DPL budget with their tax captures. Don't assume that because Detroit is a so-called Democrat-controlled city that union busting isn't going on. Duggan did it to the nurses' union at the DMC before he sold the non-profit hospital to a private for-profit operator in 2012. (He made a nifty $2M for himself off that deal too). People love to claim that Duggan "saved" the DMC; in reality it was his sabotage that caused the hospital to struggle so that selling it could be justified.
- Those cute "Little Free Library®" boxes seen around in gentrifying areas are actually a nonprofit's for-profit scheme, and Detroit has more of them than any other city. A recent university study asserts that Little Free Libraries® have "...created a dominant narrative of neighbourhood book exchanges via its corporate marketing strategy, one that runs counter to the values embodied by public libraries...the LFL® movement is an example of the non-profit industrial complex (NPIC) in action, and, at street level, reminds us that government funded public libraries are not to be taken for granted in an era of civic crowdfunding where the privileged classes feel emboldened to take control of traditionally government-funded civic services." According to a friend who worked in the Parks & Rec Dept., "Duggan made us put Little Free Libraries in all the recreation centers." Over 100 of them have also been placed in front of Detroit schools, and even in front of the libraries themselves.
- The Campbell Branch Library in Southwest Detroit already exists in leased private space owned by a nonprofit. The Campbell Branch's original building on Fort Street was torn down and not replaced. Some suspect that DPL funds have been used to do updates to that building.
- The vacant former Gabriel Richard Branch Library was taken over in 2023 by a private partnership who plans to turn it into a community center / library. Isn't that what it was before it was closed down? Ironically, its renovation included a wheelchair ramp, while public libraries across the city are still waiting for ADA-compliant upgrades. This indicates that money in Detroit is already flowing in a way that allows private enterprises and nonprofits to cut to the front of the line while existing taxpayer-funded libraries that provide the same service are being looted and allowed to decay. Not to mention the driving force behind this new community center is Rev. Horace Sheffield, who was one of the most hostile opponents to the "Proposal P" charter revision in 2021, which would have included language that protected libraries and schools from tax captures.
- During the city's infamous municipal bankruptcy the DPL was the only public institution in the city that was in fact financially solvent at that time. Yet the emergency managers were looking at the DPL as an asset to sell off (like the DIA's art) as part of the "Grand Bargain." This was halted by then-Library Commission President Russ Bellant, and by the fact that the DPL has been legally separate from the city government under state law since 1881. There may be no better argument to keep the DPL separate and independent.
Privatization is always sold to the taxpayer as a way of "saving money" (which almost always means cutting services and cutting corners), and it is always done under the strangely American idea that "businessmen can do it better than the corrupt gubmint," as if businessmen are somehow less corruptible than politicians. True, we all get sick of government inefficiency and corruption, but the key difference between public governance and privatized governance is oversight. When we turn a public asset over to private control, the laws for holding people accountable for doing a job mostly go away...the corruption can still exist, but once it's moved to the private sector it is behind closed doors where we can't see what's going on, and there are fewer mechanisms to find out, or to hold anyone accountable. Next time someone tells you public services are better when they're privatized, ask them if they're happy with DTE Energy.
Practically speaking, what would go away under library privatization? Not books or computers per se, but trained staff. The librarian is perhaps the most important resource in a library; without them a library is just a book warehouse. It is their vast knowledge of how to navigate information systems and archives, and on how to find answers that makes a library such a valuable resource for the community. Not to mention the other services librarians provide; Canadian libraries actually keep social workers on staff at their libraries to accommodate all of the people who come in need of aid for all types of social issues. Ask any American librarian—their job is not just to run a library, but to be a social worker as well.
Consider also the question of our 1st Amendment freedom to read whatever we want; if a library is put under private control, they get to decide what is stocked on their shelves, and what isn't. If that private entity holds certain political or religious beliefs, then they might exclude from our libraries certain types of books that go against their beliefs...effectively opening the door to book banning even wider. Imagine a Betsy DeVos style library contractor taking over your local branch.
Finally, there is the frightening matter of selling off title to something that was in the public trust. Our libraries, schools, waterworks, courthouses, parks, streetlights, etc. were all built by our grandparents at great expense. They paid their hard earned taxes and toiled with their sweat and labor in order to construct these monumental buildings and institutions for us to benefit from today. Once we sell that off to some private corporation we can never really get it back; the few dollars we get from the sale will never let us buy something of equal value. And private operators typically will run it into the ground until no more profit can be extracted, then they dump the mess back on the public again, for the taxpayer to clean up.
Our library system is an inheritance that deserves investment, and currently it is adequately funded but for the abusive tax captures. We don't need to "save money," we need to stop stealing from ourselves—and from our grandchildren. We all pay plenty in taxes here—if the money actually went where it was supposed to, we wouldn't need to talk about privatizing to save money. Allowing corporate vultures to pick apart the bones of the great civic works that our ancestors built for us by selling everything off to cover a short-term debt is not a recipe for a bright future, it's a recipe for mediocrity. It's also a future where "we the people" have no control over the assets that our grandparents paid for us to have. If we privatize everything, why have government at all?
Here are some articles on the pitfalls of privatization:
