What's a library?

How about stopping the creeps from stroking it in the photography section.

Our local library has a coffee and sandwich shop. It's nice.

this is UW madison.

My college library was the greatest place ever. Multiple computer labs, a 24 hour cafe, all kinds of awesome. I still miss it. Can't wait until April when they finish renovating the library/student commons. Not having a real place to study is killing me.

"Pfffffff....Come down to the library, mate, it'll be a wild time, surely."

What? No Street Fighter II machine in the lobby?

alonzinator: How about stopping the creeps from stroking it in the photography section.

If you would only announce your presence beforehand, then you wouldn't catch me in mid-stroke in the first place. You staring perve.

It's not that bad an idea. . .I mean 3/4ths of the non-fiction books at any library are so old and dated as to be worthless for getting information out of and 3/4ths of the fiction is worthless crap like "The Great Gatsby" and "Cather in the Rye."

It's been done, subby.



With a brief review (new window)

How about stripper Poles, too?

Our college library seems pretty nice, but I haven't had too much time to explore it yet. And any arcade machine would instantly raise it from 'good' to 'holy fark awesome'
/ninja turtles, aww yeah!

They added a video game room to our local library. The paper ran a picture last week with two guys playing guitar hero at the library.
What was that about books?

Gwendolyn: Our local library has a coffee and sandwich shop. It's nice.

Ours does too. It's called Barnes & Noble.

/prefer local internet cafes

Don't worry, I'll choose the books to get rid of

beezeltown: They added a video game room to our local library. The paper ran a picture last week with two guys playing guitar hero at the library.
What was that about books?

Pfft...in Lubbock, you can check out games from the library.

Stripper Poles at the Library? Is that like teacher who strip for the class ala Van Halen? I'd buy that for a dollar!

Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: What? No Street Fighter II machine in the lobby?



Is there a way to tell you that you're the best FARKer ever without sounding gay or like a sycophant? Because you are always spot-on with your humour and you really hit them out of the park when you step up (The Mexican Joker, Echkart thinking about the future, etc).

Thanks for the laughs.

What makes me not bother with the public library is that they don't have anything there that I need as anything beyond what is learned in the sophomore year of high school won't be found there.

I've heard from librarian friends that libraries in general are struggling with declining patronage. I'd expect much more of this sort of thing.

Who needs the library? We have the internets.

Libraries have been doing this for years. Ours renovated in 2004.

And yes, they have video games in the Teen Department here. In fact, I was playing video games in the library more than 10 years ago. (Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego, King's Quest...)

Also note that I was too poor for video games, and that was the only place I could play them. (Yes, I had friends. No, nobody wants to invite you over so you can play their single-player game for hours.) I read a lot of library books at the time, too. The two are not mutually exclusive.

I don't understand why everyone gets so worked up about this stuff. OMG THEY'RE HAVING FUN EVERYBODY PANIC.

What? No Palin hate? I'm leaving.

Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: What? No Street Fighter II machine in the lobby?

In the Members Only lobby, yes. In the main lobby, no.

/be sure to wear your jacket

Seigneur Who needs the library? We have the internets.

Some people don't, because they live in the sticks, or they can't afford it, or their parents are crackheads. Those people need the library to get the internets.

Also, there are a lot of idiots that can't use said internets without a sherpa.

We'll never be out of business.

Yeah, shuh, we'd all like a handjob but who's got the time?

bingo the psych-o: In the Members Only lobby, yes. In the main lobby, no.

/be sure to wear your jacket

If there is a strict anti-"Sweep The Leg" policy, I want no part of that.


/and thanks for the kind words, rocky_howard!

alonzinator How about stopping the creeps from stroking it in the photography section.

First amendment deal. The library system I worked at got sewed over this and there was a case in the news a few months ago about this. We eventually got those 3M covers that make the viewing angle for the monitors a direct angle and looking from the sides you couldnt see it. They're also very very cheap. If you care that much go to your library's next board meeting and suggest it. They will 100% atleast consider it.

