January 3, 2024
"And you came by and you were pushing in chairs, and you said, 'Hi, my friend, how is it going?' And my dad told you he was not doing well."
"And you said, 'Thank you for coming to the library. Thank you for being here. Never be afraid to ask for help. That’s what the library is for. We’re here to help you.' ... And that meant the world to my dad."/" The father began to go to therapy and work on mending a broken relationship with his family, the person told Mr. Threets.
'And I’m telling you this story because I didn’t save that person’s life,' Mr. Threets said in the video. 'The library did. The library is here to help you. Never be afraid to ask for help.'"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
21 comments:
As a freshman I asked the research librarian for some assistance locating a few microfiche documents. She fabe me the librarian equivalent of piss off…
…the librarians in the Wellesley were nicer until I went to renew my library card and they told me to piss off. My reference to the ‘Free for ALL’ sign at the entrance was not appreciated….
He’s a bit mental, not in HEY! HEY! THIS IS LIBRARY! guy territory but extra points for the hair game…
I haven’t set foot in a library in decades. Why would I?
I have access to every book and manuscript on my iPad. It is extremely rare for me to read a physical book. Old man that I am, my vision ain’t so good. I can magnify the text on my iPad. Even my music manuscripts are all on my iPad. I ceased carrying a half dozen heavy hymnals to services a long time ago.
My local libraries are owned by the radical Woke, feminist left. Their social and artistic programs are all leftist propaganda all the time. I have no reason to patronize them.
The miserable pissy attitudes in response to a feel-good story is in itself a feel-good story.
How does that bile taste?
I love the old Andrew Carnegie libraries that are scattered across Iowa. However, I refuse to go into the new libraries such as the one in Iowa City. Homeless people sleep there all day in the overstuffed chairs. There is the obligatory drag queen story time hour. Cameras had to be placed in the library's public restrooms for safety reasons. And patrons are checking out movies and video games, not books. Pathetic. I just buy my books used on the Althouse Amazon portal (really inexpensive), and then if it's a book I don't want to keep, just give it to friends or family, or donate it to Good Will.
I love libraries. I visit as often as I can. A new library card is almost always the first thing I get when I stay anywhere.
Here in Boulder- meth users closed down the main library for several weeks - to cleanse the place of the toxicity.
the transient meth users are back at the library.
The leftist a-holes who run the city are fine with it. Same with our vile and corrupt secretary of state - Jenna Griswold(D).
And then every body clapped.
That story is not real.
Watched a few of his tiktoks. Why not be that way? Is his relentlessly upbeat nature by choice? Is it his authentic self? If it works for him, so be it. Some people need to be bathed in the waters of positivity and he seems to be a dependable fountain of it. There's no harm for being a spot of brightness in what might be the dreary lives of others who have so many real life struggles.
Modern libraries ain't just about books and magazines. Our two-year-old suburban branch (the second new and expanded building in the last 35 years) has the following Innovation Center equipment available for everyone ...
3D Printer
Vinyl Printer / Cutter
Wacom Digital Drawing Tablets
Cricut Maker
Direct to Garment Printing
Embroidery Machine
Heat Press
Mug Press
Inkjet Printer
Laser Engraver
Sewing Machine
Sublimation Printer
... and they offer classes in how to use them as well as ongoing technical support.
Gone: Vinyl records, cassette tapes
Fading fast: Printed books, DVDs
For decades this branch has been a place for students to gather and do homework before their parents get home from work. They now have small rooms with doors so they can work in groups without bothering others.
The only constant is change.
I don't think the story or the librarian are fake. More power to him. I love libraries and have many fond memories of good old-fashioned research back in the stacks, at some worn-out study carrel, in my student days. I think it's kind of unfortunate that it is an era that has mostly passed by.
And kudos to the NYT for finally writing something worth reading about and not encountering some foul bias.
Our local and highly rated community college recently closed its library and went fully digital. They gave away all of the books. I spent days loading up my car with fantastic books I would have never been willing to spend the money on, plus hundreds of more ordinary but interesting books. For the first couple of days, it was just a handful of weirdos like myself (many were acquaintances) going crazy prowling the shelves. Then the meth addicted hoi-polloi cottoned on that some books are worth money on ebay, and they descended en masse.
A knowledgeable librarian is a treasured resource. I recently emailed the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris a question about a 19th century business and they sent me a detailed response. Librarians and archivists are to be valued.
On this question, librarians are fond of quoting Neil Gaiman:
"Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one" ("right one" of course can mean lots of things beyond just 'accurate' - it can also mean the right answer to meet the patron's needs). One could make an argument that search engines (which, by the way, do not cover all of human knowledge) actually makes librarians even more vital, in that librarians can help patrons cut through the noise, use different and better search methods, and find material that *isn't* indexed in search engines.
There's more than a little "secular church" feel to modern libraries.
'And I’m telling you this story because I didn’t save that person’s life,' Mr. Threets said in the video. 'The library did.
The library is an inanimate object.
A competent librarian would know that.
Reminds me of a great little book (translated from Japanese) I recently read (& highly recommend):
"What You Are Looking For Is in the Library: A Novel"
Libraries are mostly great...I was at one last night and spent my childhood visiting once a week without fail.
What I do object to are the ultra-liberal librarian associations.
The 'featured' table at the library in my town (wealthy, small town, 90% white) was stocked with cook books featuring 'Queer' cooking and 'Black' cooking.
OK, gays and blacks are probably great cooks. But the agenda was to exclude whites and heterosexuals. It was a purely political play.
When I was on the University's SACS Reaccreditation Committees (2003 and 2013 IIRC) I liked to quote homeboy Shelby Foote's definition of a university as a collection of buildings surrounding a library, just to put things in perspective.
I became an academic librarian because I was heavy user of the public library as a kid. And within the academic niche, I was in the special collections niche--as far from what this kid does as possible.
Most of my MLIS program classmates were public or school librarians, either already or in-the-making, and I admired them but didn't envy them and certainly didn't plan on being one. (They were also mostly women, of course, and not much to look at, of course.)
I still visit the campus or main public library regularly, for books and music CDs, and marvel at what the public librarians have to put up with (and too often tolerate or encourage).
Don't get me started on the ALA, which I served in various history-related committee and taskforce roles as part of my faculty service to professional organizations obligation.
Its politics were shite then and have only gotten worse.
How about "The Abortion, An Historical Roamnce" by Richard Brautigan? They accepted every book brought in, even books made entirely out of bacon.
"What You Are Looking For Is in the Library: A Novel"
MikeD, my HS librarian friend gave this book to me for Christmas. Glad to hear her book taste is a great as ever.
Post a Comment