4 ms·

For those that have not visited your local library lately. Along with books, I regularly borrow audiobooks, whole tv series, movies, switch and ps5 games. An

For those that have not visited your local library lately. Along with books, I regularly borrow audiobooks, whole tv series, movies, switch and ps5 games. And they give me access to yet another movie and music streaming service that they pay for. Once I add in the library system and requesting stuff from other libraries it is rarely that I can't get access to something I am interested in. This isn't the library I went to as kids that had a tiny rack of VHS tapes in the back. They seem to have fully embraced the digital era.

thayne 3y ago
That depends a lot on the library. My local library has a pretty limited digital selection.
TylerE 3y ago
Some have, but this is far far from universal and it’s a bit annoying when people insist that it is all libraries.
- duneisagoodbook 3y ago
  it's possible! encouraging people to go to the library is a net good on society.
  - darby_eight 3y ago
    It's insane to me anyone would downvote this comment (edit: or flag my disbelief for being somehow irrelevant to conversation). The public library system is quite possibly the best thing this country has ever invented.
    - jtriangle 3y ago
      The library system and national parks are both absolute bangers.
    - mopenstein 3y ago
      I don't see a societal benefit in people borrowing video games and watching DVDs that aren't educational. At least non educational books might expect the reader to expand their minds, and to a lesser extent movies. But the majority of video games and movies being produced are empty wastes of time. It seems to me loaning those items is just an attempt to stay relevant lest libraries become vacant and useless. What other value is there in loaning out PlayStation games?
      - deadbunny 3y ago
        Because like books, games, films, TV, etc. are culture and everyone should have the opportunity to experience culture no matter what. Trying to limit libraries to "educational" content is preposterous.
      - goykasi 3y ago
        Off the top of my head, it seems like a great way to give access to content (games, movies, etc) to those that may have been able to afford it on their own. It may not have a ton of educational value, but some mindless entertainment goes a long way towards happiness sometimes. A happy citizenry is probably a societal benefit.
        account42 3y ago
        We don't need libraries for that tough, only more equitable laws that do not put the profits of hollywood and similar groups before society at large.
      - duneisagoodbook 3y ago
        "I don't see a societal benefit in people borrowing video games and watching DVDs that aren't educational." "loaning those items is just an attempt to stay relevant lest libraries become vacant and useless." you have answered your own question.
      - theshackleford 3y ago
        Without video games exposure as a youth I’d likely be an unemployed failure. It stoked an interest that has since sustained a twenty plus year career. Piracy gained me that access back then, glad to hear it’s now more easily available to fuel the passion of a new generation.
    - cookie_monsta 3y ago
      > The public library system is quite possibly the best thing this country has ever invented. If you are writing from Egypt I think you have a strong case
      - darby_eight 3y ago
        It is true that there have been some level of public libraries available throughout history. I am referring to the wide availability of public access that effectively democratized literacy (in concert with the public school system, of course).
    - pierat 3y ago
      There are people here (venture crapitalists) that would love to disassemble all public libraries for something much more horrible. It was likely one them, or their lackeys, that -1'ed you.
    - halJordan 3y ago
      The problem with the statement is it's naive insistence that i live in op's world. It's the inane insistence that we dont live in the third largest country and the insistence that everything has been homogenized and is one simple vanilla flavor. Frankly at this point it's just virtue signaling on the order of "I'm not a raging consumerist like you, I use a public good instead." The demand to be thanked, and the refusal to be criticized are part-and-parcel of the virtue signal.
    - account42 3y ago
      This country?
  - account42 3y ago
    We should not accept this at the end goal though. Libraries were needed when there were physical things you had to store that were impractical to have in every home and could only be duplicated with significan effort and cost. In the digital age it's absurd to say that we should have to rely on public libraries to access our culture when we have the means for everyone to have their own personal library in their pocket. It doesn't help that libraries that do carry digital content have fully embraced DRM, thus giving a pretense of legitimacy to anti-user technologies and absurd laws that give them teeth and thereby weakening attempts to correct problem.
    - defrost 3y ago
      > have the means for everyone to have their own personal library in their pocket. and how do you intend to implement public iPhones and connectivity for the homeless?
cmrdporcupine 3y ago
Many have streaming digital checkouts, too. Either through themselves or through broader networks.
bibliotekka 3y ago
Add on: ask your local library if they have: Libby, Kanopy or Hoopla
- dhritzkiv 3y ago
  Kanopy is great, and very nearly as good as the mainstream streaming platforms in terms of selection and software quality. Hoopla, however, is abysmal both in selection (though this depends on your local library) and in software/service quality. The search is broken, and it has some of the most confusing UX I've ever experienced. It's as if it actively wants to prevent you from watching anything.
  - salad-tycoon 3y ago
    That’s just what the internet was like many years ago, slow, bad search, clunky, jerky not smooth, and with lots of right angles. Hoopla is just based off a relic.
- dublinben 3y ago
  Libby / Overdrive for ebooks are a racket. The publishers sell ‘disposable’ licenses that expire after something like only 20 uses or a few years, whichever comes first. Support your local library, but don’t support greedy publishers.
  - therealdrag0 3y ago
    Don’t libraries negotiate the licensing? If I want digital copies what else can I do? Libby or Amazon which is worse?
    - account42 3y ago
      > If I want digital copies what else can I do? File sharing is clearly the most user friendly and therefore correct choice.
  - account42 3y ago
jtriangle 3y ago
My library has this too, and a ton of ebooks, and a 3D printer that you just have to cover the cost of material to use, and they occasionally have free museum passes, national/state park passes, etc. Far cry from what they used to be, and, well, you're paying for it anyway via taxes so silly to not use it.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Amusingly I have requested and received over a hundred dvds and some books from my library, but am still on the waiting list for an ebook of one book that I already got in hardcover and read.
mch82 3y ago
Anyone know how to donate a movie or audiobook to a library (in situations where they don’t have them)? I’m interested in the concept of donating media to the library instead of buying it for myself. However, it doesn’t seem like there’s a simple way to do that…
- thfuran 3y ago
  They don't get to use regular consumer digital media. They have to use specially licensed extra-expensive versions that permit lending.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    I’m not sure that’s the case for physical items like DVDs, because I’ve never seen anything indicating it’s special and the replacement costs are in line with “buy it on Amazon”.
    - thfuran 3y ago
      No, physical items have reasonable legal protection against the IP holder trying to dictate what you do with it after purchase. The first sale doctrine allows libraries, game and video rental shops and such to physically lend copyrighted works. But when "purchasing" an ebook is actually just purchasing a heavily restricted and revocable license to personally use a work but not share it in any way, it doesn't apply. So libraries have to buy special ebook licenses that cost several times more than consumer ones and expire after dinner number of views. I assume it's similar for audiobooks and movies, but it's all up to individual publishers what restrictions and costs they'll impose on the licenses that permit lending.
      - bombcar 3y ago
        It's insane really - a library could buy a book and a robot with a camera, and let you turn the pages using the robot, and that would be fine; but ebooks are different, like software.
  - 3y ago