They revamped the library completely now it looks just like a night club
Everyone's excited and confused

and now that ive read that I AM AN IDIOT. I didnt see 'strokin it' god im dumb

buster_v: Hot librarian thread!

OK

cretinbob - great name choice, given that the Palin book banning is a lie (pops)

Lived in a town while going to grad school that had a dive bar called "The Library" and the only real memorable thing about the place was all the bouncers wore black t-shirts with "Librarian" on the back. All the library school students liked to hang out there oddly enough. Not much else to do in Emporia Kansas.

Befuddled: What makes me not bother with the public library is that they don't have anything there that I need as anything beyond what is learned in the sophomore year of high school won't be found there.

There's the dilemma: many libraries have decided to be more "popular" by dumbing down. So they just drive serious readers out of the libraries.

And mumblingscrapwaver, you are spot on. We have patrons who don't know the difference between word programs and stuff on the net, because they are both on the computer. Many need help in getting e-mail, and need it to apply for a job. But I'm horrified that people figure they don't need a library because there is an internet. A LOT of stuff--much of it archival--is not in the net, and may never be. Without it, we can't find out first hand what was going on in the past, and the dumassification of America just goes on.

ihatetv: The library system I worked at got sewed over this and there was a case in the news a few months ago about this. We eventually got those 3M covers that make the viewing angle for the monitors a direct angle and looking from the sides you couldnt see it. They're also very very cheap.

Sewed? What type of work do you do at the library? Polish the doorknobs? Sewed?

Silly submitter.... you can't read under strobe lights....

/ Disapproves

People study at coffee shops and cafes, which often have free wireless. People study at the library, which definitely has free wireless and a host of other academic resources. Colleges have been doing this for 10+ years now.

cretinbob: Don't worry, I'll choose the books to get rid of

Yeah, like the books on evolution, critical thinking, and how not to be ashamed and informed on your own sexuality!

/Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires.

How does this qualify a strange tag? It makes sense that they'd try to keep the patrons by adding coffee shops and other things, as well as tossing out old books that no one reads.

/works at an academic library
//is 10 minutes away from clocking out

TheSwissNavy: cretinbob is a liar


cretinbob is not wrong. According to this, Link (new window)she made direct inquiries towards that end, and the librarian told her to f*ck off--but in a little nicer terms. Cretinbob might not be a cretin, but you, SwissNavy, are about as relevant as your handle.

TheSwissNavy: cretinbob - great name choice, given that the Palin book banning is a lie (pops)

From your link:
[Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Am I missing something?

Thanks - cretinbob - let's keep going

Those librarians won't get my vote if they keep running people like Bob Barr.

cretinbob: buster_v: Hot librarian thread!

OK

Finally! That's what I came for.

I'm dating a librarian so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.. srsly!



/Clicky for more!

Cozret: I mean 3/4ths of the non-fiction books at any library are so old and dated as to be worthless for getting information out of

Yeah! Why go to some dusty, crappy book from the 1940s to find out about World War Two when there's newer stuff around?

Fresh Pine Scent: Those librarians won't get my vote if they keep running people like Bob Barr.

I used to be a librarian at College Library. As much as I hate how libraries are stupidly eliminating books, I'll point out that College Library has always been a glorified study hall. Fifteen years ago College Library had several book collections, but most of the three floors were devoted to study space and computers. One room at that time had lots of bound periodicals, which just aren't needed these days when you can research periodical back issues online.

The headline on this story is simply misleading. College Library has always been a glorified study hall and the staff has always been trying new gimmicks to get undergraduates to use the library. Given that laptops, Internet access and interesting study spots are so ubiquitous these days, I can't see this situation as a crisis for my old library.

Why not? They've been doing the same thing in book stores for years. Sad simple truth is- people don't read anything that isn't featured on Oprah. The book store I work at probably sells more dvds, cds, and random crap (including backpacks, flasks, jesus action figures, and a host of other things you'd never expect to find here), than actual books.

Universities will always need libraries, but public ones do run the risk of becoming obsolete. More people seem to go for the free internet service than anything else. Not they'll come for coffee too.

It's a very sad commentary of our society, but that doesn't make it any less true.