The story at the beginning was so depressing. It makes me really want to call my library on Monday and see if I can teach a computer class.
Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
221–230 of 337 posts
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
A friend of Mine just graduated with a Degree in Literature and we talk about the futures of libraries all the time. We often ask what would happen if libraries opened up a small coffee shop/stand inside of them? With enough "marketing" would people go to libraries instead?
What you do is co-opt a coffee stand to open shop right outside your front door, or in a secluded corner. That way people can get food and stay longer, but the library doesn't just turn into a coffee shop with a few books. I've seen a few libraries with the just-outside-the-door model, and a Borders with a small Peet's upstairs. Both were well-executed.
I've never understood why coffee is considered such a draw-card. The local church embroidery group offers free coffee but i'm still not a regular attendee.
Give me a library that has beer on tap any day.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#223I wonder if big, successful tech companies should be dipping into their pockets to fund internet training- not as charity, but as an investment. eBay, Facebook, Netflix and Google, for instance. Between those four, there must easily be an annual $100 in revenue from having an extra US person online. So for them to invest $15 each in free classes for someone seems like a no-brainer. Plus it buys good PR and goodwill.…
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action_problem . This is what governments are for .
They could promote their products at the same time. That gives them an individual incentive to do it over any particular group.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
neighbourhood watch and locally funded andor volunteer police, vigilanteesm & personal responsibility fire insurance includes fire department service. you can go cheap and risk burning down but it's more likely that decent friendly neighbours will gladly cover yours if you can't. or you can move to more affordable housing within your means health insurance with discounts for taking care of yourself competition betwee…
i'm puzzled and somewhat amused with the downvotes because i'm aiming for maximum honesty and truth. the market organises to elevate the best and raise standards for all others - it's like a force of nature, whereas government seems to systematically mismanage libraries into mediocre grey soulless underused smelly wastelands.
Here's essentially the thought process behind the downvotes:
You: "the market organises to elevate the best and raise standards for all others"
Everybody else: "And I'm the Queen of England."
"The market" is not some intelligent, charitable entity. It's an abstraction employed to talk about how participating entities allocate their resources. It categorically does not help everyone. In fact, in many cases it can hurt everyone (the most famous example is the tragedy of the commons, but that's hardly the only way markets can go bad). Read the OP: What is the market going to do for that guy with no money?
From your comments so far, it seems like you believe he should just curl up and die in the cold. And most people don't believe that's a good answer at all.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting points, although I respectfully disagree. It's pretty silly to talk about economics if you don't believe in rational economic actors. A public list is a nice theory, but then you would still have people trying to get on the list for the minimum amount possible and hoping that others would donate more to be higher on the list of donors. And what happens when you have 60 local farmers and 40 corporation far…
> It's pretty silly to talk about economics if you don't believe in rational economic actors. With respect: when you find rational economic actors in notable quantities, please do let the rest of us know. (My skepticism of the questionable assertions of libertarians is largely based on the conspicuous absence of such actors.)
Basing policies on the assumption that nobody will exploit obvious inefficiencies since people aren't entirely rational is the economic equivalent of using "drowssap" as your password.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That article doesn't seem to give much sway to the issue of transaction costs in letting people organise to provide a public good, which is really central to the issue.. There are transaction costs for Government action too. In general they are higher. Government has no special ability to keep transaction costs low. > Surely as argued above, contagious disease prevention would qualify as a public good It has exclud…
It's important to keep in mind that economists consider things cetibus paribus - that is, as they are at the time, in isolation and in the real world. Whilst I have no particular problem with market based solutions (e.g. publicly funded vouchers should be provided for schools rather than public funding per se) I'm interested in seeing some kind of current, market based solution to issue of contagious disease preventi…
Fiat isn't saving on transaction costs. It's basically just failure to do due diligence (enough to persuade people to participate voluntarily) and therefore acceptance of high risk.
I don't consider proposing emigration as a reasonable response to proposed reforms of our country.
