Kind of cringing to see both professionals and those with at least some passing knowledge repeating the "more use = more funding" thing specifically in the context of digital libraries because, although that's true traditionally and in theory, digital pricing for libraries is straight up exploitative. It's actually very easy for use to outpace budget in this case. And we're also going through a time where libraries in many, many communities are having their budgets slashed left and right.
It may be because I worked for such a large system (one that historically provided services, including digital, to a much larger area than just its taxpayer base, and still does contribute to more communal digital collections), directly with acquisitions, that this was very easy for me to see. We were getting. Absolutely slammed. I was also a daily patron of the digital collections, so I directly experienced the strain it was causing. And, similarly, I'm very aware of this because there were multiple points at which it was a very real possibility that my library might lose its funding and have to cut back all of its facilities and services nearly to the bone (an ongoing possibility! it's never going to be over).
So like... yeah. The takeaway I want people to have here is not that you're evil for using library services if you're not a taxpayer. Rather, it's that people pointing out issues are correct that there are issues, but they're pointing the finger in the wrong direction. This will never be anyone else's fault but the publishing industry, proponents of ironclad IP law that favors industry, a society that sees libraries as expendable and parasitic, etc.
