(no subject)

[skygiants]

hebethen's request to talk about public libraries for the sixteenth deserves at least as much thoughtfulness as the crossdressing girls post I wrote yesterday, but I'm REALLY TIRED today so instead I'm just going to tell you all that public libraries are AMAZING and anyone who says that the digital age has made them outdated is flat-out wrong, because a public library is not a repository of books, it is a repository of knowledge. Also, a community space. I consistently owe the two library branches I use an average total of about ten dollars on overdue fines, but that's okay, I feel it's money extremely well spent.

Things that public libraries do:

- well yes provide books for free, a service which I use and abuse on a regular basis

BUT ALSO

- provide research and technology services for people who can't afford them
- provide free public education
- provide assistance with job hunting, language skills, computer skills, resume hunting, and a slew of other seriously important public education
- provide a place for anybody to stay inside for a few hours and get warm

Things public libraries do not do:

- provide free daycare services, as one librarian acquaintance of mine had to explain recently to a woman who tried to dump her baby with him at the front desk while she went to work


~*~*~*~LIBRARIES~*~*~*~ (the more you know)

Comments

[evewithanapple]

oh lord almighty, people who use libraries as free daycares. When I was in high school I had to get fourty hours of volunteer work to graduate, so I was a reading buddy at the local library. SO. MANY. PEOPLE just dumped their kids in the play area (actually "play area" is a bit of a misnomer; there was a table with drawing paper and some toy trains + stuffed animals) and took off. Actually I'm pretty sure the kid I was assigned to was just there because her mom wanted time off; she certainly didn't need my help reading. On the one hand, it was one of the easiest volunteer jobs I've ever had but on the other I'M NOT YOUR FREE CHILDCARE DAMMIT.

[skygiants]

. . . I'm distracted by the forty hours of volunteer work to graduate! I mean, it's a cool thing to get your kids to do, but that's also . . . a lot to do around the edges of high school!

[evewithanapple]

It actually wasn't that bad- you could put in the hours at any point during your enrollment in school, so I did two reading buddy rotations the summer before twelfth grade and I was all set. Also, the librarians in my hometown really, really love me now.

[hebethen]

LIBRARIES

Also a meeting place for students/anyone who can be quiet(ish) but doesn't have a good place to go! Haha, "a few hours", when I didn't have a job I would literally stay until closing.

[skygiants]

Oh man, don't even ask me how mad I was when my university library stopped recognizing my student ID. It was the best place to go and try and be productive for a few hours whenever I had time to kill between appointments! Conveniently located in the middle of the city! With free WiFi! OPEN 24 HOURS.

[telophase]

I was undecided about which branch of librarianship I wanted to go into until the first hour or so of my first class in library school, when I overheard two public librarians comparing notes on how long they were required to stay after work without pay with kids who had been dumped off at the library by their parents before they were allowed to call the cops to pick the kid up. It was an HOUR. I decided to go into academic librarianship then and there.

[thirdblindmouse]

Eek. My academic library is open to the public, but I'm allowed to call university police even on university affiliates in an instant, let alone non-affiliates. From what I've heard from my coworker who sometimes works in a public library, that creates a world of difference in attitude from patrons.

[telophase]

We still get plenty of attitude, but from different directions, as I'm sure you've experienced! :D The university was recently shut down for a few days during an unusual ice storm because the roads were too dangerous for people to get on. As it was study days right before finals, we had a lot of students complaining that the library was shut down so they didn't have a place to study.

[thirdblindmouse]

Well, gosh. They can walk to the library, so why don't you? Librarians are such slackers! (Alternatively: all the best libraries house their staff in cubbyholes behind their offices.)

At my university non-professional library staff are considered to be essential personnel, so it takes the worst of storms (an ice storm might qualify O_O) for us to close due to weather, even if most university services are shut down.

[skygiants]

. . . wow.

I mean, on the one hand, I like spending time with kids! On the other, that's a lot more pleasant when you're GETTING PAID FOR IT.

[thirdblindmouse]

You forgot:
- provide media other than books for free (or for minimal costs) like movies and musics and ebooks and periodicals
/one-woman information campaign

[skygiants]

I DID! Well, I class e-books as books, but also movies and music and research materials, indeed!

[oyceter]

Libraries are best! And bah people saying the digital age makes them outdated, for all the reasons you say and also because they provide access to ebooks and digital audiobooks too! And movies, I think? My library is starting to anyway...

[skygiants]

Wait, movies digitally? :O Like, for rental online, as with Netflix or something? That's really cool!

[oyceter]

YESSSSSS!!!