turnupthesun211

turnupthesun211 t1_izohbdb wrote

>Most of the world even physical books you can order via kiosk or app, and pickup at one of many locations like supermarkets, post offices, etc where libraries have sometimes just a locker, or a small kiosk or storefront.

A lot of the places that utilize this method do not have a large number of accessible branches for patrons to use AKA the opposite of 3 systems in NYC.

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turnupthesun211 t1_izoh0bi wrote

>Double down on ebooks

Everyone else has brought up incredible points in their replies to you, but I need to specifically point out that you (and many others) have no idea how much eBooks cost for libraries. Not only is the cost often at least double what it is for the consumer, the licenses for these eBooks disappear after x-amount of time or x-number of checkouts and the libraries have to purchase them again and again.

If more people understood that this is how publishers and distributors operate, they wouldn't be blaming libraries for not being "modern" enough. We don't have the money for it!

ETA: Regarding the common internet cafe argument I often see people make, internet cafes frequently cost money either to use the internet service itself OR with the assumption that someone has their own device that can make use of free internet. The point of a library having computers and internet is that it is free for the community to use, whether they have their own device and/or money to pay for internet service or not.

ETA again, I wrote "comment internet cafe" instead of "common internet cafe" and hate myself for that typo so I fixed it.

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