4 ms·

I believe books and libraries are more important than they ever have been in recent times. Whenever you go and read a book from your library, you librarian does

I believe books and libraries are more important than they ever have been in recent times. Whenever you go and read a book from your library, you librarian doesn't keep a profile of who you are and judges your value based on what books you read. Books are still the best way to expose yourselves to new ideas and libraries are still the cheapest ways you could discover those ideas because your library is not earning by showing you an ad for each book you read and hence, its not in their interest to trap you in a bubble that echoes your own bias.

luckylion 6y ago
> Whenever you go and read a book from your library, you librarian doesn't keep a profile of who you are and judges your value based on what books you read. Are you sure about that? If you're not in a super-large library with full anonymity, your librarians will definitely know when you're reading a lot of books that suggest some ideology. They may not keep a profile written down, but they definitely will remember. And they do keep a list of books you took home, at least our local library does. Regarding new ideas: might be different in other places of the world, but public libraries over here aren't that well stocked and feel like they primarily offer what the librarians value (which will largely mirror the mainstream opinion of the general population, as they're state employees). That's different for university libraries, which do keep a more diverse collection.
- stallmanite 6y ago
  The local library here makes a point of never keeping a history of what books you’ve checked out. It’s actually been a problem for me when trying to remember something I read a few years back. They’re pretty big proponents of privacy.