Enough of this ideological driven media company. This company's actions do not align with "restoring civil society".
To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
61–70 of 149 posts
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#62The concept of “the library” is one that holds deep emotional attachment for many people. The nostalgia of book smells, the exhibitionism of reading “cool” physical books in public, the idea of being physically connected to “the community”. The core function of a library, storing physical books, makes little sense anymore. Digital books are far superior in cost and functionality. But those emotionally attached will c…
I prefer paper books to digital books due to the way digital books are administered. When the library only has 2 Harry Potter and the Sorcerers' Stone digital books and they are DRM'd, it kills the experience.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#63> [Libraries provide] welcoming public spaces for the poor, the homeless and young people.
And isn't this precisely why normal people don't use libraries anymore? Because they've become de facto homeless shelters with unsavory guests who frequently smell awful or use computers for watching porn. I recently visited the famous Seattle public library and was shocked by the nature of the guests.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, the UX of paper is still so much better than kindle. Nicer to read, no lag, easier to organize and share, nicer taking notes in margins. I bought a kindle and went back to paper.
One of the main benefits of ebooks is cost of production, surely. There is a massive cost saving (and impact on jobs etc.) but it seems the producers have managed to keep all of that benefit to themselves?
Exactly. An eBook costs nothing to churn out an incremental copy, but often ends up being as expensive as a hardback by the time the publisher and distributor and platform get a crack at the profits.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the UK, problems in libraries are usually not homeless people.
Care to share what the problems with libraries in the UK are then?
People for whom manners and respect of other people are alien concepts. In the UK, their numbers are growing at an alarming rate, mainly because there is so little done to sanction such behavior.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#66I love the idea of libraries, but where I live most of them are almost as bad as public transportation. People fighting, being loud, people on drugs asking for money, so it's difficult to get comfortable to sit and read. Sadly you have to go to the suburbs to get a quiet library where you don't get hassled. Amazon certainly isn't the solution, but neither is having libraries be the daytime homeless shelter.
In defense of libraries...
I was recently looking for a place to work on a dev project over the course of a few weeks. I looked into various co-working facilities and all of them were hundreds of dollars a month and tried to emulate trendy startup culture, down to the noisy open-office layouts, on-tap kombucha and mixer events. It was a nightmare. On a lark, I went to the local library. It was free, quiet and had rock-solid wifi. It was perfect.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#67> [Libraries provide] welcoming public spaces for the poor, the homeless and young people. And isn't this precisely why normal people don't use libraries anymore? Because they've become de facto homeless shelters with unsavory guests who frequently smell awful or use computers for watching porn. I recently visited the famous Seattle public library and was shocked by the nature of the guests.
I’m a normal person. Myself and my family (wife, two kids) use our local libraries weekly. I use it while waiting for my daughter at dance class.
I’m in Wake County, NC. I’m sorry your library is unusable to you. That’s a great loss.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#68> [Libraries provide] welcoming public spaces for the poor, the homeless and young people. And isn't this precisely why normal people don't use libraries anymore? Because they've become de facto homeless shelters with unsavory guests who frequently smell awful or use computers for watching porn. I recently visited the famous Seattle public library and was shocked by the nature of the guests.
Is there a source for “normal people don’t use libraries anymore”?
I live in Chicago and our libraries are pretty consistently packed with people of all ages, incomes, living situations, etc.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#69I love the idea of libraries, but where I live most of them are almost as bad as public transportation. People fighting, being loud, people on drugs asking for money, so it's difficult to get comfortable to sit and read. Sadly you have to go to the suburbs to get a quiet library where you don't get hassled. Amazon certainly isn't the solution, but neither is having libraries be the daytime homeless shelter.
you are right libaries in chicago burbs have positive and inspiring energy while those in the city have dull 'government' energy and are filled with sadness and grief. I love going to libraries in the burbs but can't wait to GTFO out the ones in the city when I am there. I highly doubt that these libraries in the city are helping the needy in any big way( I would like to be wrong on this one).
It seems to work for everyone in my neighborhood. Homeless, wealthy, children, young and old all using the local library. They have work training programs and children’s programs.
Re: To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Avoiding patrons from being tracked/potentially in the future prosecuted for their reading is professional ethics for librarians, pretty much regardless of political alignment.
I'm curious if this is still a thing. Libraries in my county have moved to a completely online system for checking out books, renewing, etc. The system regularly recommends books to me 'based on previous borrows', which indicates they are tracking/storing information about what I have borrowed in the past. The next question is, who has access to this information? My guess in the library system here does not have a st…
Many libraries will purge checkout records once a patron returns books, but the increasing reliance on centralized cloud-based ILS vendors is making this harder to do reliably.
I'd appreciate it if you could name the online system your county uses. (Or if you can provide a link.)