In a short article expressing the need for libraries, Nigel Warburton traces the value of Umberto Eco’s unread books to Richard Ovenden‘s description of libraries as a dynamic process. I appreciate how the article understands that what exists within the library should not be appraised on a transactional basis. It explicitely calls out libraries as symbols of a commitment to the common good. I would add that part of what makes them a common good is recognizing that we are supporting everyone’s potential to access knowledge. The unread and unused enable that potential.