How do you feel about your library card?

You know who you are.

Ignorance is NOT bliss in this day and age. MAGAts need to know this.

My county library has stopped charging late fees--which is great.

But my favorite library still does--not great.

I love my local library. There every week or two.

My local library bans DL on their wifi.

A torrential downpour started while I was in the library recently without an umbrella and having parked at the farthest end of their huge parking lot. I decided to wait out the rain in the library and logged on to their wifi. Of course DL is always my first stop. Much to my surprise, DL BANNED for content! Naughty, naughty DL unfit for the pearl clutchers in my County.

Kanopy TV doesn’t accept my local library. Fuck you, Kanopy TV!

Yes, I always ask the librarian what a good book for a 56-year old guy would be. Normally she gives me "The Three Musketeers" and then I read it out on the fire escape over and over again. Eventually I'm going to read the entire library.

Mmmyasss.

In all fairness there is a good bit of hardcore pornography, R5.

I read 235 books last year, all from the library. Even conservatively at $15 each I saved over $3,500 by borrowing and not buying.

R68 I think the library has to subscribe to it. Whatever eBook service they use should also have films.

Fuck, R6 😔

It’s the library system that purchases Kanopy, unfortunately it’s a very expense service and not sustainable for many libraries. Even the New York City three libraries eventually discontinued it. Hoopla is another streaming platform with movies along with a huge selection of audiobooks and eComics that many libraries have available.

During the pandemic, my library offered to pick out a personalized selection of books.

Every time, they delivered some really great books that I’d never have found on my own.

My point: don’t hesitate to ask staff for recommendations.

R11 Some libraries had streaming movies available through Overdrive, unfortunately they are through the Overdrive app, which is going away at the end of April, replaced completely through Libby. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be compatible with Libby and aren’t showing up there.

Yes, I have been a lifelong library patron and do not like owning books. It is a mindset that came in very handy when I was young and moved around a lot. I don't even have to visit my local branch anymore, I get everything in Kindle through Libby. Viva la bibliotheca!

It gets me into Widener AND Lamont

I am so thankful to my mother for encouraging me to read at a young age by allowing me to get my own library card. I had fallen behind in second grade because of a health issue. The library was my favorite place on earth and I looked forward to going every Saturday and Sunday for story time. By the time I was entering the fourth grade I was reading at a six grade level . Getting lost in a book is my favorite thing to do to this day. It opens the world to you.

Same here R18! Growing up, I absolutely LIVED for the summer reading contest at my local library each year.

I'm constantly amazed at the resources that my library has lurking around that never get brought up. I only just found out recently that we can checkout museum tickets and day passes to the zoo.

I love that you can get current issues of foreign language magazines on Libby. Used to be like Christmas getting a year-old copy of Número at a bookstore.

I tried to go in to get a library card, but I got mad halfway through the process and went home. Filling out paperwork and having them process my driver's license wasn't enough, they wanted proof of address documents too. No thanks big brother!

How is your driver's license not proof enough?

I would assume r22 didn't go to the library that serves the community where he actually lives.

R19, R20, R21, I remember the monthly kids magazines, does anyone remember the name?

I now prefer audio books. I do like podcasts.

One thing my local library (brick & mortar) does have is a CD music collection. I like to borrow CDs and make a copy to my hard drive.

ATTENTION TEXANS: You can get a Houston Public Library card with any valid Texas driver's license, regardless of where in Texas you live. Lots of ebooks and streaming stuff.

Kanopy is a fucking rip for libraries/taxpayers. They tried to make a lot of hype about it so that patrons would request/demand it, and they price gouge libraries per play-- with a 'play' being as little as the first few minutes of a film that you change your mind about and never finish. Their selection is not that good, either. They're assholes. Use the money you save on books for a Criterion Channel subscription.

Why your library wised up and stopped offering Kanopy:

We had people plugging Kanopy like crazy on here fairly recently.

R25: I think it was Highlights?

Yes. Yes it does.

Who are you to judge me?

R30 There was also Stone Soup, which I don't think is around anymore.

R33 Nope, it is, it’s a literary and arts magazine where kids submit their work and get published. Unfortunately, other kids don’t find it all that interesting, it’s mainly for the grandparents, aunts and uncles and parents bragging rights. It’s the kind of thing hard working kid Sylvia Plaths wannabes do.

I feel guilty about not getting my ebooks through the library but when I want a book I want it then and there, and the waitlists for ebooks can be months long.

Librarian here! This thread warms my cold heart. We know not to get Kanopy, because Hoopla almost broke us. We were among the first to offer Hoopla, and it was fine at first…but then it became wildly popular and it just wasn’t sustainable for us. We are a fairly large system, but even we couldn’t afford the $10,000 a month it was costing us. Thanks to funding from our state library, we are providing it again. We only offer the audios and ebooks—no movies, comics, or music. 3 checkouts a month. Not great, but at least we have it again and don’t have to pay for it.. Personally, I miss the comics!

I’m also encouraged by our statistics—we are back up to pre-pandemic levels in some areas, and have even surpassed some of those pre-2020 benchmarks. We are predicting a HUGE Summer Reading Program. It is great to see.

I love it!

R36 Which state are you in that’s providing Hoopla if I may ask?

R34 I used to be an avid reader of it. I never submitted anything, though.

R36- We love and appreciate you! ❤️

R37 Not as much as me!

Librarian here again. Much like many libraries these days, we have been slammed with book challenges. This one small group of weirdos filed challenges on 22 books. Of course, they were mostly LGBT books. They made the mistake of announcing they were coming to one of our board meetings, and the word got out. There were about six of them, and about 40 anti-censorship folks showed up and made them look like idiots. It has, hopefully died down for the moment. We did not remove any of the books.

If you love your library, find out if they are having people show up to protest books at public meetings, and if so, try to attend to support the library. It makes a difference.

Were they for children's books?

Our city commission meetings are discussing whether to adopt a policy of making clear distinctions between actual city residents and those non-residents who are representing special interest groups during "public comment", which up until recently was usually just residents.

R43, not all of them, but mostly. I don’t even know all the titles, but Fun Home was one—an adult graphic novel. Several young adult books, and I think a couple of kids picture books.

[quote]How do you feel about your library card?

It's decently hung, but I really wish it would grow out its pubes.

I've read almost every book from Trump administration people that my library stocks. I can get the dirt without putting money in their pockets.

R45 I'm not going to get all up in arms defending the library without checking what the complaints about the books specifically are. The complaints about pornographic and pedophilic children's books are frequently legitimate.

R48 please provide one example. Anyone can (and has) complained about books they think are pornographic/pedophilic which aren’t. Claiming something is hardly proof.

Your blanket statement is useless as support for your assertion.

I love my library. I've had a library card everywhere I've lived since I started kindergarten or first grade, many decades ago. Like r19, I participated in the library's reading program every summer. I was usually the number one kid in town. If it wasn't me, it was my best friend. We'd ride our bikes to the library every week and take out five books each.

I still find reading essential. I'm retired, and during the pandemic, I read at least two books a week. I get kindle books. I can't read the small print in most regular books any longer. So glad for kindle.