Are libraries truly venerable? I see them filled up with conservative bullshit that spouts unneeded bigotry. I like the comments of libraries and fully support their continuation but to act as though “real” libraries have muddled the idea as well and before these
any person can sit down and maybe snooze in a comfortable chair
any person can ask for help with anything
librarians help people sign their kids up for school, find an apartment, learn a language, prove the existence of bigfoot, do their homework, get that perfect love poem, decide on a tattoo, obtain an old map of their neighborhood, whatever whatever etc etc
Librarians are consistently the most badass profession when it comes to resisting fucked up shit. I first learned about this "post 9/11": America’s Most Dangerous Librarians - a time when there were very few if any other organized groups with power (sorry ANSWER) who were in substantial opposition. ISPs, phone companies, mail delivery, schools, employers, retail, transportation... all other institutions caved instantly. While you hear about pharmacists, doctors, nurse etc grassing people out for trying to access contraception, when do you ever hear the same of librarians? It's not cause no one ever asks a librarians. It's cause they know to look up the information and keep their mouths shut. Shh.
During the initial COVID pandemic, libraries reacted with alacrity. Many of them initiated "online memberships" which let anyone who asked (no proof of residency) have access to all their resources.
I’m not disagreeing librarians aren’t good people generally. It’s more about the fact that libraries aren’t some mythical perfect idea that can’t be harmed by little libraries existing. They aren’t perfect and even if they were, little libraries wouldn’t affect that or harm libraries in any way
Vaccines require a lot of knowledge to distribute and books don’t. People also won’t get multiple vaccines but they can easily have multiple books. They aren’t even comparable.
how an institution is wielded by those in power should not sway us from their support. this is part of the rightwing strategy to privatize what's left of the commons. cf the post office
I fully support libraries. But this also shouldn’t change us from both critiquing them and realizing that our support of libraries is not, on its own, a valid critique of little libraries
Are libraries truly venerable? I see them filled up with conservative bullshit that spouts unneeded bigotry. I like the comments of libraries and fully support their continuation but to act as though “real” libraries have muddled the idea as well and before these
Yes. I think they are.
A public library is a place that
librarians help people sign their kids up for school, find an apartment, learn a language, prove the existence of bigfoot, do their homework, get that perfect love poem, decide on a tattoo, obtain an old map of their neighborhood, whatever whatever etc etc
Librarians are consistently the most badass profession when it comes to resisting fucked up shit. I first learned about this "post 9/11": America’s Most Dangerous Librarians - a time when there were very few if any other organized groups with power (sorry ANSWER) who were in substantial opposition. ISPs, phone companies, mail delivery, schools, employers, retail, transportation... all other institutions caved instantly. While you hear about pharmacists, doctors, nurse etc grassing people out for trying to access contraception, when do you ever hear the same of librarians? It's not cause no one ever asks a librarians. It's cause they know to look up the information and keep their mouths shut. Shh.
During the initial COVID pandemic, libraries reacted with alacrity. Many of them initiated "online memberships" which let anyone who asked (no proof of residency) have access to all their resources.
I’m not disagreeing librarians aren’t good people generally. It’s more about the fact that libraries aren’t some mythical perfect idea that can’t be harmed by little libraries existing. They aren’t perfect and even if they were, little libraries wouldn’t affect that or harm libraries in any way
if there is a public hospital distributing vaccines in an area, then some random person starts doing it from their house, what do you think of that?
Vaccines require a lot of knowledge to distribute and books don’t. People also won’t get multiple vaccines but they can easily have multiple books. They aren’t even comparable.
how an institution is wielded by those in power should not sway us from their support. this is part of the rightwing strategy to privatize what's left of the commons. cf the post office
I fully support libraries. But this also shouldn’t change us from both critiquing them and realizing that our support of libraries is not, on its own, a valid critique of little libraries
sure agreed on both points