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Anyone who thinks libraries are outdated and not used anymore should try calling their local branch and asking if they can put a NYTimes best selling book on hold. Then report back with what number you are in the queue.
Nope, just the left's pathetic attempt to characterize all their opponents as uneducated and poorly read anti-intellectuals. As usual, a thinly disguised attack on America's working class, who are portrayed as lazy, uncouth and indolent, as opposed to all those eager young curious Dreamers and other invaders that the left is importing to replace Americans who stubbornly reject their Marxist ideology.
Its nonsense of course.
While there ARE many incurious people and many of mediocre intellect, that cuts across partisan lines. And the War on Culture by the left has succeeded in rendering many people bereft of even the capacity to appreciate intellectual pursuits.
How can you be elevated by the intellectual tradition, when your screens are filled with moronic rappers and vacuous talking-heads on late-night talk shows, with their juvenile puns and low-culture/low-art forms of humor like /sarc? How can you explore the rich intellectual history and ideals of Western Civilization when the schools have been dumbed down by Common Core (I call it Commie Core), and all of the classics have been stripped from the canon and replaced with minority-penned Identity-Politics screeds? You can't.
The left's strategy depends on stupid people far more so than the right's...because Marxist thought is only appealing to people who are not credulous in the least, and have never attempted to access an opposing idea (or who have never been allowed to hear an opposing idea in the first place - which is the OTHER strategy the left employs - deplatforming conservatives so that there literally is no battlefield of ideas and all liberal ideas can parade around uncontested. That's how you get this Liberal Echo chamber- where all of the voices are saying the same exact thing - whether its Madcow, late night, HuffPo, NYT, etc).
Hard to see how you reached these conclusions from this thread, when library defenders and many library employees and patrons have consistently spoken out here in support of wide-ranging library collections consisting of a variety of media, have spoken out for keeping classics and standard substantial titles in collections, have supported providing free services to all including traditional library users plus the marginalized (did you even spot my report of seeing high school students and young adults using library computers for homework and research after school? Obviously that's their only access to the Internet during those hours).
If your concern is that libraries are emphasizing pop materials (in whatever format) over more substantial items, speak out. Your opinion counts. Recommend whatever you think would improve the library and lead to better service and don't just grouse about it - fill out the request forms, talk to the materials selection librarians, talk to the director and board if you don't get a good answer.
If there's something you think does not belong in the collection, ask why it's there and recommend something you think is better (you may be surprised as to why it's part of the collection, however - but you have to ask). Materials do not enter library collections randomly but deliberately, and carefully. Professional librarians have Master's Degrees in Library and Information Science, and this part of public service -creating and maintaining a good collection that meets the needs of the public - is a huge part of their mission.
Libraries are non-partisan. They contain collections which are balanced and contain many, many points of view, not all of which will coincide with yours or mine, and that is a key part of their mission. Education, information, and entertainment are their three main aspirations, and these are available to everyone who goes into a library.
It's sad to see so much distrust and misunderstanding about the role of the public library in America.
As for those of you who somehow have it in your heads that the GOP is anti-library, that's easily one of the more ridiculous things I've read here, and this place is a treasure trove of ridiculous.
What’s ridiculous is being anti-library & that is exactly what we’re seeing from cons on this thread & past library threads. You would understand this simply by reading the posts on this thread & seeing who the usual suspects are. Hint: they’re not dems. Reading is fundamental
Many people do not know that if a library doesnt have a certain book you are looking for, you can request it and they will get that book and notify you when they have it. Ive used this before.
Some of it probably is, but other topics, that doesnt apply, and/or came long before any of this Pc craze.
I believe there are lists you can find which books at most libraries are red flagged, majority of them have to do with anti-govt, anti-authority, 'off the grid' living, etc. There is one book called 'Blue Planet' that was red flagged at my library, they removed it couple years ago, but it was supposedly written by a scientist involved in secret UFO/alien research, the book is very hard to find, even online today.
I have never heard the term "red-flagged" in regard to library books. Libraries select and retain and withdraw books for many reasons, and off the grid living books remain popular. You can certainly find books written from a wide variety of political viewpoints in any public library, although you may not find as many as you might like on your own POV. So, recommend that some of your absent favorites be added.
However - books can wear out, get damaged, get stolen, checked out and never returned, go out of print, become impossible to replace, get outdated, lose popularity and take up limited shelf space, and sadly, get withdrawn from library shelves. It is an unfortunate reality.
But book withdrawal is very, very seldom if ever done for political reasons as that would be anathema to the traditional goal and mission of the public library in this country. If it were done for that reason and I learned of it, I would certainly question and challenge it, regardless of the material withdrawn's viewpoint, and whoever was responsible would be called to explain and defend their actions. My own political views would not be relevant unless the material in question were the only viewpoint represented in the collection, which would obviously be wrong. If I discovered this to be the case, I would speak out and recommend good material written from various points of view and I would try to include links to book reviews.
