Killing libraries is not about saving money, it's about restricting knowledge. Beware the leader that doesn't want the people to read.
If the city cares about aaving money theu would be buying useless military hardware for the NYPD. Tokyo, Seoul, Jakarta, and Osaka all do fine without blowing massive amounts if the municipal budget on military gear for their police departments. The NYPD "officially' had a 2022 budget over $5billion with aroind 36,000 officers. That's comparable to the entire military budget of Romania. Hell, the NYPD has field offices in 6 foreign countries.
So you're telling me that if we just started grinding cops into a fine powder we'd not only save on their salaries and benefits, we'd also save on the amount of equipment they need and could fund things like libraries and social safety nets? And that we could sell that fine powder for uses such as food for heads, surgery, delousing, cosmetics, bomb disposal, firepower, and head transplants and fund even more things?
I'm not saying we should be grinding cops into a fine powder. I'm saying let's take a look at where we could save more money while helping more people.
Torgo's Police Powder is certainly not a thing we should turn those fucking pigs into. No sir. And if someone tries laying this at my feet I'll deny it.
If the city cared about saving money they would not spend millions of dollars to recover tens of thousands of dollars lost to turnstile hopping.
Can't they just sell one of those sound-weapon equipped tanks from the NYPD to cover the entire library budget?
The fascists don't want to. They love weapons and hate books.
Can't we just fill the libraries with more books about weapons to increase the funding? 🤔
Yes, but they don't want to.
You don't understand though, that's millions we could throw at building another stadium for a private individual to own and profit off of!
It's the same with the federal budget and NASA. It pisses me off to no end to see the only x-ray telescope we have get the axe so we can throw fucking Raytheon more money to bomb Palestinians.
DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THE POOR BILLIONAIRES!?
It's shocking to see the assault on libraries across Appalachia. Sad to see it's a broader problem. For as little finding as they require they provide critical services. So many nasty politicos trying to win some points with the lowest common denominators of humanity must see them as an easy target.
Yeah, across the whole country even, I think people have been discouraged from reading in general. (Heck, it's hard to feel like you have time to just sit and read a book...Audiobooks FTW...)
But I'm convinced this recent anti-library culture-war push is absolutely just a big PsyOp by private and public owner-class types.
Making it about drag queens and racy books on the surface is an easy way to rile up the uneducated, to remove public free access to information without commercial motive.
Further discouraging education by cutting off access to cultural and community events, outreach, and collections is a great way to isolate people back down to consumer-individuals and grow the hate-base.
Libraries are absolutely under attack for being easy targets too, you're right. And often from the inside! Our local library district has an immensely corrupt board and executive staff. It's likely seen as an easy stepping stone to pad a resume for big CEO jobs or public office. They can get away with a lot without many people really looking too hard...
It's happening in Oregon too. An attack on education.
Adams sucks and it's embarrassing that people here elected him.
It's hysterical to hear right-wing commentary about how New York Democrats are socialist Marxist communist hippies when the reality has much more goose-stepping to it.
He won by 7k votes in an election with 21% registered voter turnout.
He won not by broad appeal but rather by apathy - his voters were engaged by fear mongering bait plastered on every news outlet about "crime" so they elected a goose stepping cop.
Yeah we really don't like him. Was super bummed he won.
Election is next year
Might vote for brad lander
This is incredibly sad. Dammit.
Eric Adams is a fucking piece of shit.
It was wild to see, but New Yorkers seem to love picking the guy who promises to be the biggest asshole to homeless people.
I had the homelessness situation described to me yesterday as such: When people see homelessness, they equate it to crime. But when people think of crime, they think of violent robberies and murders. This makes those people view the homeless only through a lense of prosecution. And this view and subsequent treatment only exacerbates the problem.
I always only see this, when i encounter that image:
Sorry for the distraction.
As the cousin of a NY public librarian, fuck mayor Adams, but for so many more reasons than this.
Stop voting cops in as mayor's, because at the end of the day they're still just corrupt cops.
