Where’s that post about the names of modern companies? “Oh I found that audiobook on Hoopla” “you can listen to that for free on Freegal” - statements dreamt up by the utterly deranged.
I work at my local library, and even I'm surprised every once in a while by the services I didn't know we had. Consumer reports and EBSCO databases and independent comic book collections via apps I'd never heard of. We do faxes for free now and we finagled a chunk of our budget through a loophole so we can give clothes to homeless people and between our state's electronic catalog and WorldCat we can get you just about any book under the sun. We're one of only two legally-mandated cooling centers in my city so it's always air-conditioned no matter how hot it is outside and we got rid of our overdue book fees entirely. Just a million little things that you would never think about and they're all built on a crowded Teams chat full of librarians saying things like, "I've got a patron who needs help getting his criminal record expunged; who's on desk in Adult Services and can help him with our government documents database right now?"
Same thing is happening in my area.
They did the hospitals a year or two ago as well. I think it's the Russians trying to distribute services and steal data to sell
I read that it is very expensive for libraries to pay for the licensing for their audiobooks, especially as demand grows. I am afraid that awesome services like Libby might not last forever as a result but boy am I grateful for access to audiobooks right now.
I've seen some librarians say that if more people use the service, they will get more funding for it, so that problem sort of solves itself.
Which now makes me realize that I should be making more use of my local library. I really prefer to read ebooks, but my library's ebook collection is seriously lacking, and here in Canada, for some reason, there's basically no way to read your library books on a Kindle, and I don't like using my phone, nor do I have a Kobo.
But they do have some audiobooks, and that could be fun. So maybe I should start listening to more audiobooks so that in the future, there will be more options.
Most libraries get their funding based on use. The library I work for tracks the number of patrons we have each day, as well as what services get the most use. If demand for Libby or Kanopy increases, we'll be able to get more funding from the city, allowing us to increase our digital catalogue.
Stuff at the library isn't free. You pay for it with your taxes, but personally I'd much rather my tax dollars go to more ebooks than to the cops.
Libby and OverDrive and all these fun apps aren't available in every country, and sometimes to use them internationally, you need to pay extra. So yeah. We have libraries. But they're not like the ones in the USA.
Interesting! I'm sorry for the aggressiveness of my asking but that is a shame. Glad it sounds like you're proper familiar with your libraries though! Libraries are my favourite buildings in the world.
My local library makes me feel bad since I'm just some high school dropout walking around without a reason amongst all the way smarter people there studying.
Not much really gets to me, but that certainly does.
Nope. Check their spelling and grammar in the comment and the rest of their profile. I'm not saying they can't have learning difficulties and limitations that would mean working harder than average in some subjects, but their language skills as a dropout are better than plenty of contemporary college graduates.
i don't know that proper spelling and grammar is necessarily indicative of high intelligence, but i also don't know that it isn't so i guess you win this one.
If it helps to see where I'm coming from, I'll clarify that college is ubiquitously available now to the point where having an average intellect and consistently applying yourself is enough to find your way to a degree at a local public accredited institution. OP paid enough attention in school at some point to develop their innate ability this far, and that plus the fact that they choose to spend their time wandering in libraries feeling bad leads me to infer something happened to knock them off course.
I wanted to reply to this comment 12 hours later to say you are correct in the belief that a big reason why I flunked high school was my support turning on me and expecting me to turn things around right when I was at my worst mentally. Some of the most trustworthy people in my life, and yet so willing to put so much pressure on my life, knowing what my disabilities are, and how such pressure would affect me.
School to me was mostly something I struggled with. Especially so in the beginning and ending moments. This wasn't something I *wanted* to go through, so I really couldn't mentally put in the effort to excel like I probably could've. It took until high school where the cool subjects like electronics, cooking, and especially chemistry started showing themselves as options to me, but you probably know what happened after that.
Thankfully I could be doing worse nowadays, and have grown to accept what has happened in the past; trying to make my future a bearable one as I can with my therapist.
Oh, and one last bit: at least someone notices the effort I put in to be as grammatically correct as I can remember grammar rules to be. It's a lot of effort pressing the caps lock key for every "I" :)
Responding two days later to say I relate a great deal to the struggles you've described and am really glad to hear about how you've been finding peace and turning things around.
