Selling Our Culture to Sharks

Private Equity takes over Huntsville's Public Library

When a municipal public service is privatized, a demon gets his horns. When that service is a public library, the demon gets a new tail. And when it is sold to a private equity firm, the demon gets an eternal supply of Viagra, with which he will painfully and nonconsensually fuck the public forever.

Huntsville is a fairly charming little city. It is home to Sam Houston State University, and a group of tiny houses made of recycled materials that look like they belong in a fairy tale (courtesy of the Phoenix Commotion and the late Dan Phillips). It is also the town where Texas kills people legally in the Walls Unit of the Texas penitentiary system. Like almost every city in the USA, it has a public library. And because this is rural Texas, its library has been the site of culture war shenanigans.

In August, the library set up a pride book display. It was something that they had done before with no issues, but this is now a period of weird moral panic over gay life and reading. Huntsville City Manager Aron Kulhavy closed the library in order to take the display down and stated that in the future the city would review its policy about having book displays.

A review of city records [library patron Amanda] Louie received through an open records request shows that, at one point, the city's police department was even looking into whether books in the library were appropriate. Huntsville Police Department have not responded as of Thursday afternoon.

The Huntsville city government and the Huntsville police have not responded to calls for comments by the Houston Chronicle or KBTX. So the intent behind these policies remains obscure. Is it a moral failure, anti-intellectual homophobia, or political cowardice? It must be something bad, or else they’d be willing to address their actions.

Then last week, the Huntsville city council voted to employ Library Systems & Services to run their library. Huntsville citizens understandably would like to know if this move is connected to the recent censorship turmoil. But the city council members and the Mayor refused to comment to the public or the Houston Chronicle.

So what is Library Systems & Services? In the privatizing craze that has taken over government since Reagan was president, we have as a society decided to let private companies perform government functions in a desire to save money because free markets or whatever. Whether it is good to allow these companies to live off the taxpayer teat is not an issue to free market purists. But it does give the city council and the mayor an opportunity to wash their hands of a bothersome corner of city government.

Are Library Systems & Services any good at what they do? What do they do? On their website, they describe “what we do” in terms that reek of corporate bullshit: “DRIVE IMPACT”, “OPTIMIZE LIBRARIES”, and “EMPOWER SUCCESS”. But if you drill down to LS&S’s FAQ, they give you some details.

LS&S library experts partner with community leaders to strategize, develop and deliver excellent library services in alignment with community goals. LS&S manages day-to-day library operations with a focus on resource and service optimization. Library staff are supported by back office professionals with decades of experience. [. . .] The community maintains ownership of the library and all of its assets – from the building to the books and digital materials to the furniture and technology. LS&S provides day-to-day operation of the library.

They want to make sure you understand that this is not “privatization”. “Outsourcing or managed services is not the same as privatization.” If you think turning over public management and labor to a private company is privatization, LS&S disagrees! So shut the fuck up, commie!

LS&S is owned by a private equity company, Islington Capital Partners. What is LS&S’s attitude towards the public trusts they run? Here’s what their CEO said to the New York Times in 2010:

“A lot of libraries are atrocious,” Mr. [Frank A. ] Pezzanite said. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”

In short, their success depends on making your friendly neighborhood librarian fear for her job. They are scum, and one doubts if they will be hosting pride or banned books displays anytime soon in Huntsville. But at least the mayor and city council won’t have to answer any embarassing questions.

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