Yes, because public libraries are well known for being awash in spare cash and never ever operate on a shoestring budget.

Most of what libraries do technologically is now outsourced to SAAS companies that specialize in the library space (there are at least 2 major one in the US, and I think at least 3 or 4). (encore and bibliocommons are the 2 major ones that I remembered and am pretty sure I've seen at least 2 others).

If everything you are doing is in the cloud, I'd argue that recovering from a ransomware attack is more of a question of if the SAAS company did its job right (which it should be more capable of handling). Of course, that's a reasonable question if they did (similarly why I prefer paying with paypal or google or even (as not so common) amazon third party payment systems than a retailers own internal payment system, yeah they might screw up too, but they invest a lot more into not screwing it up).

I've noticed Spydus seems to have a big marketshare in the UK.

Sure, let’s close down all libraries and all public services for that matter. Let the public feel the pain. They will understand and vote better next time, right?

You think it is lack of information that got people to vote for this nonsense?

Your assumption that enough people would change their vote (or non-vote if they didn't turn out previously) based on this to make a difference, I think is unlikely to be correct. People complain a lot about public services when they don't work well, but seldom consider (or do but seldom prioritise them) them at the ballot box.

It is their right to "complain" since they pay for these services with their tax money.

If we were being consistent, then to your later question, yes. But pointing this out is picking at society's reverse scale.

If we are going to use an SA analogy, this is closer to the recent case of a hotel chain where there were several instances of staff giving “randoms” keys to rooms that they should not have. Best practise procedures were not being followed, the ne'er-do-wells took advantage of this, someone else suffered as a result.

No restaurant can “guarantee” that you won’t die from eating their food, but that doesn’t mean anything goes in the kitchen.

You are aware that personal information is routinely stored in places that you can break into with a literal brick to smash a window?

Ok. Where are the criminals who did this?

I don't think I've ever seen anyone say they should be 100% effective. Even those physical locations follow some physical security practices. The difference is that computers can be attacked from literally anywhere in the world, and good luck finding the people who did it.

Their systems are largely open to the public, their computer spaces might be the only computer some have access to. There was a time when the advice about a dodgy file was to just open it at the library computer.

Much of their staff might be outreach hires and so limited/no workexperience that might have endured corporate training around information governance or cyber security.

And they do that on a budget where they can't afford shoe strings.

honestly blame Elmo / DOGE for this

I remember hearing that they do have customer support, though! Not sure if you can escalate to a sales rep to get a personalized quote or non-profit discount from there.

some groups offer it (not out of goodness: rather on price discrimination grounds)

I recall a colleague whose firm was hit by a ransomware attack. When they reached out to the insurer and sent them the details of the attackers, the first response from the insurance agent was, "Oh good, they are a reputable group. We've worked with them in the past. They will simply take the ransom and return your network/files to you." My colleague was shocked by the nonchalance.

That would also have arguably been more risky of a redemptive act than the right thing to do in this circumstance.

I am not a crook, but sounds like it was a pretty high-skill thief. So relatively low risk - and catching & punishing that thief mighta been a pretty low priority for everyone from the on-shift cops to the most idealist juror.

She thought of the tapioca she'd be served for lunch.

They really are looking for a reason to exist in the digital age.

A beloved public institution, that improves society as a whole, is equally available to all, has enough money to do their mission well offer auxiliary services and to take advantage of PSA programs?

What a treasure.

Many other uses of tax dollars are handouts for a very small number of people that most of us see no benefit from (and may even have side-effects that make things worse for everybody else).

Kind of like how many regions will have a unified transit payment card, even if it covers a half dozen completely independent adjacent transit systems

It seems that NY has a law that allows anyone in the state to be a member at any library in the state, but there's an opt-out if that would put an undue burden on the local system.

In practice, that means anyone in NYS can be a member of any of the NYC libraries + Buffalo. The others have either opted out, require you to visit in person, and/or pay a non-resident fee.

Wipe the system and start again.

This happened to my state's library system a while back. Public computers and free wifi were down for a few months, but no major disruptions of lending services. I don't think the state paid any ransom, instead they just repaired their systems.

