This timely special report from ALA Editions provides a succinct but comprehensive overview of the "privatization" of public libraries. It provides a history of the trend of local and state governments privatizing public services and assets, and then examines the history of public library privatization right up to the California legislation introduced earlier this year to restrict cities in the state from privatizing library services. The book also examines what happens when a private, for-profit organization takes over essential management tasks and decisions of a public library, including...