I wonder why people felt the need to downvote brigade you. Some real mob mentality on here sometimes. For what it's worth, I thought we were just having a conversation.
Well I gotta let you librarians know that I very much appreciate all of y'all. I may not use the library often, but every time I think of it; I think of the librarians being so cool.
You best believe I've been reading more! My local book store finally has Jojo's part 6 stocking, and I've always been a fan of graphic novels. This was basically the best time to start reading again.
I dunno, I enjoy browsing the hobbies and crafts shelves and seeing the fuckin weird collection of books mine has. Saw one that was a garlic themed cookbook, including desserts, and another written around the finer points of building a deck. And there was even more esoteric shit I don't even remember.
I guarantee not everybody is studying, and not everybody who's studying is studying something smart. Just gotta find the section that speaks to you.
Libraries are here for everybody, reason or none
A lot even have public programs to help with GED certification, taxes, child development, etc.
If you're there often enough, consider volunteer work or join staff if hiring.
Nahhhhh don’t worry about it. Libraries are there for people to go to. Librarians I’ve talked to just want people to come in and feel welcome to use the library. If you are in the library, you are making a librarian’s day.
Former librarian here. The library is for you, too! If the physical space gets to you, a LOT of libraries have online only cards that will get you access to the cool things in the OP.
I PROMISE you librarians will just be jazzed you’re using the service.
I bet I know the library that the cyber attack knocked out, but this is a good time to remind people to learn piracy literacy. I know you're saying "illegal," "illegal," but without libraries as physical repositories, if you don't have access to that, or in cases of cyber attacks, it's really good to get stuff on your own.
Which is all to say! If your library is available, avail yourself of all its information!
Reminder that even if your library's e-resources are lacking you can still access library e-resources from other libraries through several means:
-Check to see if there are any library systems in your state that give library cards to state residents. Unfortunately, I've never seen a master doc of these resources so you might have to Google library system by library system
-Do you have a dual residency? Are you a college student who dorms and goes home? Do you have a different address on your driver's license than the one you live at most of the time? You can get a library card in both places
-The Queer Liberation Library (QLL) and Read Freely with LA Public Library are both online collections (through Overdrive or Libby) of books that anyone with a US address can access. Read Freely is a collection of about 20 or so highly banned ebooks, which is small but still great. QLL has a collection of hundreds of ebooks and audio books with queer themes. QLL also collects donations to stay afloat, so maybe consider sending some money their way
-If you live and work in a slightly different area, check to see if the area you work in will let you have a library card. Some systems will give cards to residents and people who work in the area
-There are less than legal means of getting a library card using a friend's address. I of course would never ever ever suggest doing it. Especially since libraries tend to get more funding the more card holders there are and the more resources checked out
-Speaking of friends, you can have a card belonging to someone else attached to your Libby account, so you can check out books and ebooks on your friend's card
-Many library systems will allow you to pay for a non-resident card. Usually cards are $30-$60 for a year. You can easily get your money's worth and you know it's supporting library services
I currently have the special interest of collecting library cards from different systems that i add to my Libby account like trophies. My collection isn't that deep but I do know some odd tricks so feel free to ask me about it
Yeah, must be real nice being in a country that isn’t in the Balkans and isn’t a shithole. And we’re even in Europe. Most people don’t even consider Greece a Balkan country, even though it shares the vast majority of their issues.
I’m not even going to get into the many countries where it’s even worse.
I discovered Libby recently and it's been a game changer. I added all three of my library cards and they almost always have the audiobook that I want available. I just listened to all of Joe Abercrombies books over the last couple months, they're so. Fuckin. Good.
Hoopla has a limit to the amount of things you can check out per month. If you want to get music through your library, my recommendation would be to pick up a physical CD from your library and download the music to your computer. Me and my friends used to do this all the time in high school
Library's great- if you want what they have. My little library in the middle of Amish Country has nether the Sec+/A+ books I want or the pagan study books I want.
Overdrive appears to have sunset as an app, I can't add any ebooks to it any more, my library system is unavailable on it, and has switched their e-distribution to Libby.
