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This thread is more of a PSA than anything else! If you don't use your local library, you need to start! Do you have any idea how many services your library provides besides old books and computers for the homeless to masturbate with? They've got CDs, DVDs, 3D printers, hobbyist events for children and adults, some places check out board games and cake pans and so so so much more! Go sign up for a library card today! Libraries are one of the last places in America where you can hang out and relax and not be expected to spend any money! Even just physically being there helps! Go to the library today!!! Youremother fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Apr 16, 2023 |
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Apr 1, 2023 06:01
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This reminded me that I need to go to the library today so thanks op My childhood library was next door to my school and it was a beautiful Victorian thing with the green desk lamps and a newspaper reading room with the big desks and everything. They ripped a load of the original wooden fittings out in a refurb a few years ago and now it just looks weird, like call center desk banks in a room with herringbone floors and cast iron radiators. Very few pictures online but this was the old check in desk  Current library is about 2 miles down the road. There was one round the corner but it got closed down. OP is right that councils and local authorities HATE libraries and will close or bin half their collections at the slightest provocation to save a minuscule amount of money so you need to just go and do stuff there as often as possible  The last time I was in there there was an older gentleman watching 'Ben Shapiro DESTROYS college student' videos and taking notes and he had about 40 tabs open. Something for everyone
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Apr 1, 2023 06:24
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Libraries are good and everyone should support them.
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Apr 1, 2023 06:42
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My high school library was like one shelf of new books a year and then just wall to wall second hand stuff from the 70s and 80s
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Apr 1, 2023 08:51
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the sex ghost posted:My high school library was like one shelf of new books a year and then just wall to wall second hand stuff from the 70s and 80s My high school library had half-empty shelves and still stocked a book on BASIC programming for the TRS-80 in 2001.
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Apr 1, 2023 09:50
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My library lends 5-50 copies of every new release video game for 3 weeks a pop, it’s awesome.
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Apr 1, 2023 15:35
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the library in my hometown was huge and had a ton of books in it. where i live now there is a handful of little branches and I don't think they have a big central library 
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Apr 1, 2023 15:42
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Please visit your local library and use it for more than washing your feet in the sink.
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Apr 1, 2023 17:38
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I live in Missouri, which LOVES libraries so much it just completely defunded them! Seriously, the budget is 0$ now because they thought banning books is dumb and the governor is a little mad about that. I got me a library card that I use to check out ebooks, but is there anything else I can do do help them out? I donated all my physical books to libraries a few years ago, but I wouldn't mind kicking them some money too.
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Apr 1, 2023 17:46
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I'm a college student with full access to college student libraries and I *still* have a public library card. (Mainly for that sweet sweet Kanopy access but still)
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Apr 1, 2023 20:44
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxEDSnegTU library ftw my local was super cool about me accidentally jamming one of their scanners for a day by me being a dumbass and feeding a small document with my name, home address, and other doxxing info into it instead of using the top load part there is now a sign there because of me
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Apr 1, 2023 21:20
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Soysaucebeast posted:I live in Missouri, which LOVES libraries so much it just completely defunded them! Seriously, the budget is 0$ now because they thought banning books is dumb and the governor is a little mad about that. I got me a library card that I use to check out ebooks, but is there anything else I can do do help them out? I donated all my physical books to libraries a few years ago, but I wouldn't mind kicking them some money too. The South in general has it out for libraries right now, huh? I live in AR and it seems like there's defunding/protests/challenges in just about every county I check on. Locally "we" just decided to cut the entire library millage in half because someone noticed a couple books about gender and lifestyle identity in the teen section. It's loving outrageous.
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Apr 2, 2023 00:23
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Funfact I learned, if you take a book off the shelf and read it for a bit, don't put it back on the shelf, even if it's exactly where you got it from! Put it on the little "put books here" cart! It's not just "ugh, you're gonna put it in the wrong place so let us do it", they count those, so it tallies how many people are reading and going to the library!
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Apr 2, 2023 01:45
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Had a great time at the library today 
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Apr 2, 2023 02:39
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Goth Odell Beckham posted:Had a great time at the library today This is a great example of the treasure you can find at your local library. It's not all James Patterson and cookbooks!
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Apr 2, 2023 02:42
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Goth Odell Beckham posted:Had a great time at the library today 
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Apr 2, 2023 03:45
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SgtScruffy posted:Funfact I learned, if you take a book off the shelf and read it for a bit, don't put it back on the shelf, even if it's exactly where you got it from! Put it on the little "put books here" cart! It's not just "ugh, you're gonna put it in the wrong place so let us do it", they count those, so it tallies how many people are reading and going to the library! That's really cool.
