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Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

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Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#61

Post by sol_remmy »

EliRivers wrote: post #36
tanilama wrote: post #17

His company hosts a large part of the biggest library ever existed: Internet.

Yet if I want to make a serious study of something, I hit the textbooks. The internet is, in my experience, a poor replacement for a stack of well written physical textbooks. The internet may be a big library, but in many ways it's not a very good one.

Counterpoint: My friends all went through mechanical engineering WITHOUT reading textbooks - that was the secret to their success.

No one is going to touch the textbooks in a library.

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#64

Post by sol_remmy »

Pieman103021 wrote: post #40
sddfd wrote: post #30

Why would anyone think libraries are important in 2017? If things keep getting digitalized at the current speed, all knowledge of the world will be accessible online in our lifetime. Unless you believe that a large percentage of citizens will not be able to afford a device for accessing the internet, libraries are a waste of money. Oh and since librarians were mentioned, if AI keeps advancing, we will be able to have…

A library is free, even if all of the world's knowledge is online it would cost money to access in addition to paying for internet. The point of libraries is to remove any barrier to entry for knowledge. I can go to my library and get access to journals and articles I would have to pay for otherwise. It is not a huge waste of money, it is a great way to save. Taxes are paid into the library and as a result the commun…

> A library is free

Those who aren't responsible for paying taxes always seem to think this

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#65

Post by enraged_camel »

stillsut wrote: post #44
chickenfries wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visit a library in a low-income area (where people need them the most) and see the kinds of computers people use to hunt for jobs, do their homework, etc. I've been to a library that was running windows 2000 on TWO ancient Dells with with CRT monitors in 2015. And the two computers they had were being used by adults and students. There is so much to be gained from improving libraries.

Let me give you a hypothetical company IT department: while you are allowed to work there with any education background, only an MBA can be a manager. How do you think they would perform at IT tasks? Who runs libraries? People with Masters in Library Science. I expect severe budget and certification crises would come to any library that won't put a certified librarian in a head position. Or, I'm a working class guy a…

Why does here have to be a master librarian on duty? Do you mean it's in the negotiated contract, or are there legitimate reasons?

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#66

Post by orik »

I’m sure thousands of people have ideas of how Bezos should spend his.

Bezos should spend (or not spend) in ways and things he values, to maximize what he gets out of what he’s earned.

(P.S. libraries compete with his book selling business! Why wouldn’t he rather sell a ‘library pass’ on a kindle for a monthly subscription?)

Re: Bezos should put his billions in public libraries

#68

Post by throwaway7645 »

stillsut wrote: post #44
chickenfries wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visit a library in a low-income area (where people need them the most) and see the kinds of computers people use to hunt for jobs, do their homework, etc. I've been to a library that was running windows 2000 on TWO ancient Dells with with CRT monitors in 2015. And the two computers they had were being used by adults and students. There is so much to be gained from improving libraries.

Let me give you a hypothetical company IT department: while you are allowed to work there with any education background, only an MBA can be a manager. How do you think they would perform at IT tasks? Who runs libraries? People with Masters in Library Science. I expect severe budget and certification crises would come to any library that won't put a certified librarian in a head position. Or, I'm a working class guy a…

Being closed on Sunday is a bummer.
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