Is it possible to fix libraries? What I mean by fix is make them interesting for normal people to go to...

i have an easier time reading on my kindle paperwhite to be honest. i can select the exact amount of text i want per displayed block.

The largest library in Los Angeles already did this, which was dumb because their are four Starbucks and some indie coffee shops within walking distance, and the place is still overrun by homeless people. When you walk into the lower levels you get hit with an unmistakable stench of unwashed body odor.

Librarian here, if you wanted libraries to get fixed then you would've helped boycott the cuts that the service has been suffering under for the last 5-10 years.

That said, libraries are still an essential service for people who don't own a computer or have zero understanding of how they work. You guys were raised on the internet so you genuinely have no idea just how much of a setback it is in trying to get a job, housing, benefits, etc. if you're not computer-savvy. I've seen some really sad stuff and I wish I could do more to help but its incredibly difficult when the government keeps underfunding the service

>we just need more funding
I have a hard time believing this sentiment when it is used for every social service in every western country which taxes it's people incredibly high.

I can't speak for other countries, but here in the UK around 130 libraries closed and around £30mil was cut from the service in just last year alone. The problem is not the amount of tax we have to pay, the problem is just how inefficient the government is at investing our money on things that are genuinely important.

Not who you’re responding to, but in my part of the US, libraries are decently funded and still rarely carry anything I want. They mostly serve as spaces for school aged children and homeless people. I like having a place to read and write away from home, but...I more or less think it’s inevitable that librarians will be wiped out in 10-15 years. I haven’t been helped by a librarian since I was...maybe 12?

>normal people
Neck yourself

The upper levels are comfy though. You have to learn to live as the homeless do, and find a nice crevice among the desks just for yourself. DTLA library is peak workspace.

>feelz
it feels better for you because you have an irrational nostalgia for physical books. you don't actually have a substantive reason as to why it should feel that way. if i ask you what qualities distinguish them you will respond with meaningless generalities like physical books are more 'fundamental', 'realistic', 'traditional', 'sentimental', etc. as all your luddite forefathers have before you when describing their own technology. i could point out a myriad of specific, measurable qualities e-books have that make them superior to physical books but it would be fundamentally lost on you since you're so enamoured with your romanticisation of the old that you have positively convinced yourself that reading from paper somehow 'feels' better than reading from a screen.

If you're leaving your home to write or read you might as well spend $4-5 on a cup of overpriced coffee in a place that kicks hobos out and sit there all day instead of living like a filthy animal.

>convinced yourself that reading from paper somehow 'feels' better than reading from a screen.
I haven't convinced anyone, its just my natural inclination. I dont go around analysing why one medium is better or worse than the other. It just comes naturally to me. Also stop using the word Luddite so liberally. Not everyone who dislikes the modern version of something is a luddite

>I haven’t been helped by a librarian since I was...maybe 12?
That's because you're not old, disabled or unable to speak English. You don't need help likely because you're well-adjusted– my point is that we should embrace the idea of libraries as places for people who are incapable of helping themselves.

Also, I don't know how the service works in America but in the UK you can request that your local library order a book in for you, and as long as it isn't too expensive or difficult to find, they'll almost always accommodate it.

>but in the UK you can request that your local library order a book in for you, and as long as it isn't too expensive or difficult to find, they'll almost always accommodate it.
>but in the UK
Why run the risk of getting chucked in the gulag by your country's ministry of truth for requisitioning censored material without a loisence?

All the local public libraries in my region are now essentially community centres.
I can't go there without listening to school kids playing Roblox loudly on the computers, women and babies singing in the centre of the room for 'playgroup', people having loud conversations on the lounges because it's hot so they figure the fucking library is the best place to get out of the sun and chill with their friends. Even the librarians talk too loud. I went to my local library the other day to focus on some of my work and I could hear was the head librarian talking all day long.
I wish the library was LESS interesting to most people and it was still just for people who wanted to read books.

Not him but this joke is so fucking done at this point, user.

>he thinks it's a joke

because a meme told you so?

This sounds accurate, my experience aswell. At this point I'm not sure who libraries are trying to cater to. Is it everyone? Well that's not really possible as some groups dont mesh very well together. Like many posters say here, old people, homeless people and children make 20-40 year olds people avoid the library like the pest

Has anyone built their personal library? What would something like this cost realistically? Six figures or seven figures?

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Like an entire library? Really just renovate one of the rooms in your house - maybe knock down a wall and join two for better effect. It shouldn't cost that much.

Yeah but I want it ornamented, mahogany tables, wooden panels, carved stuff etc

Do you really think a country that locks random boomers up for being (((transphobic))) or (((racist))) in tweets wouldn't stoop that low?

>I can't go there without listening to school kids playing Roblox loudly on the computers
Holy fuck this, I work in a library and even I think its the most insufferable thing. Don't hate on the baby rhyme time though, that shit is actually challenging for the host. You have no idea how rude the mums can be if your FREE show wasn't up to scratch.