The picture included makes me think we should challenge the mayor's hotshot skier son to a race down Triple Diamond run, and if we win the library will be saved for us punk kids to use on Sundays.
I asked nypl to let me pay for a library card. they won't issue. they will issue if I walk into a branch, but it's a temporary card unless I can prove residency.
I don't think they should have their budget cut but I would pay a subscription fee to access it from out-of-state.
Good! How else are we supposed to fund POLICE OFFICERS who get to PICK and CHOOSE what crimes or people to Investigate if we don't defund School and Libraries?
This what happens when you elect a cop.
why is it called 'new york public library' if it only serves downstate new york
that is less than half the state, I live in new york and there are no new york public library locations near me
are you really going to let us be beaten by new jersey? new jersey?
disclaimer
I have a public library 5 minutes away, (though I guess not a 'new york public library') this comment was made mostly for the funny and more importantly to shit on new jersey
this comment was written after staying awake over 30 hours and I am (very faintly) hallucinating the factorio express belts moving on my screen
Because it's the public library system for the City of New York.
ah I probably should have realized that when writing the comment
As a general rule of thumb, "New York" refers to the city, unless otherwise specified such as "New York State", or in a list/map that's obviously only listing/labeling states.
I can't tell if this post is anti-library or what
I don't care if libraries get used or not, they NEED to be kept open. For the sake of information keeping and internet for those who don't have any at home
"So are you going to let me cum in your ass or not?"
Oh no. You know shit is really terrible when they cannot even afford to communicate at 8 bits. It's 5 bits Baudot code. Capital letters only. They actually had to pay extra for @, #, and $. Thankfully, by 1870s, % was part of the character set. My heart's with anyone who can't just blast UTF-8 out wherever they can.
(Edit: In case you're wondering why it has a weird gif attached to it: The Memelord, Musky Elon, has decreed that you can actually attach a shitty random gif FOR FREE. So of course any cash strapped institution will do so.)
Are people actually against libraries dying? What the hell is this deluded take?
Libraries provide a host of public services beyond "warehouse for books". A big part of our digital archives come from library digitization programs. And knowing how to sort, store, and distribute this information is a vital piece of library science.
Losing libraries means losing the tools we use to organize information on a national scale.
yes. Personally, i use libraries because I cannot afford buying a book (mostly programming) and I don't like split screen and can't afford another monitor. I have used the library here in Toronto so many times they know me by name now at two branches.
Can someone help them be on the fediverse and help set up indy fundraising that way?
I know it's a bad situation but they could cool it with the caps. Worse legibility and readability.
It's part of the meme, tho.
If you have trouble reading capitalized versions of letters, the meme isn’t the problem.
People don't like reading things that don't look appealing. For example, people could read a paragraph in Jokerman, but it'll be more difficult and they might decide it's not worth the effort.
Also capital letters are less legible because we don't just read letters, but rather their shape. And when in all caps, the letters all have the same rectangle shape.
Edit: apparently people can't read as I already said I support libraries and want them to exist for those that benefit from them. This was never a 'it doesn't help me so screw you' type of comment. I was just sharing my experience of liking the concept, but failing to find any personal benefits and wondering if others experienced the same.
I like the idea of public libraries, but honestly I just don't have a lot of use for them in my life personally. Unfortunately the books I read are primarily published under Kindle unlimited, so they can't be checked out of a library either in digital or paper form (not that many of the titles ever even have a paper copy). I don't really watch that much TV or movies, and the ones I do watch are generally acquired from the high seas anyway, which is honestly easier than checking them out of a library. I support the concept and want them to be available to others, I just don't personally feel like I get any value from them.
It's not always about you, mate. It's a public service for all the other folks you can't afford that shit otherwise.
Which is why I said I support them and want them to be available to others?
My condo building has three stations where people can get a doggie bag to pick up their dog shit.
Two are outside the gate and can be used by anybody.
