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not profound
This statement is not as profound as you think it is. I like libraries and yes they have some role in helping people get access to computers to look for jobs and write resumes but there are alternatives to the library for this.
Job centers
When I said that “there are alternatives to the library for this” I was not just referring to the Internet. The premise of the statement about cutting libraries in a recession is like cutting hospitals in a plague is based around the idea that libraries are used as job centers. A place to fill out applications and look for jobs online. Some states have job centers that provide this role.
Here is a corollary statement about libraries that provide entertainment items during a recession.
LIBRARIES PROVIDING POPULAR MOVIES DURING A RECESSION IS LIKE A HOSPITAL PROVIDING KEYCHAINS DURING A PLAGUE*
*I wrote it in all caps and will soon have the statement on a t-shirt so don’t if think about doubting the truth of the statement.
so…
entertainment is not allowed during a recession? All those popular novels, biographies, cookbooks, etc. should not be available? Or is it only multimedia entertainment that should go?
Libraries provide that rare space where you can apply for a job, check your email, get some books for your kid’s homework, get help starting your research paper and get something fun to read, listen to, or watch when you’re done. What is so horrible about that?
“Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds”
-Candide by Voltaire
“A place to fill out
“A place to fill out applications and look for jobs online. Some states have job centers that provide this role.”
And the state I live in does not. The Employment office sends people to use the computers and resources at the public library for job hunting and for resume writing. Job seekers are sent from the employment office to the library in order to look at the employment office’s website of job listings.
There are no other “job centers”. There is no alternative to the library.
I work in a library that’s
I work in a library that’s across the street from a job center. We get people at our library all the time who’re looking for jobs and come to the library because the job center is either too busy for them to get in there or not open.
The purpose of the library is to share resources and information with all constituents that would otherwise be unavailable. I certainly couldn’t afford to buy every book I read or every DVD I watch. The library allows me to share these with others and to divide up the costs.
Fancy font
So if I write – “George Bush was the best president ever” in a fancy font and kick the font size up a couple notches does it make it true?
Put these slogans in a big font
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
don’t forget..
SILENCE IS SECURITY
…to be stupid and
…to be stupid and ignorant; is this what we as a country has to offer? Coming from a rural community, Libraries are more than ever a place for technolgy, reading, job seekers, resume builder, friendship, childrens’ programs and more. Don’t shot us down due to your inability to see what is staring at you.
Totally missed the point
Respectfully to the commentators below, libraries aren’t about the computers, they are about access to information to improve yourself to get and create jobs in a recession. Schools and really any center of learning cannot operate without a library to supply and store the material they want to teach. Even bookstores where people purchase textbooks are basically private, pay-for libraries; you just get to keep the books because you paid for them instead of the public.
To the second comment, yes fancy fonts and type sizes make it true.
Keychains
LIBRARIES PROVIDING POPULAR MOVIES DURING A RECESSION IS LIKE A HOSPITAL PROVIDING KEYCHAINS DURING A PLAGUE
Re: Keychains
I sure love plague swag.
tee-shirt
for those of you who LIKE THIS, there’s a tee-shirt available…here
privilege does not equate to rightness
to even think to write the above comments (besides totally missed the point) most likely means you are from a status of being privileged to obtain these things through other means. Yes there are a variety of places you can get things that are at a library, but libraries at their best are sources of information, community spaces, and free access to books, music, videos, magazines, newspapers, etc. In order to upkeep the integrity of our nation’s future and expand people’s curiousities and interests, libraries are vital, especially for those who don’t have the monetary funds to buy everything they need or want.
Everybody has the Internet
I mean, golly, everybody has the internet because broadband is magic and goes everywhere at all times. And everybody has computers because Steve Jobs is actually a computer fairy and brings them to poor little boys and girls who can’t afford them. And all schools have lots of computers and Internet and computer instruction, because we live in a country where people respect public education and equal access to information. So libraries are completely unnecessary.
Oh wait, nothing I just said is true. Shit. I guess we do need libraries.
We may know that libraries are more than job centers
but most people outside of libraries (and plenty in) will interpret this statement the way the original commentator did.
And too many librarians and library administrators are selling us (out) as really expensive job centers. If I were in city government and heard that libraries are critical because they help people apply for jobs, I would cut the budgets, set up a bunch of storefronts with computers and people trained to help you create resumes. Don’t need an MLS, book budgets, or weight bearing floors for that.
LIBRARIES: THE WRONG SOLUTION FOR ALL OUR PROBLEMS
not just job centers:
What about the “teach yourself HTML” or “sew your own clothes” books? you don’t think people that are unemployed might use their free time to improve their job skills, or try to economize by growing vegetables or doing their own home repairs? How about learning a foreign language? How about people with children- when you lose YOUR job, are you still going to buy your toddler as many picture books? Or do you just hand your toddler a laptop instead of reading to him/her?
And the pleasure reading and movies prevent people from severe depression after being unemployed for months on end. Just because I can’t afford to buy novels if I want to pay my rent doesn’t mean I no longer feel the need to read for pleasure.
The ignorance of many commenters is astounding
Libraries also have a strong connection to the literacy of kids in the area.
If parents can’t afford to buy books, the library helps them get books for their kids. It helps the kids learn to read. (Not to mention story hours and so on, and ESL tutoring, and on and on.)
I bet the disapproving commenters above are the kind who love to complain about illiterate youth, kids who drop out of school, teen crime, and so on.
Libraries help prevent this. Please think before you post.