Libraries

nightshade

nightshade

Your grandfather is a cat
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Mar 13, 2009
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England
Black Thorn
Do you use your local library?

Our library uses borrowbox for ebooks and audiobooks and I use that a lot. However I don't like the actual library. It's quite small and they got rid of most of the computers and made the children's section smaller too. All the dvds are gone and it doesn't look like they added more books just moved stuff around. Shelves are further apart with an extra chair here and there.
 
The local library here is literally half a room in an agriculture office. Its not often open and has about 200 books/on shelf, also some cd, dvds and vhs. They've told me before to to bother returning books 😆 I did anyway. There is no seating or computers, but the ag office will let you use the printer if needed. Most of the time the lights arnt even on haha.

We have a street library box which holds maybe 10 books at a time. Its well used.

The closest city library is very good. Its quite small as far as libraries go, but well located, right in the centre of town. Lots of people use it. There are computers and study spaces, comfy seats and desks. They always have events on, things like reading with dogs, death cafe and phone/computer classes.

It always has something of interest to me but almost every time I have gone with a book in mind, its either checked out or they dont have it. Its a nice library and I like it a lot but its so far away 🙁 I would be there every day if I lived within walking distance! 100kms is a bit too far for a jog.

They linked me up with borrowbox and libby but so far none of the books I wanted are on either of these either. I just read magazines mainly on them.
 
I like mine, except for one thing that I wish were more like film and TV; it's so damn loud! You always hear those old ladies shushing people in fiction, but I guess in reality it's still an 'office' so to speak and so the librarians are constantly talking and typing loudly. I might wear headphones with low music on in the future.

My library is otherwise great, though, it still rents out DVD's, it's got tons of comfortable seating, and a great section of English-language books for me to read in the future.
 
November said:
They linked me up with borrowbox and libby but so far none of the books I wanted are on either of these either. I just read magazines mainly on them.
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I find that unless you know what you want to read they just show you the same dozen best-selling books, that are checked out!

Puppet said:
I like mine, except for one thing that I wish were more like film and TV; it's so damn loud!
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Yeah, it's usually loud in mine too, it used to be quiet, with people whispering, but no one cares now.
 
I use it more in person in the warmer months as I have to walk to any of its branch locations (I live in a city and the public library manages a core location and several satellites). They have a variety of digital services that I use maybe half of, like, I don't use a newspaper subscription super-service because lolmoney, but I use libby and hoopla.

Whether or not it's quiet depends on which one I'm at. My favorite childhood nostalgia branch is as silent as a tomb while the central library isn't strictly quiet but a low roar.
 
nightshade said:
Do you use your local library?
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I do, often! I'm a huge fan of the library. It's such a vital and important resource for society.

The branch closest to my house is nice. It has a good CD and DVD collection. I usually reserve items online and go pick them up and bring them home. Sometimes they have to be transferred from another location. They email me when they're ready, and I just go pick the, up. It's very convenient. I don't really hang out in the library though. There is usually people in there however - I often see people tutoring students, studying in groups and using the computers for homework and job hunting.
 
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Not anymore.

I used to be heavily involved with libraries. I considered them of extreme importance. I even gave serious thought of going through the effort of getting a MLS (Mastery of Library Science), which I'm now glad I didn't.

A lot of what I don't like about them today is not really their fault, but that hardly matters. I'm more inclined to look harshly on library board members than librarians since board members typically have an ulterior motive (or just like being in charge for their ego, and apparently always been a common problem).

But I've become disillusioned with the one I go to (very rarely) now. I still have fond memories of it, which makes it worse seeing it now. And if what I see there is common to other libraries (combined with that which I don't think is their fault) then I can no longer find it in me to support libraries (and have stopped giving them time, money, books in good condition, and supplies as I used to--though I still sometimes shelve books for them without telling them since they don't care, though they'll complain of people staying until closing time as if they were in a hurry, but the only thing they're in a hurry to do is get out, not do anything beyond what they're forced to do).