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Apr 2, 2023 05:02
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I went to a small-town school that covered grades 1 to 12. Our library was split in half, one side for grades 1 to 7, the other for 8 to 12. I got in trouble multiple times as a kid for sneaking into the 8 to 12 section to read actual interesting science books. Knowledge is a punishable offense, apparently.
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Apr 2, 2023 05:51
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I signed up for a class at my local library to learn how to use their 3D printer and then completely forgot to go to it, only realised like two days later. So then I've been too embarrassed to sign back up again lol. Great library though! I have spent a lot of time at various library because they are great environments for taking the various service dogs in training that I have fostered. Not too busy or loud, but lots of stuff to navigate.
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Apr 2, 2023 06:31
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Hello, library assistant person here I started working for my local library last year and it's such a fantastic place! The library is so much more than books now, it's a community hub that serves to help people with all kinds of problems modern life can present to them. Also, we have video games. Lots of video games. If you live in Ohio you should see if your local library is part of the Serving Every Ohioan (SEO) consortium! If it is, you have access to the catalogs of libraries all across Ohio, and you can easily request most games, books, and movies (dvd, bluray, and 4k!). You can do it all from the website and be notified when your holds show up at your local library and pick them up at your leisure. It's a wonderfully slick system and I play all of my console games this way now. Also, CHECK OUT THE PROGRAMS YOUR LOCAL LIBRARIES RUN. Ours has tons of social programs that offer opportunities to try and learn new things, or just hang out and snack and talk about your interests! These programs are great ways to meet new people in super chill environments, and they're almost always entirely free.
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Apr 2, 2023 07:42
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Our local library runs a county wide Comic Con, a small event that gets a few hundred visitors and is mostly family friendly, but it's a lot of fun! This year I'll be running a Pokémon event there where people can come and challenge me, "Gym Leader Jared", to Pokémon battles with their Switch, or assist me by locating my missing Pokémon assistants in a scavenger hunt. Either way, if you complete the challenge you earn your own gym badge (acrylic pin) to take home. I'm going to be in gym leader cosplay and I've been building a safari themed booth, it's going to be a lot of fun! Again, check out what your local library is doing, I'm sure they're doing similarly exciting things.
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Apr 2, 2023 07:46
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I have lived in the same metro area since I was a teen and thus have been in the county library system about as long. Over about 15 years I have paid about $125-150 in late fees, which is pretty impressive given I think they cap out at like $5 for books. I love my library system even though I am its scourge
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Apr 2, 2023 09:06
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Late fines are bad and dumb, and theres a fair amount of momentum in getting rid of them altogether. It wouldn't surprise me if it became the new norm for most libraries not to charge late fines in the next 5-10 years or so. The feedback from systems that havr already eliminated them seem to be pretty positive
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Apr 2, 2023 09:26
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CubeTheory posted:Hello, library assistant person here your library kicks rear end!! theres at least one city in my province that i know of that has started doing games, but sadly not mine yet. will absolutely vouch for the other stuff though, so many great resources. they didnt even charge me to accidentally ruin their scanner for a day lol
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Apr 2, 2023 09:35
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Metis of the Hallway posted:I have spent a lot of time at various library because they are great environments for taking the various service dogs in training that I have fostered. Not too busy or loud, but lots of stuff to navigate. That's loving rad, and not a use for a library setting that I had thought of before. Kudos for you and your fosters, Metis. E: more on topic, I've been visiting the local libraries here in ABQ the last couple weeks and have been fairly impressed by the ones on the outskirts of town. dervival fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Apr 2, 2023 |
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Apr 2, 2023 15:27
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DeadFatDuckFat posted:Late fines are bad and dumb, and theres a fair amount of momentum in getting rid of them altogether. It wouldn't surprise me if it became the new norm for most libraries not to charge late fines in the next 5-10 years or so. The feedback from systems that havr already eliminated them seem to be pretty positive My library has gotten rid of them completely and been trying to remove any financial barriers we can. As long as you bring the book back, you're golden. The only way to get a permanent charge if you still have the book is to have so many missing that we send it to collections, and even then we'll forgive everything but the $10 collection fee if you bring them back.
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Apr 2, 2023 16:07
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CubeTheory posted:I started working for my local library last year and it's such a fantastic place! The library is so much more than books now, it's a community hub that serves to help people with all kinds of problems modern life can present to them. Also, we have video games. Lots of video games. If you miss the experience of shopping around at your local video rental store, that's yet another great reason to visit your local library. Youremother fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Apr 16, 2023 |
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Apr 2, 2023 16:48
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My library has a telescope you can borrow. It also gives out free museum passes.