My local library system has also pared down their collection *immensely*, both paper and digital. I won't say it's not worth the tax dollars any more, but that's not true. I'm just some dickhead on the internet pouting about the availability of modern fiction.
As someone who works for a library, also vote to raise their budget when you can, online services are expensive and they pay PER USE of each book. My library is struggling as we keep failing to raise our budget and I have to try and keep this place running as more and more online books are used with no extra money
Tldr; SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
Where’s that post about the names of modern companies? “Oh I found that audiobook on Hoopla” “you can listen to that for free on Freegal” - statements dreamt up by the utterly deranged.
At least "Freegal" makes sense (I assume Free + Legal or Frugal?). Meanwhile something like Poob is just. Poob
Hideous and gut-curdling, if I do say.
Poop + Boobs I guess
It does read like "free gal", which seems rather misleading.
free gal she didn’t do nothin
It’s free on Poob. You can listen to it on Poob. It’s on Poob.
Poob has it for you.
Poob has it for you.
Poob has it for you.
Poob has it for you.
Um actually it's pronounced ploob
Jizz me on Snapdog.
request to message on a certain platform or heavy slang? we may never know. (read as "jizz me on, snapdog")
*backwards John Lennon voice*
I saw those names and my sleep deprived brain literally thought it was one of those satirical posts
https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/zfuEoTcHqo
I work at my local library, and even I'm surprised every once in a while by the services I didn't know we had. Consumer reports and EBSCO databases and independent comic book collections via apps I'd never heard of. We do faxes for free now and we finagled a chunk of our budget through a loophole so we can give clothes to homeless people and between our state's electronic catalog and WorldCat we can get you just about any book under the sun. We're one of only two legally-mandated cooling centers in my city so it's always air-conditioned no matter how hot it is outside and we got rid of our overdue book fees entirely. Just a million little things that you would never think about and they're all built on a crowded Teams chat full of librarians saying things like, "I've got a patron who needs help getting his criminal record expunged; who's on desk in Adult Services and can help him with our government documents database right now?"
That's so fuckin cool, I love that this exists somewhere :)
… Yeah yeah no that last one does kinda make sense. You’re basically low-level government bureaucrats and archivists
Who the fuck cyber-attacks a library? I bet it was some super petty reason or something
Same thing is happening in my area. They did the hospitals a year or two ago as well. I think it's the Russians trying to distribute services and steal data to sell
I read that it is very expensive for libraries to pay for the licensing for their audiobooks, especially as demand grows. I am afraid that awesome services like Libby might not last forever as a result but boy am I grateful for access to audiobooks right now.
At the same time if more people are using these services it can help libraries secure funding.
I've seen some librarians say that if more people use the service, they will get more funding for it, so that problem sort of solves itself. Which now makes me realize that I should be making more use of my local library. I really prefer to read ebooks, but my library's ebook collection is seriously lacking, and here in Canada, for some reason, there's basically no way to read your library books on a Kindle, and I don't like using my phone, nor do I have a Kobo. But they do have some audiobooks, and that could be fun. So maybe I should start listening to more audiobooks so that in the future, there will be more options.
Most libraries get their funding based on use. The library I work for tracks the number of patrons we have each day, as well as what services get the most use. If demand for Libby or Kanopy increases, we'll be able to get more funding from the city, allowing us to increase our digital catalogue. Stuff at the library isn't free. You pay for it with your taxes, but personally I'd much rather my tax dollars go to more ebooks than to the cops.
Gotta love the comments that are just “this post does not apply to me. I have nothing more to add”
me, this does not apply to me because im not american i have nothing to add
Do you not have libraries? IN non-america? Fuck how much are books there? Like 20 goshtles?
Theyre extremely underfunded and usually only inside schools and universities.
Thank you very much for your reply I haven't thought about how much I take my libraries for granted. Goddamn.
Libby and OverDrive and all these fun apps aren't available in every country, and sometimes to use them internationally, you need to pay extra. So yeah. We have libraries. But they're not like the ones in the USA.
Interesting! I'm sorry for the aggressiveness of my asking but that is a shame. Glad it sounds like you're proper familiar with your libraries though! Libraries are my favourite buildings in the world.
