Libaries

wot if the economy was like a library

Sounds like socialism to me
You some kinda red social commie?
- Wot r u guys gettin queer or sumthin?
  Please call me with the details/location
You mean like a Library Economy? /s (partially)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_things

I went to the bathroom in a library once and I felt real weird about it but I doubt anyone really even noticed.

Alright since apparently this needs clarifying for a few people: I felt weird because in society today we don’t get to use the washroom in places without being customers. This made me feel weird about using the washroom at a library, but the people there likely didn’t even care.

Unless you were being weird about it, nobody would notice you feeling weird about it.
- Exactly! It was great!
I feel like that's within the scope of what a library is meant for, community support.
It's nuts that people are expected to just not go to the bathroom. If you can't find one and go outside, then you're "indecent". Capitalists literally want you to pay them or shit yourself.
A lot of places (in Canada) you absolutely can use the washroom without being a customer. Even if they have a policy, they may get too many customers to notice or just not care.
- A lot of places people won’t care too too much, but it’s the fact that we have this shit as a legal rule in the first place that’s the problem.

I am proud that I was able to help build a library in an exceptionally small borough immediately outside of Pittsburgh city limits. I thought I knew what libraries were before that project, but man, modern libraries serve so many niches that small boroughs can't ever hope to provide.

Sure, it had books, but it also had computers with largely uncensored fiber internet access. It had a tool library, with everything from screwdrivers to hydraulic suspension spring compressors. It had a small kitchen with a few cooktops for cooking classes. It had a back garage that was kitted and tooled as an auto mechanic workshop that hosted classes AND could be rented for DIY car maintenance. It had music, games, DVDs, atlases... Hell, they even rented eBooks! All stuff that poor kids of all stripes would never have access to otherwise.

It's definitely a place to hang out, but I wish people would dispense with the notion that a library is where the free books live. It has been so much more than that to so many people for almost a century now. Fight and protect your library, folks! You truly have no idea how many people make use of it unless you're there all day.

Like I said in another comment here, it's unfortunate how so many people don't realize that libraries are truly and seriously community centers. They provide so much more than books
EDIT: Many nowadays even provide 3D printing
- Yes! The library in my hometown has a 3D printer that my cousin runs and maintains. It's super neat. She is the head librarian, but she takes online tickets with the STL file, slices it, prints it, finishes it, and puts the print in a basket in the front of the library. You use your library card to then check it out. :)
  3D printing isn't the most useful tech right now, but, it's an excellent first step towards the development of a cottage industry built around just making parts to repair random things in a house and encourage reuse.

They're also one of the few public spaces left where you can just sit in silence and no one asks if you're ok or starts talking loudly on their phone which is on speaker for no apparent reason or assumes since by their estimation you're "not busy" that you need to engage with them in some way

Free knowledge with virtually no barriers to access. Part of the reason republicans hate them so much. Imagine if libraries didn’t exist yet and someone proposed the idea in this current political landscape. republicans would vehemently oppose them.

We don't even have to imagine because conservatives already hate libraries. They are just waiting for the right time to strike the death blow.
They'll probably use some excuse like protecting children from Drag Queen Storytime.

Living in Gwinnett County Georgia, I wish our libraries had more digital books and audiobooks.

That being said, I am more than happy that more money is put towards being an after school teen spot for high schoolers. It benefit a ton of kids with **** a safe place to chill right across from the high school. Play games, study, watch a show, just in general stay out of trouble. ****

It's truly a shame how so many people don't realize that public libraries are true community centers
- My local library has a digital piano and headphones, which I think is very cool. I had a partner with a piano and since we split, I've missed having the opportunity to play. It's a very cool idea.

I see this all the time, but is this person unaware of public parks?

"one of the few"
- That guy clearly doesn’t make much use of their local library, or any reading material.
- Everything is "one of the few" if you refuse to define few. There's tons of places you can be without spending money. Parks, streets, sport installations like a basketball court, forests, museums, beaches, lakes,... Basically anything that is not a shop or a restaurant.
Yeah but those don't have AC. Well, except the ones in Alaska I guess.