The local library in Midgeville has long been a source of knowledge

Question

The local library in Midgeville has long been a source of knowledge and art for the town’s residents. Many of them, especially the town’s teens and seniors, spend long hours at the facility—reading newspapers, viewing art exhibits, watching documentary films, and attending educational events. Now that the mayor has instituted large budget cuts that will significantly shrink the library’s funding, the people of Midgeville will clearly be culturally deprived.

Which of the following exposes a presupposition regarding the author’s reasoning in the statements above?

A. Midgeville’s library has a culturally-diverse selection of books.
B. Bridgeville’s library, which is a half-mile away in a town bordering Midgeville, has a more extensive program of art, media, and events than Midgeville’s does, and is open to residents of all adjacent municipalities.
C. Midgeville residents will see fewer documentary films once the library’s funding is cut.
D. Few of the town residents who visit the library prefer to bring their own books and newspapers to read.
E. The residents of Midgeville have no other significant source of cultural enrichment aside from the local library.

Akshat_verma_25 · Answer

Question Explanation 
 Choice (A) is out of scope; it doesn’t matter whether the library’s books are as culturally-diverse as its other forms of media. Choice (B), in contrast, weakens the argument by pointing out another source of cultural enrichment for Midgeville residents. Choice (C) makes a prediction and is thus out of scope, while (D) is irrelevant. However, (E) is essential to the argument, since it suggests that a funding cut could hurt the most significant source of culture to the town’s residents.

Anandanwar · Answer

Hello,

A query here.
The argument already says that residents spend long hours in Midgeville library and it has been a source of knowledge and art for residents.
Now we know for sure that part of the cultural enrichment of the residents is fulfilled by the library. 
Choice E says residents do not have another significant source of cultural enrichment.
Now even if they have another source, Midgeville still fulfills part of the needs. And the resident will still be deprived of cultural enrichment provided by the library when the library functions shrink.
Choice E is not a required thing for the argument.

A required thing would be something, which can replace the whatever Midgeville provides, is not present. Choice E does not mention this.
This is why I rejected E. 
Can anyone please point to the error in my reasoning?

Regards,
Ankit

KarishmaB · Answer

Think about this - what if Midgeville has an art museum that provides all these sources of enrichment? Perhaps people don't go there because the library is more centrally located and easier to reach. But if the library stocks down, people could start going to the museum. To conclude that " the people of Midgeville will clearly be culturally deprived," the author assumes that another significant source of cultural enrichment does not exist.

MartyMurray · Answer

The key to seeing why (E) is correct is to understand the conclusion precisely as the question writer intended it to be understood.

The point of the conclusion not that the people will be deprived of whatever the library provides. Rather, it's that, in general, they will be entirely deprived culturally, meaning something along the lines of that there won't be any source of culture for them in Midgeville.

So, concluding they will be deprived in that way if funding for the library is cut requires assuming that, as (E) says, they wouldn't have any other source of cultural enrichment.

That said, the question could be constructed better, partly because (C) is somewhat arguably a viable correct answer and partly because, as you've noticed, it's not 100 percent clear how "culturally deprived" should be interpreted.

The local library in Midgeville has long been a source of knowledge

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The local library in Midgeville has long been a source of knowledge

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