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Is it just me, or do libraries suck now?

13»

Posts

  • celandinecelandine Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    My problem with libraries is when they don't have enough books.

    My neighborhood library back home did not have a book by Faulkner. I kid you not. I went one time in high school to find something by Faulkner and they didn't have any. They threw out all their Saul Bellow books -- and we are on the South Side of Chicago, pretty much exactly where Bellow lived & where Augie March is set. It's a travesty.

    I hate the city government. They're like, "Oh, there are black people in your neighborhood? Ha ha, no public services for you."

    celandine on
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  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    you mean the comestible repository

    PiptheFair on
  • DruhimDruhim Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited September 2009
    celandine wrote: »
    My problem with libraries is when they don't have enough books.

    My neighborhood library back home did not have a book by Faulkner. I kid you not. I went one time in high school to find something by Faulkner and they didn't have any. They threw out all their Saul Bellow books -- and we are on the South Side of Chicago, pretty much exactly where Bellow lived & where Augie March is set. It's a travesty.

    I hate the city government. They're like, "Oh, there are black people in your neighborhood? Ha ha, no public services for you."

    that's usually not the government so much as the those in wealthy districts insisting on higher standards and better funding for the schools in their district but otherwise ignoring schools in poorer districts
    if the funding isn't there, it's hard to pay for it

    Druhim on
    belruelotterav-1.jpg
  • DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited September 2009
    SLAMMU wrote: »
    Libraries here are shut down

    Unknown User on
  • L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I'm in a library right now ! ! !

    It's the university science library and around half of the people here are asian exchange students so they have hella work ethic and it's silent

    L|ama on
  • Mr. Henry BemisMr. Henry Bemis God is love Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    university libraries and public libraries are completely different beasts

    Mr. Henry Bemis on
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  • StaleghotiStaleghoti Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I got bitched at for answering my cell phone in one of those private booths at the Carleton Library last year. I guess the guy behind me was really really really trying to concentrate. I guess the conversation was pretty inane, but I thought if I listened to this bitch's problem she would give me sexes...

    Staleghoti on
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  • FaricazyFaricazy Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    parents/guardians tended to treat my local library as afterschool daycare. hey let's sit around and talk loudly in the kids section while the kids run around like retards OKAY!

    Faricazy on
  • StaleghotiStaleghoti Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So i guess someone already mentioned that it's funny how we're bitching about libraries on the internet which is pretty much a giant library

    Staleghoti on
    tmmysta-sig.png2wT1Q.gifYAH!YAH!STEAMYoutubeMixesPSN: Clintown
    Dear satan I wish for this or maybe some of this....oh and I'm a medium or a large.
  • FaricazyFaricazy Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    i can't for the life of me read books online though

    i need paper

    stuff like the Kindle is better but i still much prefer paper

    Faricazy on
  • AMP'dAMP'd Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    libraries are one constant entity

    they either all own or all suck

    no room for a Middle Path

    Gautama Public Library

    All with an eightfold card catalog

    AMP'd on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • StaleghotiStaleghoti Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I like audio-books

    Staleghoti on
    tmmysta-sig.png2wT1Q.gifYAH!YAH!STEAMYoutubeMixesPSN: Clintown
    Dear satan I wish for this or maybe some of this....oh and I'm a medium or a large.
  • AMP'dAMP'd Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    AMP'd wrote: »
    libraries are one constant entity

    they either all own or all suck

    no room for a Middle Path

    Gautama Public Library

    All with an eightfold card catalog

    They have a reading area, but under a sacred fig tree

    AMP'd on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • GoatmonGoatmon Companion of Kess Registered User regular
    edited September 2009

    Hahahahahah

    I usually try to avoid laughing at people dying, but that is priceless.

    Goatmon on
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  • DruhimDruhim Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited September 2009
    Staleghoti wrote: »
    So i guess someone already mentioned that it's funny how we're bitching about libraries on the internet which is pretty much a giant library

    not really

    Druhim on
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  • BusterKBusterK Negativity is Boring Cynicism is Cowardice Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I love the library
    Because I am very cheap
    This place is huge
    9C939753E2464DDC22BA2BCDDDAB9.jpg

    BusterK on
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  • OdenOden Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    All my library resources for uni are available online so I very rarely go into the building.

    I've only ever seen people use the library for checking facebook or sleeping.

    I haven't been to my public library is years because they never had anything I actually wanted to read, so instead I just started to buy piles of second hand books from markets.

    Oden on
  • VivixenneVivixenne Remember your training, and we'll get through this just fine. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I used to love going to the uni library to study

    plus when I was doing research playing with those microfilm machines made you feel like such a pro

    Vivixenne on
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  • OdenOden Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I can't study in the library because there are always people sleeping at the tables with power points.

