Take out the books and it is hard to see what marks these institutions out from other public community spaces or government offices. They would soon lose much of their clientele. For books have one key characteristic that differentiates these users from any of the other groups who meet in library space. Anyone who wishes may join the community of book readers at any point in their lives, and they may equally leave or suspend their membership (a characteristic libraries share with organised religion).

Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile Hist…, loc. 940