/lit/ - Literature

>>18639271
not that long. most of the used (older) books I buy off amazon are from libraries. many are closing

internet is the new most-widely pipeline for informative content now. most libraries are just family centers now, along with people who can't stay at home /computer addicts for some reason.

Libraries are still bustling and will be serving their communities for a long time to come.

>b-but some weirdos somewhere did a thing

Weirdos are always somewhere doing a thing.

>>18639271
I believe libraries have been changing over the years to stay in existence. They're not just places to read and borrow books anymore, now you can borrow e-books as well as do a lot of good research in an education-oriented environment. The libraries near my house are still bustling most days of the week and many have partnered with the government so they can help you take ID photos or fill out your taxes. If nothing else they will still exist as community centers where families can go on the weekends or kids can go after school for activities.

Interestingly enough, American Library Association reports that the 18-29 age group visits libraries far more than older generations. So I think libraries are here to stay.

>>18639271
covid nuked them

>>18639436
>American Library Association reports that the 18-29 age group visits libraries far more than older generations.
this is probably because TV is dying. people who are on the internet spend all day reading, compared to tv gens who never did

>Ah no some random isolated incident that was probably taken out of context!! the west is over!

>>18639271
wtf

>>18639677
>doesn't know about Drag Queen Story Hour

>>18639685
Wasn't this just from one (literally ONE) library in Minnesota or something?

>>18639693
Lol no.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_Queen_Story_Hour
>as of June 2019, DQSH has 35 U.S. and five international chapters.[6] The program strives to “instill the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.[7]

>>1863967
> strawman strawman strawman
It's indicative of larger trends and a weather vane for the culture as a whole, you fucking retard.

>>18639455
>people who are on the internet spend all day reading

That's really not true. Of the time used on the internet, how much of it is used watching YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and streaming TV shows, movies, anime, etc (not to mention porn)? The internet has only replaced TV as BETTER TV. And by better, I just mean a more extreme version if it.

And then of the people "reading" social media posts, be they from Twitter, FB, Reddit or even 4chan. That is a fundamentally different type of reading than sitting down with a book and reading stationary thoughts etched on to a page. Reading social media is instantaneous, transitory, and participatory.

>>18639677
> strawman strawman strawman
It's indicative of larger trends and a weather vane for the culture as a whole, you fucking retard.

>>18639713
This. The hours per day I used to spend watching corporate-produced prolefeed is now spent watching some nobody with a day job playing video games.

>>18639713
>That's really not true. Of the time used on the internet, how much of it is used watching YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and streaming TV shows, movies, anime, etc (not to mention porn)? The internet has only replaced TV as BETTER TV. And by better, I just mean a more extreme version if it.
by "the internet," I meant 4chan, reddit, etc. its a far smaller leap to go from a message board to a book than a sitcom to one. personally, I read about 13/18 waking hours on free days

No clue. I can't even go to my library because it has tents blocking the entrance and the city refuses to move it because libs fucking love garbage. Not to mention that the libraries in Seattle routinely remove the western canon and only have Antiracist Baby and Hillary Clinton biographies.

>>18639677
Whats to take out of context? Theres video of a rainbow monkey with a fake dildo dancing in the library.

>>18639753
It was an accident.
Duh.
Testing.... I'm testing...

Libraries have been a disaster ever since they became public internet cafes for hobos and niggers. Requiring a state ID with a local adress for membership and entry would drastically raise my willingness to use the public library. The terrible condition of public library books and the ease of ebook piracy has lowered the value of the public library to almost nothing.

>>18639881
>khortitsa
Oof...memories...

>>18639271
>>18639881
They should honestly repurpose them as homeless shelters -- calling them libraries is disingenuous and a waste of the tax-payers' money.

>>18639715
degeneracy doesn't exist, your idea of strength is an illusion.

seethe harder, libraries will be around for a long time to come.

>why?
honestly, it's because libraries are lindy. They've been a cultural institution and public good in the U.S. at least for over a hundred years. Some that only relied on lending books might close but those that adhere to the broader definition of library as 'public collection of informational resources' understand there will always be a need for some sort of library.

