4 ms·

Libraries provide services (like wifi, printers, classes etc) to people who may not be able to afford the lifestyle most of us enjoy here. Some are interested i

by vlod 4y ago

Libraries provide services (like wifi, printers, classes etc) to people who may not be able to afford the lifestyle most of us enjoy here. Some are interested in learning and maybe trying to get ahead. $24 in property taxes per year seems a great deal to empowering people. I'm a tech-head (like most of us here) and recently joined my local library. I was amazed about all the cool books they had (i.e. they had a lot that's been recommended here). All free for you to take home. Close the fancy macbook-pro and iphone for a weekend and try and explore the internet. It's probably harder than you think, especially if you're not financially capable or you have a crappy phone. Then go visit your local library and marvel at the wealth of information. You might be surprised how long you spend there. I certainly got flashback to my childhood, just exploring and reading.

josephcsible 4y ago
> Libraries provide services (like wifi, printers, classes etc) to people who may not be able to afford the lifestyle most of us enjoy here. The vote result was so lopsided that there's no way the library board didn't see it coming. Given that things went as far as they did, that seems to point to the board members wanting to be allowed to have pornographic books in the kids' section so badly that they're willing to hold all of the useful services you mentioned hostage if they can't have that. (Note: I did see that Gender Queer was in the adults' section. But as the letter in the article pointed out, there were other similar books that were in the kids' section.)
- pseudalopex 4y ago
  The letter said LGBT books for kids were added to the library. The flyer made LGBTQ CONTENT AND PORNOGRAPHIC SEXUALLY GRAPHIC MATERIAL 1 category. They didn't say there were pornographic books in the kids' section. I looked up Gender Queer. I can't say if it belongs in a public library because I didn't read it. But it seemed like the explicit drawings were a small part and had a purpose. Graphic and pornographic are different.
- vlod 4y ago
  > The vote result was so lopsided that there's no way the library board didn't see it coming. I tend to trust librarians (mostly) to know what they are doing. I think we have to be careful listening to the mob which I speculate the majority don't have library cards, have read a book in the last year or even have taken their kids to the library. I worry that the mob will start saying we need to remove books based on religious beliefs (e.g. evolution) or climate change or pretty anything they don't fully understand or want to understand. "Maybe my son/daughter wouldn't have been X if they hadn't read Y". >But as the letter in the article pointed out, there were other similar books that were in the kids' section I think it's worth knowing exactly what those books are before painting it with the same brush as that graphic novel. Teenage years are kinda hard for a lot of kids especially if they have non-majority sexual viewpoints. If they are going to the library to understand 'stuff' about themselves, it's worth considering that librarians may have more experience in books (and where to put them) and it might actually be helping them.
spoils19 4y ago
Why should my taxes pay for those who cannot pull themselves up by their bootstraps? It doesn't align with being economically conservative at all.
- slt2021 4y ago
  they dont. Libraries are financed at county/town level, and if you live in a rich city (like menlo park) you will not see peasants from poor cities coming to your town's library. Local taxation and financing is exactly economically conservative view when rich towns get gorgeous libraries, while poor counties get very bad libraries.
- danaris 4y ago
  You know that "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" was originally coined as an absurd impossibility, right? If you reach down and grab onto your own boots, how are you going to lift yourself off the ground? It's no less absurd in this context. People almost exclusively move up out of their economic bracket by means of luck, not gumption and hard work. If hard work were all it took, then the people working 3 jobs and barely getting enough sleep to live would be millionaires.
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    > You know that "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" was originally coined as an absurd impossibility, right? Sure, it was coined that way. But remember that Schrödinger's cat was coined as an absurd impossibility too, to delegitimize the Copenhagen interpretation, which is nevertheless widely accepted today.
- vlod 4y ago
  A lot of people don't have kids but yet think it's a good idea to fund public schools for the general good. I have libertarian leanings like the next HN'r, but come on, you're talking about stopping kids wanting to read books.

by vlod 4y ago

josephcsible 4y ago

> Libraries provide services (like wifi, printers, classes etc) to people who may not be able to afford the lifestyle most of us enjoy here. The vote result was so lopsided that there's no way the library board didn't see it coming. Given that things went as far as they did, that seems to point to the board members wanting to be allowed to have pornographic books in the kids' section so badly that they're willing to hold all of the useful services you mentioned hostage if they can't have that. (Note: I did see that Gender Queer was in the adults' section. But as the letter in the article pointed out, there were other similar books that were in the kids' section.)

pseudalopex 4y ago
The letter said LGBT books for kids were added to the library. The flyer made LGBTQ CONTENT AND PORNOGRAPHIC SEXUALLY GRAPHIC MATERIAL 1 category. They didn't say there were pornographic books in the kids' section. I looked up Gender Queer. I can't say if it belongs in a public library because I didn't read it. But it seemed like the explicit drawings were a small part and had a purpose. Graphic and pornographic are different.
vlod 4y ago
> The vote result was so lopsided that there's no way the library board didn't see it coming. I tend to trust librarians (mostly) to know what they are doing. I think we have to be careful listening to the mob which I speculate the majority don't have library cards, have read a book in the last year or even have taken their kids to the library. I worry that the mob will start saying we need to remove books based on religious beliefs (e.g. evolution) or climate change or pretty anything they don't fully understand or want to understand. "Maybe my son/daughter wouldn't have been X if they hadn't read Y". >But as the letter in the article pointed out, there were other similar books that were in the kids' section I think it's worth knowing exactly what those books are before painting it with the same brush as that graphic novel. Teenage years are kinda hard for a lot of kids especially if they have non-majority sexual viewpoints. If they are going to the library to understand 'stuff' about themselves, it's worth considering that librarians may have more experience in books (and where to put them) and it might actually be helping them.

spoils19 4y ago

Why should my taxes pay for those who cannot pull themselves up by their bootstraps? It doesn't align with being economically conservative at all.

slt2021 4y ago
they dont. Libraries are financed at county/town level, and if you live in a rich city (like menlo park) you will not see peasants from poor cities coming to your town's library. Local taxation and financing is exactly economically conservative view when rich towns get gorgeous libraries, while poor counties get very bad libraries.
danaris 4y ago
You know that "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" was originally coined as an absurd impossibility, right? If you reach down and grab onto your own boots, how are you going to lift yourself off the ground? It's no less absurd in this context. People almost exclusively move up out of their economic bracket by means of luck, not gumption and hard work. If hard work were all it took, then the people working 3 jobs and barely getting enough sleep to live would be millionaires.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  > You know that "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" was originally coined as an absurd impossibility, right? Sure, it was coined that way. But remember that Schrödinger's cat was coined as an absurd impossibility too, to delegitimize the Copenhagen interpretation, which is nevertheless widely accepted today.
vlod 4y ago
A lot of people don't have kids but yet think it's a good idea to fund public schools for the general good. I have libertarian leanings like the next HN'r, but come on, you're talking about stopping kids wanting to read books.