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Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they do

Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they don't have any readers.

adrianN 8y ago
I don't go to libraries anymore because I can get any book I want for 3-4 Euros shipped to my door.
- icebraining 8y ago
  That's true, assuming you want a relatively small subset of all books. Once you want something recent, or obscure, or a current textbook, you usually can't find it for anywhere near that amount, if you can find it for sale at all.
- always_good 8y ago
  I hope you can appreciate how fortunate you are. Though 4 Euros ($4.50) is less than half what I pay for most books I want on Amazon. It would be very expensive for me to feed my book-reading habit like that. I couldn't afford it without libraries. It's nice that you can afford to spend money on books, but we need a solution for everyone else, especially if we agree that books are a good thing for society. Recently there was that op-ed in Forbes that said we don't need libraries because we have Amazon: https://qz.com/1334123/forbes-deleted-an-op-ed-arguing-that-amazon-should-replace-libraries/ https://qz.com/1334123/forbes-deleted-an-op-ed-arguing-that-... -- Was such a disaster that Forbes limped away from it by deleting it.
  - adrianN 8y ago
    Of course there are people who need libraries and I support funding them even if they're mostly empty. But I think a sizeable fraction of the people who used to go to libraries but don't do so anymore are like me and just buy the books they want to read used rather than go to the library.
ekianjo 8y ago
is this a joke? the last thing most young adults like is to be surrounded by screaming children. The louder you make libraries the less people will ever want to go there.
- apacheCamel 8y ago
  I don't see where the comment above yours said anything about inviting screaming children into libraries. Screaming kids in most situations is frustrating and can be off-putting. Libraries should have similar social norms as anywhere else.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  That's why you have a children's section.
tapland 8y ago
I don't remember any of the kids running wild in the libraries visiting them as adults. We who didn't have a problem being quiet and going there to either read quietly or to bring books home, going there for the books, seem to be much more likely to actually visit as adults. Is there any evidence to suggest people who use libraries as playgrounds are more likely to use them as adults? Because if there isn't we are removing one of extremely few quiet places for no gain. I remember going to the library or staying after school to be able to read my Asimov and Douglas Adams, which would have been hard at home. If people who have quiet homes came there to let their children off to play I would be less likely to go there, just like I'm less likely to go there now when that is happening.
potta_coffee 8y ago
Libraries are becoming irrelevant culturally. Turing libraries into playgrounds in an attempt to stay relevant just turns the library into something new. It's like trying to trick people into reading or something, I don't think it's going to work. The new model may be valid, but maybe we should just close the libraries altogether and start calling them "Community Centers".

Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they don't have any readers.

adrianN 8y ago

I don't go to libraries anymore because I can get any book I want for 3-4 Euros shipped to my door.

icebraining 8y ago
That's true, assuming you want a relatively small subset of all books. Once you want something recent, or obscure, or a current textbook, you usually can't find it for anywhere near that amount, if you can find it for sale at all.
always_good 8y ago
I hope you can appreciate how fortunate you are. Though 4 Euros ($4.50) is less than half what I pay for most books I want on Amazon. It would be very expensive for me to feed my book-reading habit like that. I couldn't afford it without libraries. It's nice that you can afford to spend money on books, but we need a solution for everyone else, especially if we agree that books are a good thing for society. Recently there was that op-ed in Forbes that said we don't need libraries because we have Amazon: https://qz.com/1334123/forbes-deleted-an-op-ed-arguing-that-amazon-should-replace-libraries/ https://qz.com/1334123/forbes-deleted-an-op-ed-arguing-that-... -- Was such a disaster that Forbes limped away from it by deleting it.
- adrianN 8y ago
  Of course there are people who need libraries and I support funding them even if they're mostly empty. But I think a sizeable fraction of the people who used to go to libraries but don't do so anymore are like me and just buy the books they want to read used rather than go to the library.

ekianjo 8y ago

is this a joke? the last thing most young adults like is to be surrounded by screaming children. The louder you make libraries the less people will ever want to go there.

apacheCamel 8y ago
I don't see where the comment above yours said anything about inviting screaming children into libraries. Screaming kids in most situations is frustrating and can be off-putting. Libraries should have similar social norms as anywhere else.
ceejayoz 8y ago
That's why you have a children's section.

tapland 8y ago

I don't remember any of the kids running wild in the libraries visiting them as adults. We who didn't have a problem being quiet and going there to either read quietly or to bring books home, going there for the books, seem to be much more likely to actually visit as adults. Is there any evidence to suggest people who use libraries as playgrounds are more likely to use them as adults? Because if there isn't we are removing one of extremely few quiet places for no gain. I remember going to the library or staying after school to be able to read my Asimov and Douglas Adams, which would have been hard at home. If people who have quiet homes came there to let their children off to play I would be less likely to go there, just like I'm less likely to go there now when that is happening.

potta_coffee 8y ago

Libraries are becoming irrelevant culturally. Turing libraries into playgrounds in an attempt to stay relevant just turns the library into something new. It's like trying to trick people into reading or something, I don't think it's going to work. The new model may be valid, but maybe we should just close the libraries altogether and start calling them "Community Centers".