>but hurrdurr the internet makes libraries irrelevant
how? just because you or i know how to get any book for free doesn't mean it'll die out as a concept. people have pearl clutched about the death of publishing as torrenting and ebooks become more of a thing, but the only major change in the industry is corporate consolidation, a trend seen in most industries over the past fifty or so years. just because you don't use the public library and know how to use libgen doesn't mean the people running libraries can't invent new ways for people to use them. this is basic fucking stuff

I encourage you all to start stealing from libraries because I’m convinced they will probably start with book burnings. They’re talking about white men, white art, white culture like we’re cockroaches. They will not permit our books to be available to the public.

>>18640073
>our books
You're never getting published faggot

http://library.lol/main/DD2F509212245BA60A28E7EFEBC6C3BC

>>18639998
Okay retard, if that's the case, then I'm going to go drive a few nails through my balls and drink gasoline, because apparently there's no such thing as unhealthy behavior

>>18640199
if you get more net enjoyment than net pain, it isn't unhealthy. morals are for ninny faggots.

>>18640216

>>18640235
nice argument. morals are still for faggots.
do what you want because a pirate is free.

>>18639370
>>18639436
Correct

>>18640235
It should be a crime to be fat. They're effectively wasting resources for no reason

don't live in a shithole like Inngerland or AmeriKKKa

My guess is that there will be a purge of library staff and leadership by some kinda puritan group once we move on from the current hyper liberal sjw puritanism to the next one.

>>18640277
I wish USA was that. The KKK is composed of like 5 basement dwellers these days.

>>18639271
Librarian here. Many of us have been working through the pandemic doing click & collect services and home deliveries, we adapted pretty well to it (at least my service did but we have a very high takeup in the community). And now we are open we're about as busy as we used to be pre-pandemic. So no, we're not going anywhere, as well as the books there are a lot of essential services we offer which are kind of a pain in the arse to go anywhere else to access. It's not just computers and daycare

>>18640369
Is the homeless problem just a meme, or is it real?

>>18639370
>but some weirdos somewhere did a thing
they all do things, things to try to tap into social currents and be relevant.

>>18639352
this is not a good thing. especially not with how controlled and centralised it is.

>>18639726
It's funny how they were so easily replaced. I'm not sure zoomers even watch movies these days.

>>18640247
what i want is a society that isn't a dysfunctional cultural wasteland where everyone is mentally ill because they were raised on broken families and internet sociopaths.

>>18639436
>"borrow" e-books
What a fucking farcical concept. It actually requires more work to revoke the permissions of electronic access to a document than to simply allow that person to continue with it in their possession once they have it.

Fuck this entire society

>>18640426
Not that guy but I used the library a lot before the pandemic because I had a bad home situation. Homeless people were a fixture at my library but it wasn't really a problem. They were just using the internet to apply for services, jobs, and watch dumb shit on youtube. Very very rarely someone would cause a scene and be escorted out. Libraries are definitely doubling as a public internet utility these days and naturally that's going to appeal more to very poor or homeless people.

>>18640426
Basement bathroom at the Vancouver library had to be locked for awhile because homosexual hobos were fucking in it all the time
>t. best friends with security guard
Not sure what's going on there now

I used to love going to my local library. It fucking sucks now.
>filled with teenagers sitting on the floor reading manga
>homeless people using all the computers
>people sleeping in all the chairs
>children yelling and running back and forth between the computer section and the vending machines
>all the books clubs and events are for women
>private rooms are always booked
>they actually shrunk the size of the collection to include a spanish section, which I have never seen anybody in (hint: the mexicans are there to use to computers and the childrens section as a free daycare)
>order times are unreasonably long
Last few times I passed by, there's literally a line of poor people waiting for it to open so they can get a computer.

>>18639881
My local library in LA was killed the very day they stopped kicking out homeless people. Bums literally come out from downtown to my little city just to use the computers, and sleep on the lawn, and panhandle at the door, and the library does not fucking care.

>>18640426
Never ask librarians this. I've gotten into arguments with librarians, and they're in total denial of the inability to do anything about the homeless people ruining their facilities. For some reason librarians are like nurses, they think they're God's gift to man. And like liberals, they don't have the nerve to confront problems, so they deny them and downplay them.

>>18640897
by your standards, logistically not possible nor ever will be. look inward and busy yourself on non-social pleasures.
thats it. stop worrying about other people unless on an intimate basis.

