#Budget News

[burins]

I know this is the Take Personal Responsibility for Systemic Issues website, but I keep seeing weirdly guilt trippy posts about libraries and ebook licenses, which are a labyrinth from hell and not actually something you personally need to feel guilty about. here are a few facts about ebook licenses you may not know:

in Libby/Overdrive, which currently operates in most US public libraries, ebook licenses vary widely in how much they cost and what their terms are. some ebooks get charged per use, some have a set number of uses before the license runs out, and others have a period of time they're good for (usually 1-2 years) with unlimited checkouts during that period before they expire. these terms are set by the publisher and can also vary from book to book (for instance, a publisher might offer two types of licenses for a book, and we might buy one copy of a book with a set number of uses we want to have but know won't move as much, and another copy with a one year unlimited license for a new bestseller we know will be really moving this year.)

you as a patron have NO way of knowing which is which.

ebook licenses are very expensive compared to physical books! on average they run about 60 bucks a pop, where the same physical book would cost us $10-15 and last us five to ten years (or much longer, if it's a hardcover that doesn't get read a lot.)

if your library uses Hoopla instead, those are all pay per use, which is why many libraries cap checkouts at anywhere between 2-10 per month.

however.

this doesn't mean you shouldn't use ebooks. this doesn't mean you should feel guilty about checking things out! we buy ebook licenses for people to use them, because we know that ebook formats are easier for a lot of people (more accessible, more convenient, easier for people with schedules that don't let them get into the library.) these are resources the library buys for you. this is why we exist. you don't need to feel guilty about using them!

things that are responsible for libraries being underfunded and having to stretch their resources:

government priorities and systemic underfunding of social services that don't turn a profit and aren't easily quantified

our society's failure to value learning and pleasure reading for their own sake

predatory ebook licensing models

things that are not responsible for libraries being underfunded:

individual patron behavior

I promise promise promise that your personal library use is not making or breaking your library's budget. your local politicians are doing that. capitalism is doing that. you are fine.

(if you want to help your local library, the number one thing you can do is to advocate for us! talk to your city or county government about how much you like the library. or call or write emails or letters. advocate for us locally. make sure your state reps know how important the library is to you. there are local advocacy groups in pretty much every state pushing for library priorities. or just ask your local librarian. we like to answer questions!

also, if you're in Massachusetts, bill h3239 would make a huge difference in letting us negotiate ebook prices more fairly. tell your rep to vote for it!)

[gotchibam]

Shiny Masquerain & Shiny Aggron ko-fi doodle for cyrus!

[sanjeev-thakur]

Budget 2023 Highlights: Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian economy is on the right path and heading towards a bright future.

[paaelle]

New Trolls Fun Fair clip, that I could only check out now.

THEY MAKE ME INSANE, I'm not even kidding!

Of couse the animation is kinda off, I'm gonna be honest its giving Remix Rescue. But considering the budget probably consists of a pastel and sugarcane juice I'm not judging.

THEY LOOK SO CUTE, I LOVE WHEN THEY GIVE NEW CLOTHES TO CHARACTERS (I'm a sucker for wardrobe expansion).

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

putting my prediction on record now that the coming decade is going to see the rise of viral-marketed fancy at-home water filtration systems, driving and driven by a drastic reduction in the quality of U.S. tap water (given that we are in a 'replacement era' where our current infrastructure is reaching the end of its lifespan--but isn't being replaced). also guessing that by the 2030s access to drinkable tap water will be a mainstream class issue, with low-income & unstably housed people increasingly forced to rely on expensive bottled water when they can't afford the up-front cost of at-home filtration--and with this being portrayed in media as a "moral failing" and short-sighted "choice," rather than a basic failure of our political & economic systems. really hope i'm just being alarmist, but plenty of this already happens in other countries, and the U.S. is in a state of decline, so. here's praying this post ages into irrelevance. timestamped April 2023

[bookrat]

Sinosauropteryx available for $200~

Sold!

[wienners]

"dude its not that embarassing to rewatch some creepypasta stuff you liked as a teenager" the character i imprinted on like a baby duck at 16 was a demon from new jersey that acts like the humanization of every offspring song and canonically listens to scissor sisters. His favorite color is purple and his favorite pokemon is gengar. He leaves people notes with emojis on them. He acts like a beetlejuice scare actor at halloween horror nights. His catchphrase is "feeling sassy?" Hes (allegedly) worked with every war criminal throughout history and been every serial killer. even the gay ones. he ate a baby. his animal motif is a rabbit. hes kind of based off donnie darko. he almost exclusively wears merchandise of the Quentin Tarantino movie Death Proof. he talks to his cats in a baby voice. he wears a white fedora that makes every video he wears it in feel dated by like 7 years. hes 5'3. he hacked a girls tumblr blog. he added a laugh track over a video of him killing people. he named a chainsaw rex. he torments people by playing frank sinatra at them. his name comes from an animal collective song. theres a canon blog entry where he makes the speakers blare rob zombie before he enters a room, then holds a guy at gunpoint to describe what he did to to him while "making sure to leave in all the cool parts". Hes like ten tumblr sexymen traits rolled into one. His actor has gone on record saying heath ledgers joker inspired his acting choices. Sometimes his voice gets distorted and it makes him sound like bill ciphers first year on HRT. Hes basically like my artistic muse. For some fucking reason i associate the song cake by the ocean with him. I firmly believe that if everymanhybrid didn't require a masters degree in creepypasta autism to comprehend, he would've caused more teenage stabbings than the slenderman incident and more kin war tumblr scenarios than nagito komaeda.

