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Remarkable_Landscape t1_izo3tn8 wrote

Reply to comment by pixel_of_moral_decay in NYC public libraries say proposed budget cuts may 'push us over the edge' by King-of-New-York

The library provides many, many more resources than books for people. Physical locations (which are owned by the city) are central to how most people use the library. They keep track of usage, even during the pandemic ebooks only made a fraction of the loans they normally make.

More importantly the library 's social value is who they serve, which includes a lot of people who need IRL support. Seniors, children, people who live in poverty and need access to technology all need branches, that's why they're opening new ones. They also have tech and spaces for at home workers too, at the new branches, so white collar workers benefit as well.

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_izo470e wrote

That’s stuff that needs to be fixed by having proper resources. Not dumping it on libraries which are I’ll prepared or capable of dealing with these problems.

Spending money inefficiently isn’t fixing the problem.

This is no different than using the subway system as a way to avoid needing more shelters for the homeless. That’s not what the E train is for.

Fixing problems requires fixing the actual problems and providing proper support solutions. Not using libraries as a catch all.

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Remarkable_Landscape t1_izo4qv6 wrote

...the current system is "people need to borrow stuff for free and use free tech sometimes because they don't own any" and they go to a neighborhood location and do that. How do you propose they do that more efficiently?

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_izo5593 wrote

You don’t need 30k feet of floor space with stacks of books in a 1-3 story building that takes up 1/4 a city block for that.

Asia has shown us how little you need for an Internet cafe. A restaurant’s footprint can serve 3-4x that many people.

My point is much of the world has already done this. The US is pretty alone with not modernizing how libraries operate.

It’s not surprising it works elsewhere and the US is alone with struggling libraries.

The US is obsessed with tradition, and this is a perfect example. Libraries aren’t working, the rest of the world figured this out years ago. We pretend we have no idea what’s going on and do nothing.

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Stephreads t1_izo6no7 wrote

You’ve not been to many branches, have you?

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MarbleFox_ t1_izo9t45 wrote

> Asia has shown us how little you need for an Internet cafe.

Okay, but we’re not talking about Internet cafes, we’re talking about libraries. You know libraries throughout Asia look and function pretty similarly to libraries in America, right?

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Rolling-fatties t1_izoeacr wrote

Username on point, you’re brain broken dude. Go to the library literally one time before posting about how they need to “modernize”

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lindsfeinfriend t1_izoq63g wrote

What are you even talking about? There’s a few historic public libraries and the rest are small community branches. If you need to borrow a book chances are you’ll be going to a neighborhood library and not 42nd street. Local libraries offer programs for adult literacy, basic computer skills, budgeting, job search support, career coaching, college application assistance…and those are just the adult programs. Libraries are a community space.

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