>>18640937
You can buy membership to many university libraries

Libraries aren't really libraries anymore, the ones that are still usable mostly focus on childcare and helping immigrants assimilate via classes and job search.

The unlucky libraries just become impromptu homeless shelters.

That being said, I'm really not sure there is demand for the service libraries used to provide. Too many alternatives.

>>18640937
that's sadly what happens when you become a café with no set house rules and don't tell people when to leave until its almost dusk

>>18639271
Idk, the Barnes and Nobles near me is still open and I thought for sure that it would be dead by now. Granted that may be because it has a Starbucks in it. The quality of a library depends where it is, the one near me doesn’t have any homeless people so it’s quite nice.

It's quite strange, the two libraries I used to frequently visit as a child have both started hosting drag queens, trannies, etc as guest speakers (it's audience being usually elementary grade schoolers). The stranger thing is that both are public libraries and they rather bring in those speaker in favor of obtaining more books, installing more computers, upgrading the facility, etc.

>>18639677
the west has been over since world war 2 ended

>>18640426
There's a homeless couple on the bench outside but they rarely come in. its mostly just families, old people and the occasional nutter. The "homeless problem" isn't a major problem, at least where I work.

>>18639271
Both my local libraries are really, really good. And for some asinine reason the council wants to build another

>>18639271
>Mandingo Arts Group

>>18640073
I should steal Ian Smith's memoir. Goes for 400 dollars online

>>18640426
In the UK my local library has long since had a big homeless problem. At one point there was a guy who'd watch the desk there and when the few staff were away he'd sneak in the door behind it that led to the storeroom area upstairs. He'd regularly get caught sleeping up there.
Libraries in the UK are increasingly run by volunteers and are just used by either the aforementioned homeless, elderly who still don't have/want a computer and as a place for gangs of kids to hang out in when it's raining before or after school.
The smart ones are basically just community centres now, but the writing's on the wall for them as their original concept.

My local library has createspace books about how islam is evil in it so I don't see it going well

>>18640937
>Last few times I passed by, there's literally a line of poor people waiting for it to open so they can get a computer.
That’s partly the point of a library. Unless they’re loud why is this a problem? Do you want to use the computer there?

Libraries will last until liberals figure out that it's better to give the money that funds libraries to Amazon instead as a corporate subsidy. So in other words, 10-15 years.

>>18639271
As long as refugees, homeless people and drug addicts are a thing, so will libraries be

>>18642506
because anyone is allowed to be in a library since it is a public and no one is forced to buy anything to stay in there?
good intentions really does lead to hell.

Libraries went to shit during and after WW2 when men were conscripted en masse and women overtook the profession. Something like 90% of librarians are women nowadays, before WW2 that percentage was almost the other way around.

>>18642550
*public good

>>18642680
woman overtake almost anything these days. i can't barely think of any stores that has male workers now.

>>18641003
No. Fuck you.

they tried a drag queen story hour at my local library but we have a big muslim community and they weren't feeling it so now a nice lady in a hijab reads the stories instead

>>18643319
Absolutely halal.

>>18643319
>>18643367

That stuff is only targeted at whites anyway. For now.

>>18639436
Thank God there's a good response high up the thread. They almost always have a way of getting what you want. I spent a little while being frustrated with the collections of my public library, but then found out that they'll move mountains to get the stuff I want through interlibrary loan. Seriously through Ills, all things are possible.

>>18643592
Also as a follow up, libraries have been sticking to their guns as far as the professional values of free speech and access to information.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/pride-breaks-with-halifax-libraries-after-controversial-book-kept-on-shelves-1.6045823

>>18643627
>a book affirming binary sexuality is controversial

Yeah, no the West has already fallen and the hill that battle is for is actually a corpse.

>>18643627
There are only two books critical of gender "theory" and transsexualism.
The one in that article is by Abigail Shrier, a lesbian Jewess kvetching that conversion of tomboys into FTMs shrinks her dating pool.

The other book is this one. You will never see it on any public library shelf.

This controversy is manufactured. The struggle for "professional values of free speech and access to information" was lost a decade ago.

>>18643708
The side I see as hopeful is that library employees tend to be really woke themselves, but still chose to not bow to public shaming even when they agree with the spirit of said public shaming. It's one thing to refuse to censor on behalf of evangelicals when you aren't one, but to refuse to censor on behalf of your own ideological group is a much harder test of values.