Today, it could probably disappear and no one would miss it. There's a reason these places operate on a shoestring budget and haven't bothered to update software security. The services we value, we pay for or vote for. If there was a proposition to close libraries in favor of some other minor benefit (e.g. one extra field trip for every school child per year), it would probably lose badly.

Probably most of the relevant functions of a library can be accomplished by other more efficient means. Student loan forgiveness (librarians), homeless shelters with computers, and free daycare for kids. That's basically what people use it for now, and all can be better done if we just admit what its for and do that instead.

At least every other week if not more often. I also use the library digital services a good bit. There's always lots of people at the libraries I go to browsing books, I imagine they're also checking them out.

> it could probably disappear and no one would miss it.

The libraries I go to have so many people using their various services constantly. People studying and reading. Kids playing, exploring and reading. 3D printers buzzing. Classes and events being hosted.

> one extra field trip for every school child per year

You're going to replace something lots of people use across all age ranges constantly with a single day event for only children once a year? Sounds like a terrible loss IMO.

I agree a library is way more than just a place to get books today. They do offer a lot of community center features, and I think modern library designs should cater to that need as well. But they're not homeless shelters, they're not daycares. They still have their own specific use, a general place of learning and knowledge for all people. It's just the way we go about sharing that has evolved a bit over time compared to the stodgy old libraries of the past.

Libraries are for reading and socialising, so many users here have a really really hard time to imagine that someone might have some benefit from them.

A good library is a focal point for a community.

Personally, I believe these are important for a functional society more generally.

Two points:

Many of those relevant functions were picked up by libraries over the years due to the lack of, or cutbacks to, other government services.

Some people prefer, or can only use, services offered through libraries because they offer them with few, or no, questions asked. That is rarely the case with dedicated services, where funding often has more conditions tied to it.

And your thought was my first thought. It's as if the soup kitchens were shut down because somebody had stolen all of the prayer beads, meaning that none of the homeless could pray before they ate.

Libraries have now simply become official copyright access points. I lived in libraries my entire childhood. I remember in my teens being both depressed and excited that my local library was going to close down for six months to be gutted and remodeled. I was soon the one that was gutted when I found out that after the remodel, the library would have a 20% smaller capacity for books. I had to conclude that the remodel was mostly so it would look better in photographs, people would get kickbacks, and people would get resume-padding.

Libraries have been retconned into necessary public spaces but in that case, the books are just an excuse. Get rid of the excuse and consciously create necessary public spaces. I've literally heard their existence justified by the fact that homeless people clog them up and sleep in them, which has been one of the major reasons for declines in library use imo. Just take care of homeless people.

I'd even rank access to a librarian, especially a research librarian, as of higher value than a building full of books. AI has forced us to take a different approach to intellectual property, whether we're going to consciously do that in the public interest and design systems that will protect the positives that we attribute to copyright, or whether we're going to do that through inaction by allowing the wealthiest people in the world to rent human knowledge back to us without having paid a dime for it.

I'd prefer that we govern, but if we're going to go the passive route of insisting that nothing a rich man does is a crime, we can continue to settle it through piracy. Either way, libraries are cooked.

Your recollection and what seems like bitterness at the memory of a remodel that may have changed the function of your library to e.g.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9296036/city-of-westmount-target-...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Library_cyberattack

https://globalnews.ca/news/10812458/calgary-public-library-b...

Since we are talking about e-borrowing I assume DRM are involved. If they are not, ignore the rest.

The point of DRM (ignoring their terrible side effect) is precisely to keep on controlling data even after content has been released. There is a validation mechanism (typically pinging back the digital right owner) to insure that the file can indeed be read. So... do not validate all the signed books already out, issue a new key for the library to "e-borrow" (hate that term) once again. Why is this even taking more than 1min? I don't get it. It feels like once again in theory it could be positive but in practice the negative side effects of DRMs trump out everything.

That explains the Voynich Manuscript, doesn't it?

Find these people and make them hurt. Like, really hurt. Make them read Jeffrey Archer books.

Honestly, if someone unplugs their network and wipes all their disks and gives them free servers and sets it up properly I think that’s the move.

But this isn’t a thing.

For this or the food bank the penalty legally should be the highest.