#magazines and puzzles and games and books and audiobooks and classes and programs

[half-orq]

Gonna rant for a second I've been anti-audible for a while --well over a decade, though it wasn't always a position of "Fuck Amazon" --I didn't see the point of paying for access to 1-3 audiobooks per month when I was reading that in a week for free from my library. Did I have to wait sometimes? Sure. but also I was reading 1-3 audiobooks in a week. There were other audiobooks to listen to in the week while I waited --and so I listened to my less popular series while waiting for the more popular series. (for context, the time I'm taking about I was working at a bakery that allowed me to have headphones in, as there were never customers (we worked in a warehouse and shipped to stores and restaurants) so I was listening to 40 hrs a week plus commute times, plus times when I was playing the sims) But what I especially hate is audible exclusives. I had (wrongly) assumed that if a book was audible exclusive, there would be no way to get the book in other formats elsewhere. I run a book club. We democratically select the books for the next year, as long as they are within a few guidelines (we have length requirements within the founding guidelines, we must be able to source them through the public library with the help of the ILL specialist, and I research each book for things like content, pacing, heaviness --so we don't have two slow somber books in a row, mostly, but also so I don't have more than one horror novel in a year type thing. Keeps the books interesting, and keeps the choices balanced.)

One book, requested last year by three members and so very much quickly made the list, ended up being an audible exclusive. I did not check for audible exclusivity when I was making the list --my club wanted to read a book, and I could see that we could get copies of the book, confirmed by the ILL specialist. Great!

Except!!! Except this is an accessibility issue. If someone, for any given reason, needs an audiobook to access this book club (as I often do as someone with adhd for ease but do not need need. I can get by with no audiobook if I must, but if someone has vision issues, well.). If someone needs it and does not want to or have the ability to pay for an audible subscription, they are locked out of that month's book club.

And man that fucking sucks.

[kiosang]

Plus libraries subside off of public funding. The more people who use the library and it’s services, the more funding it gets and more services it can provide. Here’s an example of what my local library offers:

Free library card which lets you get: fiction and non fiction books, magazines, movies, music, graphic novels, manga, puzzles, food preservation tools (food dehydrator, canner, juicer, apple peeler/corer, cherry pitter etc.) puzzles, board games, educational activity kits, and more.

A place to donate your old books which might get put into the collection, or might be put into the ongoing book sale. Proceeds from that are funnelled directly back into the library. Price ranges from ten cents to two dollars.

Free wifi, free computer use and access, and very cheap printing, photocopying, and faxing. They also let you scan things to your email for free. They also will help you with the computer if you’re not sure how to use it, and give you tips on how to search, create an email, and other such things. Headphones are free to borrow.

Online resources like audiobooks and ebooks, access to research databases, research help, and good information that’s at least on a credible site.

Children’s programs like mother goose (preschool group with parent to read to the kids, nursery rhymes, etc.) summer reading programs, regular game afternoons.

Adult programs like sewing classes, jewelry making workshops, ipad and computer literacy programs, book clubs.

Regular spelling bees, chess and scrabble tournaments, trivia game nights, author readings, historical or educational presentations.

(Some of these aren’t done by the library itself but are hosted by it as a public space)

More than that though, libraries are one of the last spaces where you can just exist without having to pay for the privilege.

Keep libraries alive. Use your library.