I have no particular ideas about changes for dealing with contagious diseases. It's low priority and I haven't thought about it. If you'd like several examples (but not that one), I suggest the book The Machinery of Freedom, now free: http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf
> how do we make everyone who benefits from an educated populace pay a fair price towards the education of the next generation
I don't understand the necessity of making everyone who benefits pay. The real problems, as I see them, are getting stuff to happen and be paid for in such a way that everyone directly involved mutually benefits. If someone else benefits to, that isn't hurting anyone and is not a problem.
What actual problem do you want to solve? Having schools and having them paid for? I don't see that as terribly hard. We already have schools, public and private, people already pay for them (both types), it works. I don't see any fundamental difficulty in getting the Government out of the education equation unless your goal is redistribution of wealth (for educational purposes) to poor people or other groups, and you want to redistribute more than voluntary charity will do (in other words: you want to redistribute wealth from people who think it's best used on X, for purpose Y, against their best judgment).
If you want to do that redistribution you need Government because it has the special power of using force against innocent people who disagree with you. But vouchers are still adequate.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#227If you're the author, thank you for helping these people. I hope your work gives you great pride.
I'm not, but I sent the author of the comment (codacorolla on Metafilter) a message through that site to take a look over here, and also mentioned that there were some appreciations.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
i'd rather not pay for other people's benefits unless the benefit returns to me with reasonable probability and period of time. on one hand i'd like to see libraries turn profit (like 'lite' version of video rental model) or at least be self sufficient. on the other hand i want to enjoy reasonably educated population with easy access to methods for self improvement and economic mobility (both up and down) and a 'safe…
When I was Local libraries are pretty cheap. Programs to give books to poor children may not be as cost effective. Giving computers to poor children may simply result in them being sold, either by the kids or their parents. Commercial libraries (proprietary libraries) have existed. They typically catered to the kind of people who paid a lot for membership - upper middle class professionals. If we relied on commercial…
I wouldn't mind having a paid membership in a library that carries O'Reilly's books and like. I would also probably try to convince my company to have one (and that would mean much bigger budget there). Most of such books are needed only for a relatively short periods of time and then sit there gathering dust for years. The library would be ideal for such things.
I don't say this would necessarily work, there are many problems with this idea that would need to be resolved, but on the face of it I don't see why it couldn't work.
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
A friend of Mine just graduated with a Degree in Literature and we talk about the futures of libraries all the time. We often ask what would happen if libraries opened up a small coffee shop/stand inside of them? With enough "marketing" would people go to libraries instead?
What you do is co-opt a coffee stand to open shop right outside your front door, or in a secluded corner. That way people can get food and stay longer, but the library doesn't just turn into a coffee shop with a few books. I've seen a few libraries with the just-outside-the-door model, and a Borders with a small Peet's upstairs. Both were well-executed.
The Cameron Village library (Raleigh, NC) has a coffee shop. The best info I could find is from their Facebook page [1]:
> Has it been a while since you been to a library? Cameron Village Regional Library is the only library in Wake County that offers coffee bar service to its patrons! Come visit your public library and browse the stacks with a beverage in hand. Or just come and meet up with a friend and catch up before heading over to the shops and events at Cameron Village.
[1] http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cameron-Coffee-at-Cameron-Vill...
Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I borrow a book, read it and enjoy it. What benefit does this create for anyone besides me? That actually made me feel sorry for you. Are you really this much of an island, or do you just enjoy trolling? Is there no possible benefit for me that you might have learned something, or that perhaps you might now be able to tell me something I didn't know before? Is there no benefit to me that perhaps because someone in…
Is there no possible benefit for me that you might have learned something, or that perhaps you might now be able to tell me something I didn't know before? You are moving the goalposts. I asserted there is no "massive positive externality", not that there is no possible external externality. I do concede that maybe people who spend time in the library are more interesting conversationalists. I just don't consider thi…
There's no "massive positive externality" to humanity. If you are to take your position to its logical conclusion, all human life should be exterminated.
I don't think I've seen anyone argue for a truly nihilist position as earnestly as you have here.