I have fond memories of libraries before. I think they made my childhood and adult life much better than they'd have been otherwise. But libraries today? I just have to learn to let go. There's one librarian left who I still respect there who represents what I loved about libraries and has professional ethics beyond doing the bare minimum, but she could retire any day now.
 
Ethan Reigns
Ethan Reigns
The biggest employer of MLS graduates now is Google.
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
What don't you like about libraries now?
Are libraries world wide funded by community or government?

The city library that I go to is hooked up with the state library and can order books from other libraries in the state. But my local library is much more limited because its community based and run by a volunteer.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
The library here is government funded, yes. But there is also a trust where people can donate too as well to help with expenses.
I'm a heavy user of the library, both for books and dvds, though I find most streaming shows don't come out on dvd anymore. I also use their downloadable audiobook and music services. I've used their computers for research projects, since they're faster, and I print things out there. I go at least once a week.
November said:
They always have events on, things like reading with dogs, death cafe and phone/computer classes.
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Reading with dogs sounds really cute, but what is a "death cafe"?

Puppet said:
I like mine, except for one thing that I wish were more like film and TV; it's so damn loud! You always hear those old ladies shushing people in fiction, but I guess in reality it's still an 'office' so to speak and so the librarians are constantly talking and typing loudly. I might wear headphones with low music on in the future.
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This is a huge problem for me, too, and I often find the librarians themselves are the loudest! When I have to use one of their computers, I bring earphones and play a YouTube video of fan noise.
 
Stake fodder
Stake fodder
That's a great ide! I think my library just has book clubs.
i used to go to the library a lot with my dad, kind of our thing we would get CDs and DVDs, mostly but books and periodicals too. I recently went back it's still nice like it was when we went but I don't go very often anymore.
 
The library here can get books from others in the county, but I don't know if they even still have the computer that you could use to search for books. I wouldn't ask the librarians unless I really needed the book.

They have the job centre attached to the library in what used to be a room you could hire out, but they removed the wall and its all open so that makes it louder too.
 
Absolutely do!
You can access some great content via ebooks for harder to find items, or go your traditional hard copy route.

I don't use the library space itself though. Pop in to collect a hold and I'm off.
 
All of the best books seem to have disappeared from our library system. I don't know whether it's theft or discards or sales but a lot of shelves that were so jammed you could hardly extract a book now have empty space. It was good for movies - I had borrowed the screenplay for "Scenes for a Marriage", written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and then borrowed the VHS tape of the movie itself, both from the main branch of the local library. The movie was a lot darker than the screenplay. But that was about 15 years ago - they probably don't have any of that anymore.
 
T
thrasherpix
I know many, especially of nostalgic, out of print types, are stolen and then sold for up to a hundred books (even hundreds) on ebay and the like. No, not discarded (discard stamps are easy to steal anyway). These books are hard to ILL these days.
Ethan Reigns said:
All of the best books seem to have disappeared from our library system. I don't know whether it's theft or discards or sales but a lot of shelves that were so jammed you could hardly extract a book now have empty space. It was good for movies - I had borrowed the screenplay for "Scenes for a Marriage", written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and then borrowed the VHS tape of the movie itself, both from the main branch of the local library. The movie was a lot darker than the screenplay. But that was about 15 years ago - they probably don't have any of that anymore.
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Maybe its more, they're just not replacing books as they get rid of old unread ones. They probably remove ones for various reasons, but if it was a popular book would replace, if its not one that's borrowed regularly they've just not replaced it. Money saving I guess.
 
A lot of British libraries are council-run and local councils are rather impoverished at the moment. They can't even afford to keep the roads usable; I expect buying new books for libraries is somewhere down the list of priorities.
 
The best library I ever found was the reference library in Royal Leamington Spa but that was back in the mid to late 1970's.
 
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