Yay. Close the libraries!!!

[honkyjonk]

Probably old news. It is here, but thought I'd bring it to tapeop anyway. I heard from friends in N.Y. that it's actually a nationwide story that Salinas CA, which I live about 5 miles outside is closing it's city libraries, the first city in the U.S. to actually vote to do that! Ummm, yeah. Salinas. Ever read Steinbeck?

To keep them open, it would have averaged everyone in the city $20. Oops. Too much. I have a feeling though, that people are such fucking retards here that if it cost $1.00 they still would have voted it down. All you have to do is say on the ballot that it will cost 1.2 million dollars for the city, county, state, whatever, to institute this or that or pay for this or that, and people will vote it down.
"Fuuuuuck. that's a lot of money dude!!!"

Do the MATH!!!

I mean jeez, they're libraries people!!! Free books, dummies

[wing]

That's freaking sad. Libraries are one of the greatest things ever-- free knowledge. How can you go wrong?

[tommymakestapes]

i always bring back books late... but i like to think of it as givin a little eaxtra cash back to the community. portlands a little steep though..

[Bear]

Who the hell would vote to close down a library? I just don't get people sometimes.
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[bobbydj]

God Bless America!!
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Bobby D. Jones
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[Tim Casey]

I guess people are afraid that they'll read too much, get smarter, and realize they voted to put an incompetent criminal in the White House.

I'm sure the NeoCons are happy, though. The more stupid the general population gets, the more they can get away with.

[YOUR KONG]

Well seriously - who reads?? My wife is an English teacher and the vast majority of her students say they NEVER read outside of school. EVER.
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[;ivlunsdystf]

Have you been to a library lately? (not counting a university library)

They are usually quite busy. Despite what your wife says about kids, many of whom don't think about reading much, there are still a lot of fringe enthusiasts out there participating in this "reading" craze. Not to mention all the special programs at libraries, like helping immigrants figure out how to deal with the english language, etc.

It is fucking crazy to close libraries just to save some money. Not a good long-term investment.

[YOUR KONG]

Ok, I'll give you that - but my local comic book store is usually busy too - that doesn't mean that most people read comic books!

I didn't mean to imply that a library closing is justified - I think it's awful. Like Wing, I'm VERY pro-library - I think every major project I've undertaken in the last 5 years started with several trips to the library. I think having a knowledge warehouse that's available to ANYone is of immeasureable benefit to society as a whole.

And I think it sucks and is bad for people when one closes.

I'm just saying it's part of a larger, more alarming trend.
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[;ivlunsdystf]

Right on.

I wonder whether all this IM and email and web homework assignments, etc. will lead to our current generation being better /faster readers. The web isn't much fun unless you can read, eh (even if your goal in web surfing is just to find naked pictures of other human specimens)

At the same time I am quite certain that the web format of information intake shortens the attention span. I can't even imagine life before computers. It must have moved at a rather yawny pace.

In the furor of illegal music downloading nobody makes much commotion about the great troves of CDs available at libraries for checkout. I did a search for the Arcade Fire CD at the Minneapolis library website this morning and found that 14 people already have it on hold! That means 14 people will copy it, right? That's not the same as 5000 illegal copies every 24 hours via Kazaa, but still it's a glaring leak in the major label-cartel music-containment/sale system. Okay then-

[Rigsby]

Libraries are awesome, i'm sitting in one now as they have faster internet than i have back at the ranch. The videos and DVDs are like £1-3 for a week's rental, books are free (loan) CDs are 50p-£1 for a week, free PC use, free scanning, free CD burning, you can download to your heart's content, photocopying's cheap, it's warm, and friendly, and you can just sit here and relax if you like. Libraries rule, though they won't make you tea or let you smoke.
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Rigsby Smith dot com

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

[bad_dude_69]

[kcrusher]

Yeah, something like 50% of adult males and 35% of adult females over 18 NEVER read books. ever.

That's sad.
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- Hunter S. Thompson

[wing]

[marqueemoon]

That is really fucking sad. I feel VERY fortunate to live where I live. This is our new library.



The Seattle library system kicks ass. You can search the whole system's catalog online, place holds on items, and they deliver them to your local branch and e-mail you when you have new stuff in.
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But I was very much bothered with my work!