Public Libraries can be wonderful places where children and adults can find books that they can see themselves reflected in, no matter who they are, and books that can introduce them to entire other lived experiences. Both are so valuable!
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If you find yourself on the side of those who wish to limit what types of families and lives and experiences people can find in books on a library shelf then you are not on the side of libraries and what they stand for at their core.
While I have loved libraries since I was a pup, they have never been by only resource to discover new books. I have friends, family, reviews, and the internet. Any book I want to read, I can find and buy within three minutes or less.
I remember fondly a trip to buy second hand set of Book of Knowledge encyclopedias with my dad. All in all, that gift was the best I ever received. I loved my idle time and going to the bookcase and selecting a lettered volume and take to my room and just open a new world for the day!
And the public library on campus is actually where I was able to do research into scientific publications to learn more about autism, and verify that I most likely do have it even if doctors won't test me for an official diagnosis!
Hey do you know where I could put this where more people would watch it? Not a book, but the dialogue... It's an animated short I made four years ago about Trump's second term. It got 400 views. But a lot of it is actually happening now. I'd like to help people laugh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY94BGpyCY4&t=4s
Lol. Alright, thank you. Personally, I've always assumed Canadians know how to get to anywhere or anything much sooner than an American can figure it out. Just look what we've done to our politics!
Agree and very thankful for the extensive network of public libraries over here in Finland. One benefit they also bring is by leveling the playingfield between who can afford or have access to all this knowledge.
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I visited mine today to pick up two books I had on hold and left with those and one more by James Patterson and picked up 4 withdrawn books for a buck.
Public libraries offer safe spaces for everyone. Programming, computers, media and social services for everyone. They are so important for anyone marginalized. I’m proud to have worked at one for 30 years.
And they're so much more. You can borrow tools at a lot of libraries. They have DVDs that aren't necessarily available on the streaming services. Asked to send a financial company a fax and wondering where to ever find a fax machine? Look to your local library.
They have rooms you can reserve for group meetings. On vacation at the far end of our state, my husband once taught a music lesson over Zoom from a library (the house had no internet).
I don't take advantage of my library system's offerings as much as I should, but they're plentiful.
My library is a welcome respite in this very weird world. Spacious, comfortable, great staff, quiet, great children's section, large meeting rooms, small meeting rooms, computers & tables where folks do puzzles. Puzzles seem to be done by older folks who go there for companionship.
This library worker approves! We are a very open minded, liberal group, except for a few lime ducks. Work has been a place where I can speak freely with my coworkers. At home, while my family is on the same page, we aren't allowed to speak "his" name.
I so agree! When I was young I loved going to the library to pick out books to read!! The smell of old books was enticing!! I’d come home with the maximum I was allowed to check out and just READ!!
Yes, and they're more than just a collection of books. Our local library hosts all sorts of events, from poetry readings to job fairs. They're a community hub.
Yep. As a closeted queer kid in 1980s/early 90s Scotland my confirmation that women were “allowed” to be gay & that lesbians existed came via a Pat Arrowsmith novel I stumbled across in Central Edinburgh library.
I started my journey quite small
In the library with books short and tall
From Richard Scarry and Seuss
To stories of Apollo and Zeus
My brain wanted to absorb them all
I wish everyone felt this way. I will always fight for my library even when it’s hard, even when everyone says I’m wrong. Everyone deserves to find something they love to read
You're so right. When I was in middle school, I developed a great relationship with the school's librarian. She noticed my interest in reading, and she started to recommend books. She opened my eyes to other worlds I would've not been aware of. The war on books these days brings tears to my eyes.
Some libraries also allow you to use Kanopy, a streaming service with many classic and influential films. Though I prefer owning books, I have a library card for this purpose. Libraries aren't old, they're keeping up with the culture.
My local library is a highlight of my childhood memories. That I thought the Crouch Library was actually called the Couch Library for several years is besides the point.
My kids read about the entire 398.2 section. We started when they were babies, and the kids finished it by the time they got to middle school. Wanted to teach them about others and how its ok to be different. We went to the library at least twice a week.
Growing in a highly polluted city in a family with little means, libraries gave me endless opportunities to learn about life's possibilities, expand my creativity, and explore the world beyond my neighborhood until I found a way to fulfill my life's dreams. Libraries and librarians ROCK!
I was very lucky growing up with a grandma who was a librarian. I was showered with knowledge and information outside of my lived experience because of her.
As a child, every free moment was spent at the library. The librarian would have a pile of books she felt I would like waiting for me. Happy happy memories.
