@darius @blaine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Public_Library

"A $219 million property tax levy was approved by Seattle voters in August 2019 to fund library services"

"in November 2012 Seattle voters passed a 7-year levy to restore services"

"In 1998, Seattle voters, with an unprecedented 69 percent approval rate, approved the largest library bond issue then ever submitted in the United States. The $196 million "Libraries for All" bond measure"

Taxes, levies, bond issues: these are the instruments of govt.

@darius @escarpment @blaine Library boards in NY and PA are locally elected or appointed by county govt. and funded through taxes. That's government as much as a sewer district or fire district is. May not be the case everywhere.

@darius @escarpment @blaine this may differ around the country, but here in Massachusetts libraries are generally government agencies... for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Free_Library?wprov=sfla1

@darius @blaine @escarpment In California public libraries are part of county or city government. This is true for a lot of states.

@darius @escarpment @blaine in Wisconsin, they're generally the government.