6 ms·

> libraries are the single greatest tool an individual has to advance their station in life Surely the internet beats libraries by a large margin on this.

grumple 7y ago
You can use the Internet on a free library computer. This is great if you don’t own one and don’t have Internet access at home.
- Broken_Hippo 7y ago
  ... kind of, so long as you live in a large enough area. Some folks still don't have a free, local library they can use. (Some small towns in Indiana aren't included in any library tax districts and cannot freely use the library). Some small (and larger!) towns don't have enough computers for their busy times, so you really must keep your internet time efficient to comply with the 30-minute time limit. This isn't so much an issue if you can go during off times, but not so great if you have to go after school when the library is busy or if you happen to catch them in summer hours when they close early. I lived in such an area. The library itself was great and really did work on expanding internet access (allowing adults to use a laptop, for example) - but it was a small town with a limited budget. It simply couldn't serve the area better.
  - klipt 7y ago
    > Some small towns in Indiana aren't included in any library tax districts and cannot freely use the library That's crazy. In California, most libraries are open to all California residents: you can join the San Francisco library even if you live in rural farm parts of California. Great for accessing ebooks.
ChuckMcM 7y ago
Actually it doesn't. For example you can read news papers without ads :-) at the Sunnyvale library, the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times, the Washington Post, Economist, Etc. And many periodicals. All without sacrificing your privacy or trying to subvert some paywall. You can read texts on pretty much any subject that were not only written by someone who took time to write it, but were edited and often fact checked by a third party (publisher). You can read classic stories, and new stories, in all sorts of genres. You can socialize at the library, ours has a couple of meeting rooms you can reserve as long as you aren't trying to sell something. Some libraries have a coffee shop in them which is pretty cool. Oh, and you can surf the web if you want but there isn't anything on the Internet that you can't get at the library and the quality of the interaction at the library is always better.
- naravara 7y ago
  My library even offers a media streaming service that you can use to check out movies and shows to watch at home! You can check out eBooks too. All offered with no ad-tech nonsense.
- sokoloff 7y ago
  > you can read news papers without ads Don't all those papers have ads in them?

grumple 7y ago

You can use the Internet on a free library computer. This is great if you don’t own one and don’t have Internet access at home.

Broken_Hippo 7y ago
... kind of, so long as you live in a large enough area. Some folks still don't have a free, local library they can use. (Some small towns in Indiana aren't included in any library tax districts and cannot freely use the library). Some small (and larger!) towns don't have enough computers for their busy times, so you really must keep your internet time efficient to comply with the 30-minute time limit. This isn't so much an issue if you can go during off times, but not so great if you have to go after school when the library is busy or if you happen to catch them in summer hours when they close early. I lived in such an area. The library itself was great and really did work on expanding internet access (allowing adults to use a laptop, for example) - but it was a small town with a limited budget. It simply couldn't serve the area better.
- klipt 7y ago
  > Some small towns in Indiana aren't included in any library tax districts and cannot freely use the library That's crazy. In California, most libraries are open to all California residents: you can join the San Francisco library even if you live in rural farm parts of California. Great for accessing ebooks.

ChuckMcM 7y ago

Actually it doesn't. For example you can read news papers without ads :-) at the Sunnyvale library, the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times, the Washington Post, Economist, Etc. And many periodicals. All without sacrificing your privacy or trying to subvert some paywall. You can read texts on pretty much any subject that were not only written by someone who took time to write it, but were edited and often fact checked by a third party (publisher). You can read classic stories, and new stories, in all sorts of genres. You can socialize at the library, ours has a couple of meeting rooms you can reserve as long as you aren't trying to sell something. Some libraries have a coffee shop in them which is pretty cool. Oh, and you can surf the web if you want but there isn't anything on the Internet that you can't get at the library and the quality of the interaction at the library is always better.

naravara 7y ago
My library even offers a media streaming service that you can use to check out movies and shows to watch at home! You can check out eBooks too. All offered with no ad-tech nonsense.
sokoloff 7y ago
> you can read news papers without ads Don't all those papers have ads in them?