Spent over an hour yesterday with our 7 and 10 yo grandkids. They know how operate the computer check out machines and have their acct numbers memorized. I can’t remember my birthday.
Also one of the few places in our society where a grown adult can use the potty without buying something or begging for a key (usually).
We can actually change that, especially since anyone who isn't constipated or dehydrated usually needs to urinate or defecate every few hours as human biology.
I used to take my daughter to the local library when she was between 4 & 12, when she started to have a life of her own. Every saturday morning & I usually had to drag her out in time for lunch. Libraries are the best.
Incidentally, she is now a writer.
I would “literally” die without my library. Our downtown one is breath taking and my “Woodstock” branch is a staple of my weekly if not bi-monthly trip! The web site makes it so easy to find every horror and thriller book available. Libby-app-audio-brilliant!
I volunteered at my local library for years until I was too pregnant to shelve books comfortably. It’s been about two years and I miss it so much. Libraries are so integral to our communities.
Good places for pensioners to grab a quick bite and keep a bit warm to. The Harris in Preston has been under renovation since before Covid, it is supposed to open its doors again next year, it houses not just the libraries but the museum too.
I love our local library having just rejoined. I am working my way through the alphabet by surname borrowing a novel and detective book each time I go. I am currently on #O and have booked by @richardosman.bsky.social and @hotpatooties.bsky.social on loan at the moment
I work near one of the old private libraries. An age before Tilden, Astor, and Lennox combined their stacks to create the NYPL. George Wash II’s private library on 13th st
I live in middle TN. One of the counties close to mine has banned 430 books from their PUBLIC library. Another close county banned 188 books from their PUBLIC library. This one has one of our State Universities in the county.
Nevermind books, there are tools and boardgames and maker spaces and food programs and clinics and childrens' services and free diapers and pads and craft nights and toys and workshops and training programs and Internet access and social workers and cute librarians with weird earrings and animals an
I stopped in at my local library just this afternoon to return 2CDs and 2 CD audio books, pick up 2 more CDs I had on hold, then I bought 4 books from the Friends of the Library sale section. Libraries are essential services!
Public libraries are vital to communities! After Hurricane Helene, public libraries were some of the only free public spaces with access to the internet!
As a toddler mom, libraries have been invaluable! Just this week, I needed to get to a city two hours before an event (to avoid major traffic) and we found a new library to pass the time. Fun, free, safe, educational!
I truly hope that with all these book removals in schools, they find a new home in public libraries! Libraries are multifaceted space that offer endless opportunities for learning and exploration! 📚✨
Our local library has the cutest little kids nook with a little chicken coop they can play in 🐔 needless to say, everyone has a good time whether we can read yet or not
They offer E books and audiobooks too. Even if you can’t make it in, your local library can still provide services. I access my public library’s digital site almost daily.
When I went to the bookmobile, I looked for fairy tales/folk tales from other cultures. I remember a book of Asian fairy tales, mostly Chinese, with stories about how the Chinese calendar animals came to be. And African folk tales like Anansi the spider.
In the UK we have 'borrowbox' . Basically it's an online library. Which is great for me as I live in Bavaria. I also saved a few quid by leaving audible.
I loved my local library growing up. Children’s section was upstairs which was thrilling as I grew up in Florida and didn’t get to experience stairs much. I knew exactly where the Nancy Drew Mysteries were and would hold my breath hoping they hadn’t all been checked out before I arrived. Miss that.
Grew up going to public libraries, my mom volunteered at my school libraries (and never promoted a book ban), and I thrive on libraries. Even the audiobooks from Libby.
If you don't have a library near you, you can get an app called Libby, you can sign in with a library card and check out books and audio books digitally!
My daughter expressed once that being a librarian would be so boring. I asked her how much she enjoyed going and finding new stories…and then asked her to imagine getting to be the person who got to choose everyone’s imaginative adventures. We need to protect our libraries and everyone’s stories.
I was so lucky. I had parents who read to me, and I learned to read very early in my life. Every other Tuesday night, after he got home from work, my Dad would walk my little sister and me to the library. A long 10 blocks; we didn't have a car, but we always had books!
When I was 11 or 12, I read a book about a nazi skinhead. I can't remember the name of it, or much about it at all, except that I remember being revolted by the hate and racism. (It was a redemption arc story, so the titular skinhead realized how wrong it was along with me).
I loved reading as long as I can remember. Visiting the library was always a treat for me. I loved the way it smelled, the quiet and the grandmotherly librarian that always smiled while looking over her bifocals. It was a safe space for me, and still is. Great memories!
