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The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

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Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#201

Post by dm319 »

stcredzero wrote: post #166
geebee wrote: post #12

I'm largely in agreement with this Vox piece, but I think there's much more to say in defense of libraries as well. I have a friend who found a red envelope with some money in it in a book that he'd checked out of the library. He figured it belonged to whoever had checked the book out earlier, so he went into the branch and mentioned it. They said that they could find out the last person to read the book, but no more…

Can you imagine Netflix or Amazon, Google or Facebook behaving this way? This is the difference between having a sense of civic duty and community vs. not. The customer/business relationship is a poor substitute for the real thing, even when they try to foster the trappings of false "community." there was a time when people considered the idea of an institution having a long and complete list of everything you've rea…

> having a sense of civic duty and community vs. not

A sense of civic duty?

These words sounds like they are from another period.

I think this is low in the mindshare of the population of many western countries. As a society we're mostly concerned with personal progress, social influence and monetisation.

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#202

Post by ikeyany »

jdminhbg wrote: post #196
ikeyany wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure bankers believe the same thing about themselves.

Except there's survey data about this, and tech companies are the most respected and banks are the least: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/wells-fargo-...

Respecting Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon as companies is very different from respecting tech workers as a whole.

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#203

Post by sctb »

chlvsl wrote: post #101
zachrose wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll go the other direction. Public libraries have large and networked collections, physical and digital, that they let you borrow for free. Why do we need to buy from Amazon and subscribe to Netflix when in theory the libraries could provide all that content?

They're not free. They're taxpayer subsidized.

You've been posting mostly inflammation here and we ban accounts that do that. Please stop.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#204

Post by st1ck »

Spooky23 wrote: post #79
BurningFrog wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me steelman that argument. Libraries were invented because information was only available on printed (or hand written) books, which were very expensive and scarce resources. Now information can be available almost literally for free and instantly, to anywhere. If the institutional inertia of libraries didn't exist today, would they really be invented as they are? https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Steel_man

We live in a fundamentally broken society today where rent-seekers want to break it further. No libraries would never be invented today. People like Carnegie who thrived in the industrial revolution recognized that and understood that education and social evolution was the path to prosperity and peace. When he studied recent history in his day, he probably pondered the decades of chaos and suffering kicked off by the…

> No libraries would never be invented today.

Would you count Project Gutenberg, archive.org or SciHub? I'd also add Bittorrent and other p2p networks as media libraries. I bet there is plenty of lesser known archives like http://web.textfiles.com/

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#205

Post by samsa »

ajross wrote: post #134
geebee wrote: post #12

I'm largely in agreement with this Vox piece, but I think there's much more to say in defense of libraries as well. I have a friend who found a red envelope with some money in it in a book that he'd checked out of the library. He figured it belonged to whoever had checked the book out earlier, so he went into the branch and mentioned it. They said that they could find out the last person to read the book, but no more…

> librarians (at least in that system) deliberately avoided keeping long term records of what people are reading, to safeguard privacy rights. Are you sure that's true? I mean, my local library (like most, I'm sure) has a fully digital checkout log which keeps a pretty decent amount of state for active records. A pretty reasonable architecture, given the size (small) of the system, would simply keep this data around…

Checkout records are going to vary from library to library depending on which software package they are using as their ILS (“integrated library system”) and how that software package is configured. My library for example (the one I work at, not my home library) has no way of knowing the checkout history of any given item except for 1) who has that item out now, if it is checked out and 2) who had it out last. In our case the database is hosted remotely by our software vendor, so we really couldn’t get at checkout data other than those two points above as that is all that displays in the staff side client, and we don’t have any servers with patron data onsite.

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#206

Post by tanilama »

Disruption recipe:

1. Claim something is not working, by mere claiming it.

2. Raising capital to subsidize the business and force the trafitional competitor out of the game.

3. Get hefty evaluation

4. Once reach the dominant market position, raise the price and profit :)

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#207

Post by rainbowmverse »

Sharlin wrote: post #11
maym86 wrote: post #5

I'm sick of people going after things they don't use or understand that are valuable to people of lesser means while spewing the efficiencies of the free market. Amazon only makes as much money as it does because it manages to avoid paying tax while utilizing the infrastructure built and maintained by collecting taxes.

But hey, drones will solve the road use problem!

I would like to see a library drone delivery program. I can already order a book from almost any library in the state and have it delivered to the local one. Having a drone take it the rest of the way is the next logical step. That would also help with accessibility for people who can't get to the library.

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#209

Post by gdubs »

I'm a HUGE fan of libraries, but it seems this article is really underscoring a need for better homeless shelters and community centers. Personally, I'm in favor of my tax money going towards both.

Libraries, on the surface, are about providing access to knowledge and tools. But by their nature they also provide sanctuary – in a similar way to a church or temple. They're quiet, often beautiful, inviting... Those qualities are why you can't just digitize the experience.

Re: The last thing libraries need is Silicon Valley “disruption.”

#210

Post by Fomite »

egypturnash wrote: post #161
BurningFrog wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me steelman that argument. Libraries were invented because information was only available on printed (or hand written) books, which were very expensive and scarce resources. Now information can be available almost literally for free and instantly, to anywhere. If the institutional inertia of libraries didn't exist today, would they really be invented as they are? https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Steel_man

Did you RTFA before you jumped into the comments? Here, let me give you a quote. > Just this week, a woman stopped by our desk because she needed to be taught how to open a new tab in an internet browser. She returned a few minutes later and said, “Please write ‘stomach ache’ on this piece of paper for me. I don’t know to spell it.” The man waiting behind her had no idea how to open an internet browser to begin his f…

I'd add "...and know how to use it."

Immersed as we are in it, I think people forget that the internet is a skill. Finding things and filtering the results is the result of experience.

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