Argument Topic - 2

Topic:

In the Bayhead Public Library, books that are rarely borrowed continue to take up shelf space year after year, while people who want to read a recent novel frequently find that the library's only copy is checked out. Clearly, the library's plan to replace books that are borrowed no more than once a year with sufficient copies of more recent books will solve this problem. The protest we have heard since this plan was made public has come from a small, and thus unrepresentative, group of some thirty people and so should therefore be ignored.


Sample Writing

The author supports the Bay head public library's plan to replace books that are borrowed no more than once a year with sufficient copies of more recent books to solve the problem of insufficient shelf space. In support of his argument, the author cites that books that are rarely borrowed continue to take up shelf - space year after year, while recent novels frequently borrowed by the readers are checked out. This plan has been protested by only a small group of thirty people and should be ignored. The argument is flawed in several respects and so it is not persuasive.

Firstly, the author ignores the laws of library science that every reader should find his book and every book its reader and library is a growing organization. If old books or less popular books are removed from the library and only frequently borrowed novels are kept in large numbers, the variety of books in the library will be affected and some readers will miss them. Thus, some readers might stop patronizing the library if it implements the plan.

Secondly, the author mentions two problems faced by the Bay head public library. Books that are rarely borrowed continue to take up shelf space. People who want to read a recent novel frequently find that the library's only copy is already checked out. The author assumes that the solution to these problems is only one. He suggests to replace less frequently borrowed books with more copies of recent popular books. The author has not considered other options such as additional room or shelves for extra new books. While popular and new books are available in the market for buying , old and rare editions of books can be read only in the library. So, such less frequently borrowed books should be made available for the readers.

Thirdly, the author has prescribed that books are borrowed no more than once a year are to be replaced. This period of one year is arbitrary. Perhaps the library can remove books that have not been borrowed for three years or five years rather than one year. This alternate plan also gives enough shelf space for new and popular books while at the same time retains the old and less frequently borrowed books for readers.

Finally, the author says that after the plan was made public, protest has come from a small and unrepresentative group of some thirty people and so should be ignored. This is wrong. These thirty people could be influential people who can mould the opinion of the public. It is possible that there are so many other people who are silent but hold the opinion similar to this group of thirty. If the library ignores the protest of these people, more people might voice their protest later and the library might lose community support. Library needs the community support for its finances to run it efficiently.

In sum, the library's plan has many loop holes which should be removed. To strengthen the argument, the author should convince us that there is no option to the plan formulated by the library. The author should give us the percentage of library's present stock of books that would be replaced under the plan and whether the shelf space thus made available could accommodate the proposed purchases of extra copies of popular books. The author should also further examine the extent of influence of the group of thirty protestors and also the extent of support for them in the vast silent members of the community.