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Apr 2, 2023 17:48
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If you have some free time, consider volunteering at the library. I'm on the board of the "friends of the library" and there's a huge need for younger people who can give input on programs and resources that are actually useful. I help with the website and do all of the graphic design stuff for the programs.
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Apr 2, 2023 17:54
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I had the privilege of working for the public library system here in Albany, NY and I can honestly say that I met some of the most passionate, kind and caring people there. NO ONE becomes a librarian because they think they're going to get rich. They do it because they love books and their community and they love being able to work with young people and share their passion. Like the OP said, so many people really think all a library does is loan out books but in reality, they offer sooooooo many programs and opportunities and technology. It really is incredible. Two of the biggest influences in my life were both librarians, one at the local library by my house growing up and the librarian of my middle school. Just two of the greatest people ever. I also want to reiterate the point that the public library is basically one of the only places left in this country where someone can go and simply sit down and not be forced to spend money. I think that's why certain politicians hate them so much. haljordan fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Apr 2, 2023 |
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Apr 2, 2023 18:00
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turning the library catalogues into Telnet MUD machines as a kid taught me more than any class I remember in k-12 it seems like public schools could learn a lot from public libraries about self directed learning, or even just how to engage kids
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Apr 2, 2023 18:11
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moana posted:My library has a telescope you can borrow. It also gives out free museum passes. This is a good point! Our library offers free passes to several different local recreational spots, as well as telescopes, instruments, children's toys, TTRPG kits, WIFI hotspots, and a lot of science and learning models. I know some other libraries in our system offer things like tools and baking supplies like pans and cookie cutters. For kids we also have portable video players and tablets loaded with juvenile apps. It's definitely worth checking out what you have locally, there are a lot of things you may be interested in but purchasing doesn't make sense. You may even be able to access tons of free e-books and audio books from various apps that your library subscribes to. Some of them even have streaming tv shows and movies. During the pandemic a lot of libraries have vastly expanded their online services and offer lots of free resources such as auto repair manuals, foreign language classes, database of scholarly papers, and a lot more. Sometimes you can even apply for digital card on their website and access these without ever stepping foot in the library. We have a great service that has a ton of manga on it that I read.
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Apr 2, 2023 19:37
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I was reading this thinking, "wow, my local library doesn't do that," but then I checked and indeed it does! Thanks for the pointer.
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Apr 2, 2023 20:12
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As a kid I loved riding my bike over to the library. The smell of all the paper and glue, mmmm. Oh yeah and the books. Now my Kindle hooks directly to my library and I can check out and read ebooks right from the device. Or audiobooks on my phone. It's convenient and I'm reading more now because of it, buuut it doesn't have that delicious smell.
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Apr 2, 2023 20:30
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This is specifically a SF Bay Area service, but there's a Bikemobile that goes around to local schools, community based organizations, and libraries to fix up and repair community bikes for free. They replaced an inner tube and tuned several of my bikes for me, something that would've cost me easily several hundred dollars at a local bike shop. Check them out, or ask your library to book them! https://bikemobile.org/ Oh, and I use WorldCat a lot to find out if a library near me has something I'm looking for. For example, the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide: https://www.worldcat.org/title/884396716
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Apr 3, 2023 03:56
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The libraries in my county loan out museum passes too, and it's great! It's encouraged us to check out some museums we might not thought of otherwise, and it's probably saved us over $250. So far. It's also great, because the passes are library specific, but you can search for them at any of the county libraries and use them.
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Apr 3, 2023 04:00
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I love my library! 
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Apr 3, 2023 04:26
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One way you can support your local library may be to donate books. A common misconception is that book donations go to the shelves, but this is rarely the case. Book donations are often simply resold in regular book sales, and can be a very useful source of income to smaller libraries. You may not think they library needs five more Dean Koontz novels, but those sell and can be a real asset. This may be more specific to my library, but if you're building a book collection, consider seeing if you can volunteer to help set up and work the book sale. At least at a few libraries I know this is very easy work and gets you in before the crowds to see if there is anything you might want.
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Apr 3, 2023 13:28
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I often look forward to book sales. My library had DVDs at the last one; I have plenty I intend to donate the next time they do one.
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Apr 4, 2023 22:00
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We occasionally get some really interesting donations for our book sales, and since I'm staff I can just swipe whatever I want and our Friends organization doesn't mind (they do it too). My favorite finds include two large bags of Kurt Vonnegut and Isaac Asimov books, which I took all of, and a first edition of Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon.
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Apr 4, 2023 22:45
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