@cherokeepatti @AliceinWonderland Always loved going to the library. Browsing, sitting for hours on a rainy day between shelves or in the fireplace room.
A community center as much as any other, it developed a problem with bed bugs in the seating area. Forced to close and fumigate.
Then it closed every Saturday 10 till noon, to spray for bookworms.
Over the years the patrons changed from young students, to the homeless and an increased security presence.
@Orca4950 One time when my daughter was a young teen I took her to the university art museum. There weren’t very many people there and it was on a Sunday afternoon right after it opened up. The security guard followed us around like she thought we were going to steal some piece of artwork. I had talked to my daughter about not touching anything and to talk in a low voice and all of those manners you would have in such a place and she was doing very well. She was tiptoeing around trying to be stealth about it too. Like my daughter said we were not the only people in the museum for her to direct her attention to, and we weren’t dressed in raggedy clothes either. I don’t know what her problem was but we never went back. And my daughter was in art classes at school and did very well in them so it was like a slap in the face to be treated that way.
My library is part of a borrowing system that spans the state. I input the author who interests me, and all of his or her works pop up...either in hardcover, paperback, kindle, or audible books. I like old fashioned books...not so hard on the eyes.
I usually order in advance of my visit, and go and pick up the book(s) I ordered, but sometimes I want to re-read something. Most recently, I browsed up on the second floor for the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula LeGuin.
We have a new branch library a mile down the road, I look for books but it’s pitiful what they offer as far as books go. I’ve found a few but when we had only one library in this city vs. 3 now I could find more books to read each time than I could carry to the car. I do good to find one or two of interest now.
@AliceinWonderland they tried to fill a need for this side of the city but fell flat. The library is so small there’s not much space for very many books. I don’t see many cars there and the only time is when students need to use computers for homework, sometimes it’s busy then. I could place an order for specific books if I look them up on their website but then have to wait till they are returned and pick them up separately.
@cherokeepatti Knowledge is power patti,so they say.Truth must rate far higher,and I am betting the bastards will not allow public access to it.Ask the vatican 😉
We have one at the office thankfully. My first boss and mentor left me everything. She had an extensive law library and luckily there was room for it here.
@saragoodtimes I used to go to Hastings to rent a video or two and end up staying all afternoon browsing through books and would always buy at least one book. They offered coffee so I’d sit down and read between browsing. I miss that store.
Decades ago the library was basically the only source of information for a multitude of subjects,problem being libraries are government funded.Worse still,as each decade has passed,so has suppression of truth and what really matters in this life.Oh sorry,did I hijack your question?
I usually buy the books now from amazon. I would go to the library in the late 90s often to read books on certain topics that interest me. I liked the kid’s encyclopedias as a child.
I used to go a lot but the closures during COVID and then the never-ending restrictions out me off. The last time I went was just to pay the lockup rent to the council.
@therighttothink50 Yes they had a problem at the central library and had to shut it down and fumigate it. They later removed most of the carpeting. That library was close to a homeless shelter and many homeless would hang out there all day. Since they built new libraries the old building is used as a warming shelter for the homeless during the cold months.
@therighttothink50 you can go to a store and buy clothing or other textiles and bring home bedbugs. You’d be surprised at the number of people who will return items that are worn and the stores will accept them , it was happening at the Walmart where I worked. One young woman (student aged) brought back about 2 dozen clothing items, they smelled funky bad she had worn them so long. And when she was carrying the to the service desk her arms were up and I saw a cardboard price tag still attached to the back of the shorts she was wearing. I guess she does this to keep from having to buy soap & fabric softener & putting quarters in the machines at the laundromat.
@FreestyleArt I think Commies go for such things first, can’t have people knowledgeable about the history of it. Ironically at the little new library a mile from my house on my first visit I found a recent book about Cannibalism and it made quite a bit of references to China. Explained that a lot famines in their history caused it to become more acceptable and the avante-garde crowd in China in the 60’s thought it was acceptable, how common I don’t know.
@cherokeepatti at the same time when the Chinese teenagers kicking Bookshelves. I saw a Poster about the U.S. Military. I can't really describe the code. Title said"The new Army of the U.S." it had a code in the background behind the Title. I couldn't figure out. This was few years ago