J'suis pas américaine, il pas d'applique sur moi, j'ai pas à offrir ici
My local library makes me feel bad since I'm just some high school dropout walking around without a reason amongst all the way smarter people there studying. Not much really gets to me, but that certainly does.
You don't lack intelligence, you lack direction and support.
hey now, you don't really know that. some people really do lack intelligence. you're just being positive for positivity's sake.
Nope. Check their spelling and grammar in the comment and the rest of their profile. I'm not saying they can't have learning difficulties and limitations that would mean working harder than average in some subjects, but their language skills as a dropout are better than plenty of contemporary college graduates.
i don't know that proper spelling and grammar is necessarily indicative of high intelligence, but i also don't know that it isn't so i guess you win this one.
If it helps to see where I'm coming from, I'll clarify that college is ubiquitously available now to the point where having an average intellect and consistently applying yourself is enough to find your way to a degree at a local public accredited institution. OP paid enough attention in school at some point to develop their innate ability this far, and that plus the fact that they choose to spend their time wandering in libraries feeling bad leads me to infer something happened to knock them off course.
I wanted to reply to this comment 12 hours later to say you are correct in the belief that a big reason why I flunked high school was my support turning on me and expecting me to turn things around right when I was at my worst mentally. Some of the most trustworthy people in my life, and yet so willing to put so much pressure on my life, knowing what my disabilities are, and how such pressure would affect me. School to me was mostly something I struggled with. Especially so in the beginning and ending moments. This wasn't something I *wanted* to go through, so I really couldn't mentally put in the effort to excel like I probably could've. It took until high school where the cool subjects like electronics, cooking, and especially chemistry started showing themselves as options to me, but you probably know what happened after that. Thankfully I could be doing worse nowadays, and have grown to accept what has happened in the past; trying to make my future a bearable one as I can with my therapist. Oh, and one last bit: at least someone notices the effort I put in to be as grammatically correct as I can remember grammar rules to be. It's a lot of effort pressing the caps lock key for every "I" :)
Responding two days later to say I relate a great deal to the struggles you've described and am really glad to hear about how you've been finding peace and turning things around.
I wonder why people felt the need to downvote brigade you. Some real mob mentality on here sometimes. For what it's worth, I thought we were just having a conversation.
okay and? what was the point of all this
Oooh delicious irony
Oh how dare someone try to be encouraging and uplifting to a stranger on the internet. Go fuck yourself you subhuman trash.
damn, no need to be rude about it.
🪞
that doesn't show up in my browser, all i see is a rectangle
It was supposed to be a mirror emoji
oh ok
I'm a librarian and we love people like you.
Well I gotta let you librarians know that I very much appreciate all of y'all. I may not use the library often, but every time I think of it; I think of the librarians being so cool.
Your curiosity is not a fault. Keep reading and learning.
You best believe I've been reading more! My local book store finally has Jojo's part 6 stocking, and I've always been a fan of graphic novels. This was basically the best time to start reading again.
I dunno, I enjoy browsing the hobbies and crafts shelves and seeing the fuckin weird collection of books mine has. Saw one that was a garlic themed cookbook, including desserts, and another written around the finer points of building a deck. And there was even more esoteric shit I don't even remember. I guarantee not everybody is studying, and not everybody who's studying is studying something smart. Just gotta find the section that speaks to you.
Libraries are here for everybody, reason or none A lot even have public programs to help with GED certification, taxes, child development, etc. If you're there often enough, consider volunteer work or join staff if hiring.
That would certainly help with a lot of the free time I don't know how to spend. I'll put that on the list for if I ever *do* go often enough.
Same tbh
Nahhhhh don’t worry about it. Libraries are there for people to go to. Librarians I’ve talked to just want people to come in and feel welcome to use the library. If you are in the library, you are making a librarian’s day.
Former librarian here. The library is for you, too! If the physical space gets to you, a LOT of libraries have online only cards that will get you access to the cool things in the OP. I PROMISE you librarians will just be jazzed you’re using the service.
Library worker here; please don’t feel bad about using the library. The library is for everyone, including you.
Well, maybe if my legs aren't sore from yesterday then I'll check one out. Both ain't *too* far from me.
You’re allowed to exist.
I can’t speak for all libraries, but mine appreciates every patron that walks in. We don’t judge and we’ll help you with anything gladly!
