Online Library Access

Submitted by Adorable-Ad-3223 t3_y616v8 in books

As often happens I saw a post on here which felt so wrong I needed to do some research to disprove it to myself. The gist was that out of state library users were stealing from libraries or I assume tax payers. I don't feel this is true but my main annoyance was that libraries are awesome and instead of focusing on what some libraries aren't doing let's focus on what they are doing well. I grew up an hour away from the nearest library, the book mobile would come once a month to a store 4 miles from my house and it was awesome! Libraries are great and, for the most part, the people who work for and manage them are awesome too. With the advent of digital library access kids in the boonies can have access to high quality books, audiobooks, comics, and shows FOR FREE. If you know poverty, you know how much this means, libraries can give that to all of us. If your local library doesn't have access to Hoopla, Libby, or Overdrive, I suggest looking into state libraries which do. https://gprivate.com/61d5k I personally love Hoopla the best. If you are truly poor and lack access to the internet and/or technically I also suggest calling 211 and requesting help, low cost cell phones are available to every American. Good luck, and great reading.

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llamaddramaa t1_isnyua9 wrote

Someone else just made a post about how horrible it is that out of state users would get an e-card.

I told them the this: I travel full time, and my experience has been that many libraries charge for out of state cards. The library next to where I’m staying right now charges $49 a year. So even if my cost to them is $40/yr, they’re making money off me. I’d rather they get it than a major corporation like Kindle.

Anyways, I still pay to use services like printing and whatnot, and I’m grateful they allow non-residents like me to use those services even without a card. Libraries are truly wonderful places, even for people like me who are currently not in their home state.

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SkinnySkins t1_isoo2zh wrote

I know a few librarians and I've talked to a few about this before. I have about 12 library cards including my own local district (mainly because my own state has a lot of districts that provide cards to residents of the entire state instead of exclusively locals for some reason. Apparently I qualify for more if I go in person to the specific libraries as well, which is insane to me.) and I did feel guilty for a time about it even within my own local libraries for using it via Libby primarily.

They all told me the nearly same: librarians want you to use their services. Nearly any library service used tends to boost their numbers and provides justification for continued funding. Prioritize your local library if possible, but using libraries with non residents isn't stealing from the locals, its boosting their usage numbers depending on where the district is located. If it's truly a problem and the local residents are experiencing too long wait times, then they will take action (like brooklyn public library did) but otherwise if they offer non residents card, they do so because they WANT people to use them. It benefits them and they have the space to allow the non-residents access, otherwise they wouldn't be offering it as an option in the first place.

Please just use the library in general, anything that makes you use it more, especially locally is a very good thing. It's important to note that in the US, most people do qualify for more than one library card and genuinely don't realize that fact. I was shocked when I learned I qualified for as much as I do when I dug deep enough.

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MonteCristo85 t1_isooumo wrote

That's my understanding from our library too. They have an event room that's used for a lot of community things, and they've asked everyone to make sure and come in through the main door so we get counted on the door ticker as it helps them out. I try and run across it ar least a couple times whenever I'm there lol.

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SkinnySkins t1_isoq36t wrote

I usually go to my local library to pick up holds and return checked out books every few weeks because I do physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks depending on the mood. Whenever I pick up my holds and place my returns in the return box I pretty much just loiter around looking at the new stuff they have just to waste time there so I can make sure my foot traffic REALLY counts lol

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Ohmington t1_ismxze3 wrote

It costs money to provide those services for free. The more traffic you have in your website, the more it costs to run it. If the whole world flooded a small library with library card requests, etc. while being funded by a small community, there is probably a good chance that library won't last. I don't know the extent of it or if I am even correct, but nothing is free. Libraries are expensive to run.

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SmittyFjordmanjensen t1_isnl5m8 wrote

I've worked in various libraries and my wife is a librarian. While it's true, these services cost money, librarians just want you to read more, period. if it means utilizing their resources but not contributing to the tax base that pays their bills, there's nothing abnormal about that. Area visitors and homeless people patronize libraries too.

Electronic resources are finite, only a certain number of "copies" distributable at any given time. Either the library would find a way to grow or they'd advise you where else to go.

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jefrye t1_isn499h wrote

>If the whole world flooded a small library with library card requests, etc. while being funded by a small community, there is probably a good chance that library won't last.

What would actually happen in that scenario, assuming that the people running the library are the tiniest bit competent, is that the library would stop making library cards available to non-residents.

No library is going to start offering a service, see it quickly draining their resources, and just watch as their budget is run into the ground.

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fashionscholar t1_isorwqd wrote

I appreciate the fact that people are being able to utilize services that are not available to them locally, but when I see 12 weeks+ waits for books in Libby at my library (NYPL) I wonder if there’s a better way?

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SkinnySkins t1_isoske5 wrote

They've started to restrict non-residents in New York because of that.

If only there was a national consortium of digital libraries for smaller library districts though....

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Itsall_literal t1_istoxbi wrote

A national consortium of digital libraries would be dope! We have a consortium of digital resources held by academic libraries here in my province in Canada, it extends the resources available to the hundreds of thousands for students. It blows my mind thinking about it sometimes, but I'm a library nerd.

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SkinnySkins t1_istp2yr wrote

ikr! it would be like pulling teeth with publishers trying to get them not to fight it tooth and nail though :(

itll happen eventually, i hope at least

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Itsall_literal t1_istpjl3 wrote

Publisher's really are an issue. Unfortunately we haven't figured out a distribution process that has no bias. I honestly think libraries are capable of taking over publishing.

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Adorable-Ad-3223 OP t1_isqp3r1 wrote

Use Hoopla instead. No wait. The wait times aren't likely due to out of state users but rather to limited number of available licenses per copy and that some books are popular. If they have 1 copy/license and 3 people in line ahead of you it will be 12 weeks.

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fashionscholar t1_istiqes wrote

It’s not just a matter of number of copies available, right now there’s a book with 400 copies and a 6 week wait! I’ll look into Hoopla, thanks.

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Adorable-Ad-3223 OP t1_istml9p wrote

Can you show me where you got the data on the 400 copies and 6 week wait? 400 copies of a book in a library system seems insane. Even for one as big as New York.

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fashionscholar t1_istufot wrote

Try looking for Verity on NYPL’s Libby and see for yourself.

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Itsall_literal t1_istobhz wrote

Even when you disregard the fact that most libraries that provide out of state services for a cost, they still benefit from this kind of usage. Stats are used for everything in libraries when justifying cost vs. use when answering to the body of people that fund the library. More use means costs are justified. This is also why a lot of academic libraries also provide public access even though the public doesn't necessarily fund the libraries of universities and colleges. Use your libraries, they are there to be used by you!

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