thayne 3y ago

That depends a lot on the library. My local library has a pretty limited digital selection.

TylerE 3y ago

Some have, but this is far far from universal and it’s a bit annoying when people insist that it is all libraries.

duneisagoodbook 3y ago
it's possible! encouraging people to go to the library is a net good on society.
- darby_eight 3y ago
  It's insane to me anyone would downvote this comment (edit: or flag my disbelief for being somehow irrelevant to conversation). The public library system is quite possibly the best thing this country has ever invented.
  - jtriangle 3y ago
    The library system and national parks are both absolute bangers.
  - mopenstein 3y ago
    I don't see a societal benefit in people borrowing video games and watching DVDs that aren't educational. At least non educational books might expect the reader to expand their minds, and to a lesser extent movies. But the majority of video games and movies being produced are empty wastes of time. It seems to me loaning those items is just an attempt to stay relevant lest libraries become vacant and useless. What other value is there in loaning out PlayStation games?
    - deadbunny 3y ago
      Because like books, games, films, TV, etc. are culture and everyone should have the opportunity to experience culture no matter what. Trying to limit libraries to "educational" content is preposterous.
    - goykasi 3y ago
      Off the top of my head, it seems like a great way to give access to content (games, movies, etc) to those that may have been able to afford it on their own. It may not have a ton of educational value, but some mindless entertainment goes a long way towards happiness sometimes. A happy citizenry is probably a societal benefit.
      - account42 3y ago
        We don't need libraries for that tough, only more equitable laws that do not put the profits of hollywood and similar groups before society at large.
    - duneisagoodbook 3y ago
      "I don't see a societal benefit in people borrowing video games and watching DVDs that aren't educational." "loaning those items is just an attempt to stay relevant lest libraries become vacant and useless." you have answered your own question.
    - theshackleford 3y ago
      Without video games exposure as a youth I’d likely be an unemployed failure. It stoked an interest that has since sustained a twenty plus year career. Piracy gained me that access back then, glad to hear it’s now more easily available to fuel the passion of a new generation.
  - cookie_monsta 3y ago
    > The public library system is quite possibly the best thing this country has ever invented. If you are writing from Egypt I think you have a strong case
    - darby_eight 3y ago
      It is true that there have been some level of public libraries available throughout history. I am referring to the wide availability of public access that effectively democratized literacy (in concert with the public school system, of course).
  - pierat 3y ago
    There are people here (venture crapitalists) that would love to disassemble all public libraries for something much more horrible. It was likely one them, or their lackeys, that -1'ed you.
  - halJordan 3y ago
    The problem with the statement is it's naive insistence that i live in op's world. It's the inane insistence that we dont live in the third largest country and the insistence that everything has been homogenized and is one simple vanilla flavor. Frankly at this point it's just virtue signaling on the order of "I'm not a raging consumerist like you, I use a public good instead." The demand to be thanked, and the refusal to be criticized are part-and-parcel of the virtue signal.
  - account42 3y ago
    This country?
- account42 3y ago
  We should not accept this at the end goal though. Libraries were needed when there were physical things you had to store that were impractical to have in every home and could only be duplicated with significan effort and cost. In the digital age it's absurd to say that we should have to rely on public libraries to access our culture when we have the means for everyone to have their own personal library in their pocket. It doesn't help that libraries that do carry digital content have fully embraced DRM, thus giving a pretense of legitimacy to anti-user technologies and absurd laws that give them teeth and thereby weakening attempts to correct problem.
  - defrost 3y ago
    > have the means for everyone to have their own personal library in their pocket. and how do you intend to implement public iPhones and connectivity for the homeless?

