libraries

[lonerwolf52]

Quartzsite library is small. But has a substantial variety of DVD movies that can be checked out. They give library cards to nomads! You can then while camped away from Quartzsite checkout audiobooks, ebooks and a HUGE selection of popular magazines including foreign ones in electronic format. All kinds of subjects of magazines.

Quartzsite library cards are accepted “in person” at the Flagstaff public library. Handy if you head to northern AZ for the summer.

The library for a small fee will photocopy or do printing. They also have some private rooms that can be reserved. That is handy if you need a place to stop and do an important video conference at appointment time, in private, rather than attempting it in your vehicle.

Libraries also have access to online versions of Chiltons car repair manuals and genealogy research sources and to various news paper archives, public records and more. Researching subjects has always been one of their primary functions. It is not there just for pleasure reading. They were always an information highway long before the digital age.

They are not closing down anytime soon, instead they are adapting in new ways including some of them offering space for “makers” functions such as 3D printers and computers with 3D design software on them. Those are newly important resources to support the STEM and STEAM programs being taught in public schools. Which goes along with not all families can afford to provide the educational resources needed for their children to do homework and advanced studies to enhance the classroom learning.

Thanks for the heads up about Flagstaff library accepting Quartzite library card. Is "Lilly" the name of the online checkout system? Thanks. Luther.

 

[jacqueg]

The one in Salem Or. is great even has a place for movies to play or it did before we moved away.....
There is even a good park around it for picnics.

Yup, I knew I'd moved to the right town when I learned that for its size, the Salem library has one of the highest circulation numbers in the nation.

And the park is great, perfect spot by the water on a hot day.

 

[jacqueg]

Thanks for the heads up about Flagstaff library accepting Quartzite library card. Is "Lilly" the name of the online checkout system? Thanks. Luther.

Think it's an inadvertent misspelling of Libby - the LibbyApp.

 

[BelgianPup]

The libraries I visit usually seem pretty well attended and lively. Unlike some shopping malls ...

Fewer shootings and thefts, too.

 

[LargeMarge]

... a little extra sparkle...

.
My response about the wonderful new library in Eugene, Oregon, was moderated out of existence.
According to an anonymous moderator, my warning about [redacted] bathing in the library toilets and defecating in the aisles is "demeaning".
.
Despite the anonymous moderator's attempt to protect [redacted] instead of protecting the beloved members of our cherished forum, my warning remains appropriate:
* any time you visit downtown Eugene, keep your head on a swivel.
.
The Eugene library is a magnificent building.
The Eugene library building is in a downtown cesspool.

 

[Morgana]

The "anonymous" comment is a bit pointless since we're all anonymous here.

If you "keep your head on a swivel" in a place where people are "defecating in the aisles," won't that put you at greater risk of stepping in a pile of poop?

I think we're all aware that our inner cities have problems. That librarians haven't found some way to magically solve them shouldn't be surprising. One giant hats-off salute to urban librarians
and to the mods who keep it clean here.

A little compassion toward the homeless and the ill -- and more sense of adventure about visiting weird and special places -- might be more fitting on this forum.

 

[user 423]

The "head on a swivel" warning was probably meant for a different part of that deleted post. Which was probably the main reason the post was deleted.

 

[user 423]

Compassion does have limits. Branch libraries for me.

 

[townline]

I stop in a library every day I can to print out the Daily crossword. Most times a Dime or first page free.

 

[graycurlsvanning]

If you're ever passing through Brownsville, Texas, stop at the library (main branch); it's kind of magical. It has a nice little bookstore too, and a coffee shop (don't know how often that's open), and a Veterans Memorial Park next door. Just everything you'd want an urban library to be, somehow with a little extra sparkle.

I was there today and it got me thinking about other cool libraries I've run across over the years. Tuscaloosa, AL, has got a great one -- open and airy and across the street from a fantastic river walking trail ... Bangor, Maine ... the children's library in Gallup, NM (seriously, if you knew Gallup in the bad/rough old days, that library can almost make you cry) ... there's a brand-new-looking, gorgeously designed library somewhere in the middle of the Ocala National Forest in Florida (I can't remember the name of the town) with a nature boardwalk right next door ... and then there's all those Carnegie Libraries (mostly seen and admired from the outside) ...

Life does have its consolations, eh? and they don't waste all your tax money ...

Books are the best....