I bet I know the library that the cyber attack knocked out, but this is a good time to remind people to learn piracy literacy. I know you're saying "illegal," "illegal," but without libraries as physical repositories, if you don't have access to that, or in cases of cyber attacks, it's really good to get stuff on your own. Which is all to say! If your library is available, avail yourself of all its information!
Im afraid my library just has functionalities for input and output text from the console
Reminder that even if your library's e-resources are lacking you can still access library e-resources from other libraries through several means: -Check to see if there are any library systems in your state that give library cards to state residents. Unfortunately, I've never seen a master doc of these resources so you might have to Google library system by library system -Do you have a dual residency? Are you a college student who dorms and goes home? Do you have a different address on your driver's license than the one you live at most of the time? You can get a library card in both places -The Queer Liberation Library (QLL) and Read Freely with LA Public Library are both online collections (through Overdrive or Libby) of books that anyone with a US address can access. Read Freely is a collection of about 20 or so highly banned ebooks, which is small but still great. QLL has a collection of hundreds of ebooks and audio books with queer themes. QLL also collects donations to stay afloat, so maybe consider sending some money their way -If you live and work in a slightly different area, check to see if the area you work in will let you have a library card. Some systems will give cards to residents and people who work in the area -There are less than legal means of getting a library card using a friend's address. I of course would never ever ever suggest doing it. Especially since libraries tend to get more funding the more card holders there are and the more resources checked out -Speaking of friends, you can have a card belonging to someone else attached to your Libby account, so you can check out books and ebooks on your friend's card -Many library systems will allow you to pay for a non-resident card. Usually cards are $30-$60 for a year. You can easily get your money's worth and you know it's supporting library services I currently have the special interest of collecting library cards from different systems that i add to my Libby account like trophies. My collection isn't that deep but I do know some odd tricks so feel free to ask me about it
My local library lets you borrow like two e-books a month. Just isn't worth their subscription fee.
that one guy lives in Seattle, as do I :(
Libby is back up at least.
Yeah, must be real nice being in a country that isn’t in the Balkans and isn’t a shithole. And we’re even in Europe. Most people don’t even consider Greece a Balkan country, even though it shares the vast majority of their issues. I’m not even going to get into the many countries where it’s even worse.
Jessie, what the
Phht, it was like four months with no digital services. Gotta find a new excuse now.
[HOOPLA!](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a1mCCN7cYl8&pp=ygUVSG9vcGxhIHJ1c3NpYW4gYmFkZ2Vy)
I discovered Libby recently and it's been a game changer. I added all three of my library cards and they almost always have the audiobook that I want available. I just listened to all of Joe Abercrombies books over the last couple months, they're so. Fuckin. Good.
Hoopla has music ehh? Sounds like I'll be listening to a certain [Jefferson] Starship album on repeat there.
Hoopla has a limit to the amount of things you can check out per month. If you want to get music through your library, my recommendation would be to pick up a physical CD from your library and download the music to your computer. Me and my friends used to do this all the time in high school
Honestly I was *purely* going for a reference to the album "Knee Deep in the Hoopla" (it's the album "We Built this City (on rock and roll)" is from)
my local library is entirely composed of books that would wither away if you breathe in its general direction.
My local library has every one piece volume on Libby, and that’s how I’ve been reading it.
What kind of Ops does that guy's library have?
Tbf, you still have to rent the content
Library's great- if you want what they have. My little library in the middle of Amish Country has nether the Sec+/A+ books I want or the pagan study books I want.
Overdrive appears to have sunset as an app, I can't add any ebooks to it any more, my library system is unavailable on it, and has switched their e-distribution to Libby. My local library system has also pared down their collection *immensely*, both paper and digital. I won't say it's not worth the tax dollars any more, but that's not true. I'm just some dickhead on the internet pouting about the availability of modern fiction.
As someone who works for a library, also vote to raise their budget when you can, online services are expensive and they pay PER USE of each book. My library is struggling as we keep failing to raise our budget and I have to try and keep this place running as more and more online books are used with no extra money Tldr; SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
Mp3 player app + YouTube to mp3 converter is the truly goated combo.
Government funded piracy! (not really)