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

Many have streaming digital checkouts, too. Either through themselves or through broader networks.

bibliotekka 3y ago

Add on: ask your local library if they have: Libby, Kanopy or Hoopla

dhritzkiv 3y ago
Kanopy is great, and very nearly as good as the mainstream streaming platforms in terms of selection and software quality. Hoopla, however, is abysmal both in selection (though this depends on your local library) and in software/service quality. The search is broken, and it has some of the most confusing UX I've ever experienced. It's as if it actively wants to prevent you from watching anything.
- salad-tycoon 3y ago
  That’s just what the internet was like many years ago, slow, bad search, clunky, jerky not smooth, and with lots of right angles. Hoopla is just based off a relic.
dublinben 3y ago
Libby / Overdrive for ebooks are a racket. The publishers sell ‘disposable’ licenses that expire after something like only 20 uses or a few years, whichever comes first. Support your local library, but don’t support greedy publishers.
- therealdrag0 3y ago
  Don’t libraries negotiate the licensing? If I want digital copies what else can I do? Libby or Amazon which is worse?
  - account42 3y ago
    > If I want digital copies what else can I do? File sharing is clearly the most user friendly and therefore correct choice.
- account42 3y ago

jtriangle 3y ago

My library has this too, and a ton of ebooks, and a 3D printer that you just have to cover the cost of material to use, and they occasionally have free museum passes, national/state park passes, etc. Far cry from what they used to be, and, well, you're paying for it anyway via taxes so silly to not use it.

bombcar 3y ago
Amusingly I have requested and received over a hundred dvds and some books from my library, but am still on the waiting list for an ebook of one book that I already got in hardcover and read.

mch82 3y ago

Anyone know how to donate a movie or audiobook to a library (in situations where they don’t have them)? I’m interested in the concept of donating media to the library instead of buying it for myself. However, it doesn’t seem like there’s a simple way to do that…

thfuran 3y ago
They don't get to use regular consumer digital media. They have to use specially licensed extra-expensive versions that permit lending.
- bombcar 3y ago
  I’m not sure that’s the case for physical items like DVDs, because I’ve never seen anything indicating it’s special and the replacement costs are in line with “buy it on Amazon”.
  - thfuran 3y ago
    No, physical items have reasonable legal protection against the IP holder trying to dictate what you do with it after purchase. The first sale doctrine allows libraries, game and video rental shops and such to physically lend copyrighted works. But when "purchasing" an ebook is actually just purchasing a heavily restricted and revocable license to personally use a work but not share it in any way, it doesn't apply. So libraries have to buy special ebook licenses that cost several times more than consumer ones and expire after dinner number of views. I assume it's similar for audiobooks and movies, but it's all up to individual publishers what restrictions and costs they'll impose on the licenses that permit lending.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      It's insane really - a library could buy a book and a robot with a camera, and let you turn the pages using the robot, and that would be fine; but ebooks are different, like software.
- 3y ago