That has been a thing for about a decade.

Librarians and libraries are more like community outreach centers now that you can Google anything.

Many are struggling to help people with media literacy, and I don't know of any that are really doing a great job with that.

Mine has rooms to park your kids in with cartoons playing on a TV. I want my kids to be interested in reading, not watching cartoons. When I discussed this with them, their answer was "Well, kids aren't that interested in books anymore."

Oof, that's too bad. The libraries near me are great for my toddler. They do story time and play time, and it's a good chance for my kid to play with other kids. My kiddo always checks out a book (or three) when we visit.

Mine has 3d printers and laser cutters. I don't have kids but if I did I wouldn't mind having a place to park them while my print finished.

Ideally they'd be interested in more enriching activities, but I'm sympathetic to the idea that that's maybe harder than it sounds.

That’s a parenting problem. Can’t blame the library. They need to meet people where the are.

When I had a kid I made a vow that I would immediately buy them any book they showed interest in. Any other toy or game would be a discussion but books, anytime anywhere.

And we put up bookshelves, so they would always have books nearby. There was a study I read where just the existence of books was beneficial, regardless of how much reading was done.

https://www.jcfs.org/blog/importance-having-books-your-home

Finally, I read to them every night I could. Just 10 minutes a night.

Then you just put limits on screens. Let them get bored. They will start reading on their own, and when they do it’s just amazing.

Well, as a parent, I’d prefer my kids not be exposed to screens at the library of all places.

We have a great deal of books in our house including ones for children but I’d like them to grow up with the curiosity had to explore the library. It’s a real pain in the neck when they have a room with cartoons in it, which kids will especially gravitate to if you limit their screen time at home (which we do).

Yeah that blows my mind. Of all places I'd not expect a cartoon to be. There are so many books kids could read. I don't see how a librarian can view a screen as anything they'd allow in their building.

My kids daycare added a TV. The "teachers" said it was allowed by law. I said sure and pulled them out. Sucked because they'd just replaced most of the staff and the new staff was pro-tv while the old staff had never once turned on a TV.

One thing I appreciate at (some) YMCAs is that their childwatch is TV screen free, including my one locally and the one that's next door to my doctor's office. (We like to combine doctor visits or checkups with a trip to the YMCA if we're well enough to go.)

I avoid the childwatch at the YMCA that has a couple of screens, although it's otherwise excellent.

A trend in (some) libraries is to put technology everywhere - iPads for example (which I consider a very clunky way to search the library catalog). I'm assuming these things get bought via grants. If I go to the library, I want to deal with books, not computers which access the exact same stuff I could get at home. A separate computer room with actual, real, desktop computers available for people to use is fine.

The "thing you can get at home" is why the iPad is at the library. Because it is becoming a community center, and also partly because it functions as an extremely understaffed daycare.

I loved this. Though I did start with the any book any time, I faltered later when they'd pick a graphic novel for 20$, that the'd finish in the car ride home. I had to stop.. It got too expensive. (great problem to have) I had to insist on what we call "chapter books", for money reasons alone. I love graphic-novels/comics but when your kid reads 50$ of books in one sitting you've got to draw a line. Now they're both on KU.

I really loved the "let them get bored."

Still not there yet, but my 8 year old will munch 2 no-graphics books in two days (prices are much lower though, 5 to 10 eur/usd a book).

But as we are on the topic of librarians, his two library cards will see more use :)

Weird. Our libraries have dedicated rooms for kids to read. And to study. It’s incredibly convenient.

What I haven’t seen is TV’s.

Yes - they built a huge new library in the town next over as the old one was overflowing with books and then only moved about 1/5 of the books over when it was completed. They disappeared the entire CS section. But it has about 5 unused meeting rooms, an unused “media maker space” and an enormous light filled open second floor area with two couches.

If your CS section is anything like the “computers” aisles I see here, good riddance. I would rather see open space than shelves of outdated Dummies books.

We need to bring back “third places” (not home, not work/school) and libraries are excellent at providing that. You don’t need to buy anything, you can stay as long as you want, and there is ample community space to socialize.

Without a third place, folk just end up wasting their time online and tanking their mental health. Those connections aren’t real.

I truly feel that the rise of LLMs will devalue online interactions to the point where in person interaction is the only thing we trust and value. And we will be better off for it.

My favorite places as a kid were libraries - they provided the opportunity for exposure and enrichment that I would have otherwise lacked. They are so much oh-holy-shit important, especially if you want to advance beyond the means of whatever dinky little town you happen to live in. I am significantly different and better because I had access to lots of materials to read - not money, just access. I owe very much to a school librarian and a town librarian in Wilkes county NC - they absolutely changed my life for the better. If I thought they might still be living I would love to tell them so. (Each of them would be over 100 years old now…)

The trick to handle it well is easy access to catalog and ability to recall books from storage.

Another superpower in some countries is the inter library loan - you might need to befriend the local library to utilise it fully, but a classmate of mine in high school used it as effectively free pass to university libraries that you can't borrow books from when you're not suffering or faculty.

Where I live now, a large fraction of the suburban libraries are part of a consortium (SWAN—covering mostly south and western suburbs of Chicago). They have a shared catalog and any book/CD/DVD/etc.¹ can be requested right out of the catalog for pickup at my local library.

In California, I think you can get a library card at any public library system as long as you’re a California resident. At one point I had cards for L.A. County, Orange County, Beverly Hills, L.A. City and Santa Ana.

Many public libraries will do ILL for books outside their system for free, although that’s generally funded with money from the federal government which Musk and his band of hackers have decided it’s vital to eliminate.

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1. Well, mostly. A few libraries won’t send out CDs or DVDs but you can still check them out with your card if you go to that branch and then return it at your home library.

Texas has the TexShare system, which facilitates ILL between just about every library in the state (public & university), and lets libraries issue TexShare cards that give reciprocal borrowing rights at any other TexShare library

Illinois has RAILS which is similar (without the cards). The problem is that these programs are funded by federal money which Trump/Musk are cutting off.

The books don't get put in storage in most places, they get thrown away.

> but a classmate of mine in high school used it as effectively free pass to university libraries that you can't borrow books from when you're not suffering or faculty.

The mass de-accessioning of older books is such a huge problem you often cannot find (even famous!) works through ILL anymore.

> suffering or faculty

I assume this is a typo, but it’s brilliant.

... it's phone autocorrupt, but I have to admit it had a point, being a student often was suffering :D