    Oden on
  • Cold Salmon and HatredCold Salmon and Hatred __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2009
    asdfaasdfssdfds.jpg

    also today at the library the door was squeaking so much i couldn't concentrate so i left

    god damn that was fucking annoying

    Cold Salmon and Hatred on
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Until this year, my study strategy was to take my reading materials and head to the bottom level of the university library - 5 floors below ground - and just dig in, because it's empty and quite and it blocked my cell signal and wireless, so I had no distractions

    Now, they upgraded the wireless so it reaches down there, but it's still better than doing it in my apartment or one of the coffee shops where a lot of kids go

    Grey Ghost on
  • L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    university libraries and public libraries are completely different beasts

    yeah this is true but the public library here is p quiet too, they have a soundproofed room for all the teenage layabouts somewhere upstairs
    Vivixenne wrote: »
    I used to love going to the uni library to study

    plus when I was doing research playing with those microfilm machines made you feel like such a pro

    We made a microfilm reader using just a couple of lenses in our physics lab last year

    the angles you could actually read the film from were tiny so you couldn't read all of it and it was horribly boring


    ...wooo



    also I can study fine with noise and shit, I probably get distracted more when stuff's really quiet because I will get long crazy chains of thought going, then try and figure out how I ended up thinking about that from the initial thing and bam there goes quarter of an hour

    L|ama on
  • laughingfuzzballlaughingfuzzball Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    The downtown library was great. The building needed a little maintenance and the collection a little updating, but it was solid. It was a few big rooms with lots of books all laid out so you could find them and a few places to read them.

    The branch was also pretty good. It was just as well laid-out and the building was a lot newer. The collection was much smaller, but more up to date and better selected so you were about as likely to find what you needed as at the main library. It also had all the computers (once that got to be a thing) and a moderate media selection.

    Eventually they shut down the downtown library. Apparently fixing up the building was going to be too expensive and it just wasn't getting used as much as the branch. They moved some of the collection to the branch, but most of it was sold or packed up or something. They didn't have anything spectacular, just the usual.

    Just recently they built a brand new library next to the branch. It's not laid out too well. They dedicated about as much space to media as to fiction and non-fiction combined, and there is a lot of empty shelf space in the latter two. They set aside a study/reading area with overstuffed chairs and a fake fireplace, but didn't include a whole lot of books to read or study.

    They have plenty of computers and community rooms and I hear the kids' area is nice, but all that should really be secondary to the whole book thing.

    laughingfuzzball on
  • laughingfuzzballlaughingfuzzball Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    they just built a new library here recently, it's rad as shit

    and also completely necessary because the old one was kind of a hole

    It's completely rad if you want to rent Twilight on CD while checking your myspace.

    It's significantly less rad if you want to go get some books.

    It's nearly useless if you want to do some research.

    laughingfuzzball on
  • BusterKBusterK Negativity is Boring Cynicism is Cowardice Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    they just built a new library here recently, it's rad as shit

    and also completely necessary because the old one was kind of a hole

    It's completely rad if you want to rent Twilight on CD while checking your myspace.

    It's significantly less rad if you want to go get some books.

    It's nearly useless if you want to do some research.

    But if you do want to rent Twilight and check your myspace it's good though right?

    BusterK on
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  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited September 2009
    it's a significant upgrade from what was there before, and please don't tell me that ratty old place was better

    aaand I'm not sure what you're talking about really in regards to the problems with the new library really

    DJ Eebs on
  • GafotoGafoto Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Libraries near me are pretty much where you go to print off porn in full view of the staff and pretend like it's totally cool. That's just what the patrons do, who am I to judge?

    Gafoto on
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  • JansonJanson Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I wish I'd utilised my university library more as I did my best work there (and it allowed me to get out of the horrid houses I'd live in)

    I loooved the library as a kid but now I'm too fond of buying my books to go to one

    Janson on
  • WeaverWeaver Who are you? What do you want?Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I always thought the "whisper when in the library" rule was more awkward than useful.

    Weaver on
  • laughingfuzzballlaughingfuzzball Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    it's a significant upgrade from what was there before, and please don't tell me that ratty old place was better

    aaand I'm not sure what you're talking about really in regards to the problems with the new library really

    Their fiction and non-fiction collections aren't any better than they were, but they're much less well laid out. They only have two ass-slow dedicated catalog computers, and no alternative for when PrairieCAT is being retarded, which is about as often as not.

    Collection and accessibility are what define a library. The latter is no better and the former is much worse. The old branch was ratty as hell and smelled like hobos, but they had books and I could find them.

    laughingfuzzball on
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited September 2009
    well maybe you should be better at looking

    DJ Eebs on
  • FerryFerry Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    sleep under the stacks for high osmotic pressure

    Ferry on
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  • laughingfuzzballlaughingfuzzball Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    well maybe you should be better at looking

    Maybe they should get better at not putting their books in asstarded places.

    laughingfuzzball on
  • BusterKBusterK Negativity is Boring Cynicism is Cowardice Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    BusterK on
    Visit http://www.cruzflores.com for all your Cruz Flores needs. Also listen to the podcast I do with Penguin Incarnate http://wgsgshow.podomatic.com
    Amazon Wishlist: http://www.amazon.com/BusterK/wishlist/3JPEKJGX9G54I/ref=cm_wl_search_bin_1
  • laughingfuzzballlaughingfuzzball Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    BusterK wrote: »
    they just built a new library here recently, it's rad as shit

    and also completely necessary because the old one was kind of a hole

    It's completely rad if you want to rent Twilight on CD while checking your myspace.

    It's significantly less rad if you want to go get some books.

    It's nearly useless if you want to do some research.

    But if you do want to rent Twilight and check your myspace it's good though right?

    oh yeah, totally rockin'

    laughingfuzzball on
  • Tweaked_Bat_Tweaked_Bat_ Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    A new library opened not far from me, I should go check it out.

    But it looks pretty small, and I have a feeling the collection will be pretty dismal.

    Tweaked_Bat_ on
  • Peter EbelPeter Ebel CopenhagenRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Certainly the library at my current university is a thing of wonder.

    Peter Ebel on
    Fuck off and die.
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