>>18639699
>>18639703
In all honesty can someone explain exactly how the "drag queen storytime" even became a thing? Why the fuck did anyone anywhere think this was necessary on such a large scale? I'm honestly beginning to think this is some government funded thing to maintain societal dissent.

>>18644133
"Regular" homosexuals have recognized that the "pro equality" _political_ organizations don't really give a fuck about any gay-rights and they are just using them as a vehicle for gaining political power so they started to ignore them en masse recently.
Leftists have created a completely artificial (and really miniscule in fact) "oppressed" community which they can totally control and use them as an another target for virtue-signaling.
The mainstream political factions have converged almost completely, they need _something_ to tell who's "our" guy.

>>18644334
absolutely incoherent post

>>18639271
The concept of the library will probably live on, but the physical spaces that we think of as libraries are going to shrink and become less and less common. I went into my local library the other day and the whole place smelled of shit, homeless people sleeping in all the reading chairs or looking at soft-core porn on the computers. I think I was the only person there to check out a book. I could see the library becoming a website / remote book club thing that rents a warehouse and room at the Hilton every couple of weeks for themed get-togethers for kids.

>>18639881
Good take. Haven't been in a public library in years (because why would I?) but I seem to recall all the computers being occupied by retarded boomers on Facebook, weekly events that had absolutely nothing to do with books, and an atrocious selection of books.

get rid of 'em pronto, in small towns they're nothing but globohomo hubs, middle aged women will have to start buying their smut but it's a small price to pay

>>18639436
>Interestingly enough, American Library Association reports that the 18-29 age group visits libraries far more than older generations
I'd like to see the comparison of older generations when they were 18-29. It makes sense that young adults visit libraries more than older adults because young adults are still in school and because young adults don't have the wealth or space to build their own personal collections that older adults do. I wonder if boomers at age 18-29 visited libraries more.

>>18644054
>The side I see as hopeful is that library employees tend to be really woke themselves
No that's something you should see as dire. Their fig leaf of tolerance means nothing.

>>18644756
But the professional standards superseded the personal beliefs. You can't stop them from having these beliefs but the have enough of a sense of duty that they aren't imposing those beliefs on their institutions.

>>18644054
I worked for a library software startup a few years ago and my impression from conferences and interacting with librarians is that it's older librarians (who still hold most of the power in institutions) who fall into the archetype you described. Most of the younger generation of librarians have no concerns about censorship, as long as the targets of that censorship are groups they disagree with. My acquaintances who are still in the space say that the ALA is currently undergoing a changing of the guard to a group that's a lot less tolerant.

>>18644133
>>18644549
This guy >>18644334 is completely right. I apologize for the trite reference but this shit is literally about saying that 2+2=5. It's a token of loyalty to whatever is ruling the world right now. When someone puts he/him on his twitter profile it's an act of submission.

>>18644779
>but in this token instance they made grudging allowance for controlled opposition!
>things are looking up!

Why is it always americans or anglos the ones complaining about the state of libraries?

>>18644815
That's a shame. All I can do is try to pass the torch forward and keep fighting the good fight whatever library I work in.

>>18644933
judging by my own country, everyone else has given up long ago

>>18643708
>kvetching that conversion of tomboys into FTMs shrinks her dating pool.
Huh. Greatest ally indeed!

>>18644855
>It's a token of loyalty to whatever is ruling the world right now. When someone puts he/him on his twitter profile it's an act of submission.
Exactly.

BLM/Tranny signalling is the neoliberal pledge of allegiance.

>>18644957
Well I don't know what country are you from but here in Spain libraries are still nice and widely used by students and people who just want to read without being bothered. All these stories about hobos, rubbish and libraries being used as stages for degeneracy sound completely alien to me desu

>>18639271
Forever. University libraries and archives are not going to abolish themselves.

>grow up in small town
>rode my bike to the library all the time
>move out of small town for college
>go back to hometown and visit library years later to reminisce
>walk upstairs to the big room where you could borrow paintings and where all the art books were
>all the art stuff is gone and has been replaced by "graphic novels"

>>18643592
When I was in university interlibrary loan was the best for journal articles (that weren't online). Instead of sending the book they'd usually scan it and send me a (non-drm) pdf, even when it was hundreds of pages. Saved me the trouble of doing it myself.