I benefit from people picking up their dog shit even if they don't live here, so it's worth it that my HOA dues go to keep those stations filled.
Same difference. Even if you don't use the library you benefit from people in your city having access to the services that libraries provide. You also benefit by NYPD having $53,000,000 less to spend on weapons.
Cool story bro
Does your local library support Libby?
Libby is an app that allows you to use your library card to check out ebooks, audiobooks, and digitized magazines. Free to anyone with a library card (at a participating library).
That's one of several resources that a lot of libraries provide. Hoopla, as well, for shows and movies. And some have maker spaces, or 3d printers, or loan tools. And they usually have discount passes for local edutainment attractions (museums, aquariums, zoos, etc).
Some give you a month subscription to genealogy sites. Lots of stuff for little kids and families, usually activities or story times or craft classes. Classes for grownups too.
Tons of stuff at/from your local library. More than just books.
Most of my Kindle books are checked out from our library system, and if they are missing one book in a series or don't have something available I can request and results have been pretty good.
There is a LOT of content for the Kindle at the library and I'm in Florida, can't imagine we lead in this.
Amazon keeps pushing the Kindle unlimited but I can't see the value yet. You like it?
Devil's advocate -
Isn't 0.4% of a gigantic city's budget for just library services really fuckin expensive?
Do they mean that their budget's been cut by 50+ million?
Isn’t 0.4% of a gigantic city’s budget for just library services really fuckin expensive?
No. You're talking about something on the order of $3-5 / resident / year. That's significantly less than residents spend on Netflix - $192 / resident / year - by comparison. And they get access to physical space and materials, rather than having to source their own hardware to access the service.
I was talking about the actual figures, which I couldn't find. Did they have their budget cut by 50+ million?
I did a quick search and the library service in England costs 840 million per year for an entire country.
Just wondering what the budget is for a city like that, and why
Edit - apparently there are around 3500 libraries in England, and the budget is twice that of New York, who have approximately 250 libraries
Dunno what people aren't understanding what I'm asking here 😂
It's a gigantic library, #1 in the world by visitors by a lot, #4 by number of books, and they're doing that in NYC in buildings that look like this and a bunch of the books are 600 years old or have George Washington's handwriting on them, so it's real fucking expensive.
It seems like a huge amount to me. 431 million dollars? I like parks and public libraries, they enrich society for everyone. I just would have thought the the library's budget would be less of the total budget.
Idk about NYC, but my local library might as well rebrand to a homeless shelter. I love the concept of libraries, but if they aren't going to throw out the homeless people using it as a place to jerk off and do drugs, then idk what to do. I personally don't feel safe at ours, especially with my kids.
Seriously, have you considered that the same ideology that strive to choke public libraries, also the one that push people to homelessness? (At least unsheltered homelessness)
Libraries are the last bastion of indoor public spaces. If you have a problem with people experiencing homelessness, do something about it. Don’t complain about the one remaining place that welcomes all people.
If you can't be in a library without jerking off in the shared spade, you have to go outside.
Yeah, you shouldn't see homeless people. no one should!
(/s)
I don't think the words "jerking off or doing drugs" were accidental in that comment. The request isn't to ban homeless people from being in the library respectfully.
A rule like "no large backpacks" is bullshit, and anti-homeless. Backpacks aren't a disruption to the library.
A rule like "no jerking off or doing drugs" is perfectly reasonable.
Not one of the responses to your comment seem to actually address the issue.
As usual, lemmy users are too busy trying to prove that they're way holier than thou and forget they live in the real world, not the idealized ones they make up in their overly politicized fantasies.
People not feeling safe due to homelessness at a library will not be using a library, they will not see value in the library because it's not a place they would go to. They also likely won't care about them enough to make additional funding a major concern for them.
If you want to procure more funding for a library, it needs to be a place people see value in.
You can work to solve homelessness and also improve safety of libraries, demonizing someone for not wanting to go somewhere because they're uncomfortable and feel unsafe is not helping support your issue.