I went through a phase (a couple decades long) where I thought libraries were antiquated and unnecessary in a modern world. Then we got hit by a pandemic and I got so bored sitting at home that I took up reading again and I re-discovered all that the library has to offer. So… I agree.
My “red” county is currently on the rampage to close our county library because the very hard right commissioner thinks that there are drag show story hours there. There’s NEVER been one but because he’s heard it could possibly happen at a library somewhere some day. It must close. Insanity!
We didn’t have a library where I grew up, but we had a book mobile.
I remember sitting on my front stoop with my books just waiting for it to come around the corner.
Libraries are the heartbeat of America. 2015 turned them into rebels. Can you imagine something as innocuous and helpful as a library becoming a battleground for Democracy?
My best friend and I used to go to the public library every week, riding our bikes and carrying back as many books as we could hold to get us through the week! Some of the best times of my life were finding new authors and adventures!
I visited my local library on Oswestry to get a few more books -There was local author, Rosy Gee doing a book signing her new book / got a signed copy !!! Brilliant in my local Library ❤️
Tango Makes Three is a picture book based on a TRUE STORY of a penguin family that lived in the Central Park Zoo. Two male penguins hatched an egg and raised a baby together. People complain that it’s a story about gay penguins! The Bluest Eye is by and about people of color.
Trust me, it's a new concept here, aka Moms for Liberty. Banning a book b/c it mentions that Rosa Park is black defeats the purpose of why students would read the book in the first place.
It's not called compromise but one political party in charge pushing an agenda they believe keeps them in office. I'm sure all those politicians read those books and turned ok, all of a sudden it's an issue.
When I was in high school and college I use to fall asleep in the library. The librarian would wake me as closing time. I loved being there. It was my escape to another world.
I'm going to our new public library to sign up. I haven't been in ages mainly because I have to pay to join but all the librarians and #booksky have me motivated. I also will need a new booklist to read in bed!
So true. I’m not much of a reader except when I go by the library and come out with three books they had on display.
In one of them I learned about the Chuck Berry song Around and Around which Grateful Dead played a lot.
The library was my sanctuary during my childhood & tween years. I loved the feeling of choosing & then coming home with a bag full of fresh books to immerse myself in over the following fortnight.
I’ve loved my childhood library forever. The books called to me, and the quiet calm was a haven of peace. I’ll always be grateful to those kind, knowledgeable librarians. ❤️❤️
libraries are also super-important resources for people who don’t have access to the internet at home, or for vocational courses and resources, or even heating and cooling centres during extreme weather ❤️❤️
Culture is an interesting word. Maybe I'll look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary, but it obviously stems from the verb cultivate and a Latin root. We should want to cultivate community, learning, safe and quiet spaces, access to the mental protein that builds strong character.
Sadly it’s a repeat of the past. Trump used every play book including Jim Crow voter suppression tactics to get elected. Why we can’t imagine is because we were hopeful that life and the world moved forward not back. 😢
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i've spent 100s of hours in libraries
it's shaped my mind and perspective of the world
browsing is more fun when all it takes is a library card ✨
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Andy's legacy & ticket to heaven.
I don't take advantage of my library system's offerings as much as I should, but they're plentiful.
In the library with books short and tall
From Richard Scarry and Seuss
To stories of Apollo and Zeus
My brain wanted to absorb them all
We can actually change that, especially since anyone who isn't constipated or dehydrated usually needs to urinate or defecate every few hours as human biology.
I love your post 🤍
Incidentally, she is now a writer.
George R.R. Martin — 'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.'
Open your mind while charging your phone.
I remember sitting on my front stoop with my books just waiting for it to come around the corner.
Minds are malleable
It takes less than 2 seconds for an image to be imprinted into an imagination permanently
i remember as a child seeing vhs videos called faces of dx4th
To this day decades later i'm still scarred by those images
it'a not a new phenomena
societies choose what is healthy and what is destructive to the fabric communally devised preferentially
words and concepts are powerful
note the catholic church, the u.s. government ect.
Watch the movie Fahrenheit 451 sometime.
(Side note: I guess you can't italicize titles on this platform, either. Huh.)
what r we talkin' 'bout
about The Bluest Eye. About And Tango Makes Three.
about Hair Love. about Genderqueer.
They banned gender queer and life of rosa parks
Isn't this how a duality of citizenry maintains compromise for a civil society?
In one of them I learned about the Chuck Berry song Around and Around which Grateful Dead played a lot.