cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/25899831
I made this a “climate action individual” post because a “library economy” is made of individual actions - borrowing a tool instead of buying one, sharing your books with the neighborhood, etc. Bottom up instead of top down.
The usual problem is that trying that usually makes capitalists attack (more than usual), which forces it to waste resources on defense.
The biggest issue is maintenance on tools for sustainability of the project. In a perfect world, the library economy would be combined with communal ownership of resources to be able to readily provide what is needed to repair or replace tools and keep things running efficiently.
The issue currently is that capitalist hegemony is predicted on restricting ready access to resources through private ownership. They are fundamentally opposed. Having things be reparable and the access to parts doesn’t align with the profit incentive. This forces isolated cases of a library economy trying to form will always be disadvantaged by the overarching system by operating at a permanent loss unless they can maintain control of a substantial supply chain to supplement costs.
So, not even considering capitalist political retaliation, it would be starting off on the back foot right out of the gate from an economic position.
Yes, the library economy concept is focused on the demand-side aspects. It can work in many contexts, even today, with obvious limitations. It works best when the means of production are controlled by the masses.