 

[user 423]

Townline posted:

I stop in a library every day I can to print out the Daily crossword. Most times a Dime or first page free.

^I used to do that but sometimes got to the copy of the Times too late and some jerk had already started to work the puzzle. Usually in pen. I guess nowadays you can print a digital copy.

 

[jacqueg]

Townline posted:

I stop in a library every day I can to print out the Daily crossword. Most times a Dime or first page free.

^I used to do that but sometimes got to the copy of the Times too late and some jerk had already started to work the puzzle. Usually in pen. I guess nowadays you can print a digital copy.

I pay for the NYT app subscription. You can do the puzzles right on your phone. Better yet, you can access the crossword puzzle archives back to 1996!! Also they are now doing daily Wordle, and there are a few other daily puzzles, including a sudoku.

 

[Morgana]

Portal, Arizona, library. Prettiest location ever. In the Chiricahua Mountains. Fill up on gas before you leave the interstate; some nearby roads off limits to very large RVs; some camping nearby; area supposed to be birder heaven. Library closed Mondays. Decent (only) cafe a block away.

 

[DLTooley]

I was quite the library regular before cellular internet. Each library is a window onto its particular community, they are all great. I do remember some sort of issues with the Cedar City library, but I don't recall the details.
Sedona, Moab, Durango, Bayfield, Telluride, Mancos, and Dolores are all relatively new and show their communities dedication to literacy and communication.

Montrose, Cortez, and Blanding are all older branches, but still great places.

 

[Overland One]

I have had a library card since I was a kid in the 1960's. Whenever I moved, I made sure to get a new card for the local library. Sad to say, I think Spaceman Spiff is probably right with his predictions even though libraries are making decent advances utilizing technology. Myself, as an example, have read thousands of books in my lifetime and at one point I had about 800 or more on my bookshelves but now, I am in the process of getting rid of them before I leave. I do not read much any more as my eyes do not work like they did when I was a kid (I probably need to get glasses) and I can't sit still long enough to read anyway and I have to be doing something else so, I discovered audiobooks back in the 1980's and have a nice collection of them on all of my devices. This way, I can be working on the van, doing dishes, fixing something, etc and listening. I utilize my local library's access to about 5 different audiobook and video media hosting sites and download whatever I want to listen to, all free and it is great. Maybe libraries are not exactly going away but I do think they are transitioning more and more toward a digital existence which as was pointed out, is orders of magnitude cheaper than maintaining large sticks and bricks locations requiring many employees. My daughter is older now but, even though I read many books to her as a kid, and bought her many as well, her generation are not traditional book readers. I do not think she or any of her friends have touched a real book in a very long time. She does everything on her phone including reading ebooks and I am sure my Granddaughter will be even less interested in "real" books. I do not like that this is happening but, I guess it is just part of the evolution of how we store and access information. Remember, the first books were carved into stone tablets and not many people use that medium any more either.

 

[Frood]

Fewer shootings and thefts, too.

I think more theft actually... at least anecdotally. I know people who, because they feel safe in a library, have let their guard down and left their wallet/tablet/etc unattended in their bag while they went to get another book or something... Come back and it's gone.

In malls pickpocketing is a known risk so you tend to be more alert maybe?

Or I could just know unlucky people and this is an anomaly. It's is only anecdotal after all.

 

[Morgana]

Tularosa (NM) public library. Across the street from a tree-shaded babbling brook (or maybe a temporarily babbling irrigation ditch) and an enthusiastic rooster. Got a free book to read with lunch -- a mystery by new-to-me Gerry Boyle called Deadline. Looks pretty good so far. Had delicious (but definitely not "$", thanks a lot Yelp) lunch on a shady patio at a place called Yum-Yum's. The people seemed very nice. I could swear that the wall menu included a Brandon Burger. I didn't ask.

 

[eDJ_]

I was by my public library branch yesterday and noticed a young person holding her Cell up to a book in the reference area. I assumed she was taking pictures of each page to read later. Turned out she was using the Adobe Scan App, or something like it, to scan pages onto her cloud in order to read them later. The Cell is like any other tool I guess, it's just a matter of learning what all it can do and how to use it to those ends.

For Nomads with limited room for books, that free app could be handy.

I was later speaking with the Librarian in charge and she echoed what Overland One is saying in his post above. She indicated that even if they are reading post on message boards.....at least they are reading. (and hopefully increasing their vocabulary and exposure to new ideas)