[reasonsforhope]

"New York City officials have agreed to restore more than $111 million in funding to libraries and cultural institutions, the City Council announced Thursday [June 27, 2024].

The agreement is a victory for residents and organizations who had been pushing back for months against budget cuts in the nation’s largest city and one of the world’s foremost cultural capitals.

In November, the city announced it would cut the budget of the New York Public libraries by $58.3 million in fiscal year 2025, and slash the budget for other cultural institutions, including the Bronx Zoo and Carnegie Hall, by $53 million. The new deal reverses those cuts, and is set to be finalized in a City Council vote Sunday...

“Our arts and cultural institutions and libraries are foundational pillars of our city, and New Yorkers depend on their services every day,” said New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, thanking the mayor’s administration for reaching the deal. “The Council has consistently championed funding restorations for these institutions as a top priority, and we’re proud to reach an agreement with Mayor Adams and the administration to successfully secure these critical investments for them in the city budget.”

The news was received with collective approval from New York institutions that had been forced to cut hours and public access due to lack of funding.

“The Museum of the City of New York is delighted to learn of the restoration of cuts to the cultural sector,” the museum’s president Stephanie Hill Wilchfort told CNN in a statement.

“This support makes it possible for MCNY to be open seven days a week, starting on July 1,” said Wilchfort, who serves as Executive Vice Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, a coalition of 34 non-profit organizations such as the city’s museums, gardens, and arts centers. “As such, the Museum’s exhibitions exploring history, popular culture, and art will be open to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the first time since the pandemic. City support also allows the Museum to operate as a cooling center, open at no charge to anyone who seeks relief from warm weather.”

The city’s three public library systems — New York, Queens, and Brooklyn — issued a joint statement thanking the administration, the city council and New York residents, who overwhelmingly supported the campaign to restore library budgets. More than 174,000 people sent letters to City Hall in support of the “No Cuts to Libraries!” campaign since the cuts were announced in November [2023].

“This funding will allow us to resume seven-day service, a priority for many New Yorkers,” the libraries said in a statement shared with CNN. “We expect that service to begin in the coming weeks, bringing our branches back to the same hours of operation prior to the November 2023 cuts. The funding also allows us to continue universal six-day service, which New Yorkers have enjoyed for nearly a decade.”

-via CNN, June 28, 2024

[copia]

the way frater imperator's alexander mcqueen drip has a similar-ish shape to the cardinal jacket has me emotional it has to be said

[genshin-impact-updates]

Get Ready for the Mondstadt Tourism Revitalization Project!

The editor of this fine publication wanted to "add their own touch" to what would otherwise have been an "unfunny joke..." and who am I to deny them? Everyone enjoy these flyers, and please, spread them everywhere! And I do mean everywhere! Glue them to your forehead if you so desire!

[babymorte]

from the other day when i went pants shopping. are these not the cutest ?

[deadmotelsusa]

Berlin, New Hampshire

[sittinginsunflowers]

I know we’ve been begging for a Murph DM season for years now and I would still kill to see it but idk man I think we’ve been dropping the ball. Something about Zac Oyama behind that screen looked right

[jack-o-phantom]

Figuring out streaming stuff as well! Planning on redrawing Chime's old reference (fnaf) and other Au's for the Art Contest im hosting

[lesbianaang]

iwtv season 2 screening talk-back highlights:

- everyone playing “let’s embarass jacob anderson with compliments”

- rolin had jacob read a half in character as santino message from ben daniels to the audience

- assad saying his favorite part of the dubai scenes were the “looks” between him and eric

-armand blender shoutout!

- sam reid #1 lestat fan and going strong. when asked how he makes lestat someone we want to root for despite being kinda horrible he essentially said “i understand him. i root for him”

- sam and jacob playfully bristling at each other’s descriptions of their characters and where the “truth” lies for them lol

-for a question about a fun behind the scenes moment, sam and jacob proceed to look directly at each other, burst into laughter for the next 30 seconds, and then refuse to tell us an anecdote?????

-eric saying that Sam and jacob follow each other around on set like no other actors he’s worked with previously and play around “like puppies” lol

-assad describing armand when he meets louis as “lost” and putting on a performance of confidence and power that isn’t fully real

- jacob sent an email to assad calling him “the big VA” in season 1

-eric complimenting the writing of the show again and talking abt how thankful he is to do intense, subtle, emotionally difficult work on this show that he’s never had an opportunity to do before in his career (since he’s usually just the “angry” guy when cast)

-delainey saying that claudia would be the type of girl to go to sephora and shoplift even though she doesn’t need to in modern day

-rolin confirming material being used in the season from tvl, queen of the damned, tale of the body theif, tva, and prince lestat

-episode 3 will be the armand flashbacks to meeting lestat and theatre performer lestat

-episode five is the original interview flashback. according to rolin, episode 5 is where we understand why the second interview needed to happen for one character, and episode 8 we unveil why it needed to happen for another 👀

- in response to what tv show would your character binge: armand -> buffy the vampire slayer; daniel -> breaking bad; claudia -> the oa; and lestat and louis watch real housewives together (this is canon to me now btw)

[cozylittleartblog]

boycotting instagram today, so i'll have to post my new stickers to tumblr instead :') stickers ship free in the US!