>>18645021
>>18645137
University libraries are totally different than public libraries.

>>18645461
I too got inter-library loans often, print outs were good. I'm UK, we got books from the British Library, so basically any book in existence we could borrow. I think university libraries don't count for what OP is asking. Although, where I was, they were trying to cut back on books. There will be a kick back, though, as students want to browse. Me and friends would spend lots of time browsing the interesting sections of the library.

>>18644855
>this shit is literally about saying that 2+2=5
Can't really use that that metaphor anymore when they're *actually* arguing that 2+2=5.

Is the current state of libraries the best proof that public, socialized services can only work in a homogeneous society with a traditional value system?

>>18645487
1+1=3 but not for the same reasons they think 2+2=5

>>18645487
I don't want to read this and give them ad revenue, does it boil down to some bullshit like
>well actually sweaty if you define the symbol shaped like 5 to mean four, then 2+2=5 :)

>>18639271
I get all my books from #bookz or libgen these days but I'm unironically about to get a library card so I can have access to Kanopy so I can watch several obscure European animated films.

>>18646273
Nope, it's arguably even stupider.

>instantly applies his dumbass point to try and discredit IQ scores
big think

https://twitter.com/kareem_carr/status/1289724475609501697

>>18646884
This is true though. Insipid and probably something that shouldn't be needed to be said, yes that also.

You can bend useful and correct truths to suit one's own particular views; stating the true fact of: 'Mathematics is (depending on one's particular philosophy on the matter) an abstraction' is fine, attempting to use that as an argument for the view of: 'Since everything's an abstraction we can pretend that there is nothing more absolute than anything else' is wrong.

All models are false; but some are useful.

>>18640899
Also, there's software out there to remove the DRM mechanism.

>>18639436
>borrow
>e-books
wat

>>18640899
lol the book about freaks episode

>>18645021
>>18639271
where I am from every library has a security guard at the door, never seen a dirty hobo soil the beautiful soft carpet. inside there is a small gallery of local art, mostly paintings and some sculptures. and on weekends (before covid) they host talks and lectures from uni proff's, gov officels and such. a true cultural center for the community.

>>18644949
god bless you

>>18645021
I just assumed most people are exaggerating or making stories up because they like the whole decline of the west narrative

So much doomposting holy shit. Where I live apart from the lowlifes using the public computers things are mostly chill. Sometimes you see in the showcase books about the flavour of the month social issue but no one ever touches them.

>>18644933
Probably because in other countries libraries aren't that bad? At least in my country they are still libraries, not homeless shelters or grooming centers.

>>18644133
Some pedo (literally, the guy that first organised it got busted with a shit load of cp a few weeks ago) saw a way to get a free pass to be touchy with children by tricking credulous, swivel-eyed, braindead liberals into thinking it was progressive.
They kind of stopped doing it after the backlash became too much to hide and are now pretending they weren't supporting it for months despite it obviously being a pedo OP (like five of the performers ended up being convicted nonces), which is why the OP incident happened in the UK.

>>18639271
this has to be an american thing

>>18640247
>morals are still for faggots.
>do what you want because a pirate is free.
T. 18 year old larger that has yet to know pain

>>18648975
They've been doing it all over europe now and people somehow let their children go.
I blame women. I don't even hate women but white women in the 30-50 year old range are why this shit is happening.

I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a homeless person at a library, is this a burger thing?
>>18640937
>filled with teenagers sitting on the floor reading manga
Why is this a problem?

>>18649074
i yet to know pain because i don't pack bond with random people and larp as some last bastion against degeneracy. i care for the people around me and my primary hobby of reading, i don't have the energy to care about random people in random cities.

>>18639271
leftists have taken over the libraries in every western country. there are drag queen story hours at every library. there was one at mine.

>>18639752
okay so none of those tents are anywhere near the door

okay. do you understand that? look at the door and then look at the tents? Is this getting through to you?

fuck you're dumb, christ.

>>18649883
How was is it?

>>18640247
Treat your community/area like a toilet but don't be surprised when you get shit on

>>18649281
No, go to one run by the council in the centre of a UK city

>>18649281
Public places in San Francisco and Seattle are filled with violent defecating homeless drug addicts that are basically impossible to avoid. Basically what happens when Democrats have total control of local politics for 20+ years.