Re:The vandals destroying libraries should have the book thr...
by justin66 on Friday December 27, 2019 @01:43PM
(#21893291)
> the digital disenfranchised have the same issue as the people who couldn't read and write back when libraries were one of the main the sources of knowledge.
When libraries in the United States received their first really big financial boost, with lots of money from the likes of Andrew Carnegie, part of the services they offered were instruction in reading and writing for borrowers who might not even speak English. A library today might - depending on where it is and how well funded it is, or how well funded its community's social services are - provide or coordinate instruction in English as a second language, GED, basic job training, remedial Adult learning, computer use, or a ton of other things.
These are important tasks that need to be performed by humans, not "the internet."
> this is backed up by extremely reduced numbers of borrowers
I'm biased by living in an area with a well funded library system (a few, actually) with what are probably per-capita the largest number of borrowers of any libraries in the world. I wonder if maybe your comments are informed by never having lived in a place with a really good library, or by never needing what your library had to offer.
> the benefits of the internet massively outweigh any nostalgic dreams about libraries.
This is a weird false dichotomy. In an era where books in print and physical media are of reduced importance, libraries are lending e-books and music... on the internet. The draw to the physical library space is still a strong one, even for a worshiper of "the internet," since libraries are offering use of tools like 3d printers and laser cutters and other tools, as well as training on their use.
When libraries in the United States received their first really big financial boost, with lots of money from the likes of Andrew Carnegie, part of the services they offered were instruction in reading and writing for borrowers who might not even speak English. A library today might - depending on where it is and how well funded it is, or how well funded its community's social services are - provide or coordinate instruction in English as a second language, GED, basic job training, remedial Adult learning, computer use, or a ton of other things.
These are important tasks that need to be performed by humans, not "the internet."
> this is backed up by extremely reduced numbers of borrowers
I'm biased by living in an area with a well funded library system (a few, actually) with what are probably per-capita the largest number of borrowers of any libraries in the world. I wonder if maybe your comments are informed by never having lived in a place with a really good library, or by never needing what your library had to offer.
> the benefits of the internet massively outweigh any nostalgic dreams about libraries.
This is a weird false dichotomy. In an era where books in print and physical media are of reduced importance, libraries are lending e-books and music... on the internet. The draw to the physical library space is still a strong one, even for a worshiper of "the internet," since libraries are offering use of tools like 3d printers and laser cutters and other tools, as well as training on their use.