Badly written, error-filled hate screeds advocating violence against a group or individual might be an exception for circulating material, but any respectable public library collection in this country is going to contain historically significant stuff like "Mein Kampf". The other materials I described might well go into a special collection that could be studied at the library but not circulated (often things of this kind are poorly printed and fragile physically - ephemeral and not designed to last long). More likely they'd wind up in an academic library in special collections focusing on history and politics.
The only library which is able to retain copies of each book published in the United States is the Library of Congress. Fortunately, there are many repository libraries, but they will not be your local public library but are more likely to be large libraries connected to universities. However, repository libraries often participate in interlibrary loans with local public library systems, and most public libraries are also part of regional library systems pulling together all the libraries in said area in order to best serve the public.
I have seen personal favorite books vanish from my local library, and I miss them. As others have suggested, I have acquired some of those books online and made them part of my own collection, to which they were welcomed as old friends.
How do you know something similar didn't occur with your library's old copy of "Blue Planet"? Have you asked why it's no longer available? I doubt very much that it would have been removed solely due to its author's involvement in UFO research, as UFOs are a very popular topic and most libraries have multiple books about them. It could be that the book, with which I am not familiar though I've heard the title, was found to contain errors or a later edition appeared or another book came along with similar info that was more current. So rather than assume this is part of a red flag conspiracy, ask what happened to it and if it is possible to replace it. It may not be, but it could be an excellent candidate for online-publishing and/or publishing by demand.
What you CAN find in any public library is a list of books that are frequent targets of censorship. But it's not the librarians who are censoring, but individuals or sometimes groups who feel threatened by the likes of "The Catcher in the Rye, "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Scarlet Letter", "The Anarchist Cookbook", "The Giving Tree", "Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl" and even "The Temper-Tantrum Book". Librarians patiently fill out forms and write letters to would-be censors defending the inclusion of books like these in public libraries every single day, somewhere in America...
What’s ridiculous is being anti-library & that is exactly what we’re seeing from cons on this thread & past library threads. You would understand this simply by reading the posts on this thread & seeing who the usual suspects are. Hint: they’re not dems. Reading is fundamental
The only ones here I see being critical of libraries are not "cons". They're proponents of limited government and free markets. Theyre not against libraries, they just don't like the fact that their money is taken from them without consent in order to run said libraries.
Many a conservative poster here has said how much they like the libraries, and love a good book.
The only ones here I see being critical of libraries are not "cons". They're proponents of limited government and free markets. Theyre not against libraries, they just don't like the fact that their money is taken from them without consent in order to run said libraries.
Many a conservative poster here has said how much they like the libraries, and love a good book.
Yep.
Private libraries: yay
Public libraries: nay
Though I do believe the entire concept of a library is woefully outdated.
Though I do believe the entire concept of a library is woefully outdated.
Following this line of reasoning, you could say that you think kids from poor families whose parents cannot afford to create home libraries are just out of luck and should stuff it rather than benefit by public libraries which are funded by society at large, in the interests of society at large.
Tell me, are you aware of how access to public libraries impacted Andrew Carnegie in his youth? Look it up - that's what led to his donating all those other libraries and eventually donating the majority of his perhaps ill-gained fortune (that's another topic) to support the public good.
It's not always just about your pocketbook, and value cannot always be measured in dollars spent or taxes paid.
The only ones here I see being critical of libraries are not "cons". They're proponents of limited government and free markets. Theyre not against libraries, they just don't like the fact that their money is taken from them without consent in order to run said libraries.
Many a conservative poster here has said how much they like the libraries, and love a good book.
Sounds as if you're saying these conservative posters like libraries for themselves yet don't want others to benefit because those same others might not pay as much for the privilege of library access as do those who pay more in property taxes and therefore are somehow not as deserving of library access.
Hope that's not what you really think.
If you claim to like public libraries, but don't want to pay taxes to support them or share them with others not so well-off, how do you think libraries should operate? Volunteers? Donations of books and occasional bucks? Guess how long that would last, or what quality book collection (not a library, a random book collection) would result, and how poorly it would compare to a professionally operated, adequately funded public library led by professional librarians with a passion for sharing knowledge and serving others in their communities.
Where else can I get antiquated information in an inconvenient/inefficient way funded by me at gunpoint?
It appears you have not been in a library lately. You should find one, you will be surprised.
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Librarians patiently fill out forms and write letters to would-be censors defending the inclusion of books like these in public libraries every single day, somewhere in America...
