Man Says Libraries Are Obsolete, ‘Angry Librarian’ Makes Him Immediately Regret It

This guy actually thinks all libraries should be closed, so the internet told him what’s up

The number of purposes public libraries serve is astounding. Libraries are where we check out books, sure. They’re also where we read newspapers and magazines, use tablets and laptops to get online, attend public meetings, take classes, do research and countless other things.

But Andre Walker, a columnist for the New York Observer and foreign correspondent based in the UK, thinks libraries don’t have a place in modern society. In fact, he thinks they should all be shut down so those tax dollars that go toward keeping pesky, useless library doors open can go toward something useful, because apparently libraries aren’t. Ugh.

“Nobody goes to libraries anymore. Close the public ones and put the books in schools,” Walker wrote on Twitter, responding to a tweet asking where low-income kids will read for pleasure if libraries close.

Well, the joke’s on him, because people are not OK with the idea that libraries should be shut down. More than 100,000 of them responded to that tweet. But Alex Halpern, who goes by the Twitter name “The Angriest Librarian,” got really fired up about it.

Halpern took it upon himself to deliver an absolutely scathing takedown of Walker’s uninformed opinion about libraries, starting with the fact that more people are using them than ever before.

He then went into some of the reasons why libraries are still super important to society.

Like, you know, how libraries offer so much more than just books (duh).

He educated Walker on all the things libraries offer to underserved and marginalized communities.

Oh, and the fact that libraries are for literally anyone, and not just those marginalized groups.

That’s all The Angriest Librarian had to say for that moment, because he was, understandably, over this ridiculousness.

But he came back to Twitter when Walker doubled down on his beliefs, saying putting all library books in schools would be an “absolute good,” and that libraries only exist to give jobs to “sad people who can’t get proper work.” Who is this guy even kidding?

Finally, due to the sheer number of people telling him what an idiot he is, Walker tweeted this:

What a coward move to say such inflammatory things and then beg the internet to stop calling him out. But we know who won today.

Internet: 1.

Idiot who thinks libraries shouldn’t exist: 0.