Funding Cuts and Usage Decline....Which Comes First?

Mistermeaner

World has moved on since then. Incredibly inefficient to put information into print and then store in a centralised location one must physically visit.

N1AK

lawriejones1 wrote: »

For my family libraries were at the heart of the Conservative ideals of self-improvement. They were incredible places to read and learn, helping my dad to get a scholarship to Oxford. Without a library he'd have never had the access to knowledge. When he started his own business it was an incredible source of knowledge and support to have all of those books there, and provided the theoretical basis and practical knowledge to grow a business to employing over 12 people in a deprived community.

It's true we can now afford to buy books and there's no local library for me, but they're still incredible places that should be at the heart of a community that wants to grow and develop.

Although I like the idea of libraries and I also think one can make a case for the benefit of providing a number of services I think it has to be accepted that the benefits libraries have provided in the past aren't necessarily relevant or as valuable today. Just because your dad benefited from those resources when he was younger, doesn't mean that someone in a similar situation today would benefit from their provision.

lawriejones1

I agree, but we need to therefore provide an alternative option.

Libraries offer everyone - regardless of background - the opportunity to access knowledge. The internet does a similar thing, which is why I support the Government's idea of making broadband a right for all families.

As a modern, progressive society we need to give all children, and actually everyone who wants to, the chance to learn and improve.

We all benefit from it.

westernpromise

Another benefit of libraries is that if a riot breaks out in the street, you are always going to be safe in a library. They are safer than a Waterstones in that respect - rioters might come in to rob the till.

zagubov

I get it that many people now have access to computers and the internet. This means they have access to a kind of a virtual library. You're all tired of me posting links to philosophical works and the online classics and so on.

But there has to be a facility that stretches out to everybody, even the homeless, the phoneless, the webless. There will be many people who don't even own floorboards, a room, a home, an income, prospects, or any hope of improving their lot.

A library's a mind-expanding thing and a passport to a wider world and opportunities in a way that watching soaps and chat shows won't be.

It should be a place where you can access archives of music, tv, writing, drama, and more.

To me, they are a fundamentally crucial social invention getting rid of them is like getting rid of the concept of money.

Mistermeaner

zagubov wrote: »

I get it that many people now have access to computers and the internet. This means they have access to a kind of a virtual library. You're all tired of me posting links to philosophical works and the online classics and so on.

But there has to be a facility that stretches out to everybody, even the homeless, the phoneless, the webless. There will be many people who don't even own floorboards, a room, a home, an income, prospects, or any hope of improving their lot.

A library's a mind-expanding thing and a passport to a wider world and opportunities in a way that watching soaps and chat shows won't be.

It should be a place where you can access archives of music, tv, writing, drama, and more.

To me, they are a fundamentally crucial social invention getting rid of them is like getting rid of the concept of money.

I would propose that providing floor boards to those who don't have them should be priority over your repository of everything

Then rather than a physical repository I would point people towards the internet to find all the things that you deem important

Its a question of efficiency in a world of scarce resource and needing a building full of stuff replicated all over the uk is an incredibly inefficient way to do things

mwpt

Mistermeaner wrote: »

I would propose that providing floor boards to those who don't have them should be priority over your repository of everything

Then rather than a physical repository I would point people towards the internet to find all the things that you deem important

Its a question of efficiency in a world of scarce resource and needing a building full of stuff replicated all over the uk is an incredibly inefficient way to do things

I unfortunately agree with this. I say unfortunate because I am filled with nostalgia for my childhood visits to the local library, where I would head to Loopy in my earlier years and Willard Price later, then I finally migrated to the big people's books.

There is all sorts of social goodness that comes from having places that communities can go. We humans evolved as part of tribes/communities so we should not underestimate the part they play in keeping us happy.

lawriejones1

Mistermeaner wrote: »

I would propose that providing floor boards to those who don't have them should be priority over your repository of everything

Then rather than a physical repository I would point people towards the internet to find all the things that you deem important

Its a question of efficiency in a world of scarce resource and needing a building full of stuff replicated all over the uk is an incredibly inefficient way to do things

The right wing never does understand the arts, creativity and the things that have made this country the envy of the world. They've also made us very rich too.

I'll also point out that as a right winger, surely we shouldn't purchase these floorboards but encourage the market to step in and do so? Or are these the !!!!less poor who for whole generations have lived on benefit?

Without culture and creativity there's very little point in us being here, so I'm happy to pay my (quite substantial) taxes to the libraries. You can pay yours to fund Trieent or something equally pointless.

lawriejones1

I should point out I hadn't used a swearword there, but an old English word that had been appropriated by the drunk old man from Father Ted!

Mistermeaner

Willard price! There's some memories. I wonder what Roger and hal are up to now?

Laurie i am not suggesting the arts are binned, just provided efficiently. Buildings full of stuff are not efficient and i would argue less accessible by the many than the internet