• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 days ago

      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.

      • librejoe@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        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.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Killing libraries is not about saving money, it’s about restricting knowledge. Beware the leader that doesn’t want the people to read.

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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      12 days ago

      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.

      • barsquid@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        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.

      • dezmd@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        I mean, I dunno, ACAB and fuck tha police and all that jazz, but 5 bil for 36k is 138k/each, and that’s not too unreasonably bad for NYC cost of living vs the inherent danger and work regime of the job as a police officer in such a populous city.

      • rozodru@lemmy.ca
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        12 days ago

        and they hire pretty much any joe schmo off the street to be a cop. I’ve seen NYPD officers and good lord they make Uvalde cops look like navy seals.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Can’t they just sell one of those sound-weapon equipped tanks from the NYPD to cover the entire library budget?

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
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    12 days ago

    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!?

  • SOB_Van_Owen@lemm.ee
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    11 days ago

    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.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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      11 days ago

      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…

      • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        is absolutely just a big PsyOp by private and public owner-class types.

        Bro, I think people just don’t ready physical books anymore lol

        • cheesepotatoes@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          Libraries offer far more than just books. They often double as community centers and offer lots of free services that could really help lower income demographics. They actually also offer audiobooks a lot of the time.

          Besides all that, of all government services that are available, they’re cheap as fuck to operate comparatively speaking. The only reason to target libraries is because it gets the mouth breathers thumping. Nobody burning books (metaphorically and literally) has ever been on the right side of history.

        • Gigasser@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          Nah they definitely still do. But reading stuff takes time, and many people in the US just don’t have that time to dedicate. So many people have to work long ass hours, and then they come back home and do you think they want to read? If they have a family or have a significant other, I think it far more likely that they would think it’s the best usage of their time to spend time with them, and in alot of ways it is. Lack of leisure time is the problem.

        • Glytch@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          That’s why a lot of libraries let you check out ebooks and audiobooks through apps.

          Properly funded libraries keep up with technology to better serve the community.

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          Do you think that company owners want to pay more or less for employees?

          Do you think you would pay more or less for an employee that doesn’t have any other good options for a job?

          What is the best way to expand your job options?

          Companies and politicians are absolutely incentivized to keep a good portion of the populace stupid. Critical thinking and education are detrimental to both, except where you provide some service that requires it.

    • psvrh@lemmy.ca
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      12 days ago

      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.

      • huginn@feddit.it
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        12 days ago

        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.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      It was wild to see, but New Yorkers seem to love picking the guy who promises to be the biggest asshole to homeless people.

      • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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        11 days ago

        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.

  • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    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.

  • randon31415@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    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.

  • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    12 days ago

    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.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    12 days ago

    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?

  • moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 days ago

    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

    • Venator@lemmy.nz
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      10 days ago

      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.