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Rum Cove asked in News & EventsCurrent Events · 1 decade ago

Are Public Libraries worth saving from the cu ts?

Update:

Will there come a time when people who are spotted in the street carrying a book will be laughed at and regarded as cranky? (I hear parts of the West midlands are like that, already ...)

Update 2:

Why do "tech-savvy" people always sound so soulless?

Strange.

Update 3:

The point is ... their social aspect ... the pubs are closing, even the forests will soon be fenced off! And even Woolies has gone down the pan - where do people stop and mingle? They will soon ban mingling, and that will just leave an atomised society, full of millions of isolated people online, sitting in their pants in the basement, tapping away and ticking off their hundreds of online friends - none of whom they have ever mingled with ... the real world contains no such delusions.

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Yes, of course they're worth saving but people really do need to take a very close look at what is happening in their region. Tonight on Look North they were interviewing people who live in Doncaster where at the moment there are 26 - yes 26 libraries! Google Doncaster, look at the size of the area and tell me why they NEED 26 libraries!!! The number is to be cut to 14, now that's a very realistic number, a SUSTAINABLE NUMBER. When i was young there wasn't a library closer than ten miles to my home but we had a weekly travelling library which was well used and greatly appreciated by all age groups. My children used our local library weekly when they were at school but not just for referencing or for borrowing books. They learned to play chess and lots of other board games there and met lots of their friends after school - it was a great social centre. York cut back on the number of libraries it was supporting some years ago because it had been recognised that some of the smaller ones weren't necessary and that the funding for them could be put to better use in the remaining ones. Hence we have just had the main library re-open after a major face-lift which means that those using it still have the reference area, the main lending areas and in addition they have an internet room, a cafe, a children's play space area with volunteers reading and a quiet room for those who remember the old days of HUSH! and appreciate it. I wouldn't use a library now for reference, the internet has far greater scope but it lacks one thing which many people appreciate - the company of other people. With the closure of our pubs and post offices we do have fewer and fewer social meeting places especially for elderly people and so it is vitally important that libraries are maintained but i certainly know of quite a few in North Yorkshire that could be closed and the villagers would be better off with the travelling library which has its' books changed weekly not annually like a small branch.

    Harking back to a much simpler time, in the late 1950's to 60's we had three grocery shops, a cobblers, a service station with petrol pumps, a dressmaker, a post office, a local milkman, eight main street farms, three pubs, a social and sports club, two church's, a chapel, a school, a fish and chip shop and a medical practice with two full time Doctors who shared 24 hour call out duty and a veterinarian practice with four full time vets. Now that lovely little village has a shop/post office run by volunteers which also sells milk and a part-time doctors surgery. One church which has a vicar share with three other parishes. No farms, the land is owned by huge conglomerates who lease it to others. One pub and the travelling library. The village is about five times larger than when i lived there and now has a population of over one thousand people - all getting into their cars and paying to travel miles to get what they once had. This is progress? We cannot afford to allow communities to die. Remember the old adage - DIVIDE AND CONQUER ????

  • Guillo
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Yes, libraries are class, they're the only value for money I've been getting out of the enormous amounts of tax I've been paying. Though I'm also glad to have an NHS I haven't needed to use it lately.

    There's a big selection of books to choose from and I have access to almost any book anyone could think of for minimal fees. The idea that this same amount of information is available on the internet could only be held by someone who thinks Wikipedia knows everything. Sure, if you're okay downloading books illegally then there is a good selection available but it's nothing compared to what your library can get for you and you don't even need to break the law or risk downloading spyware onto your computer.

    With the help of the library I've learned how to fish and grow vegetables and before I had access to a computer it was an essential tool in finding a job, which saved the taxpayers lots of money. If I hadn't been able to access the internet when I was unemployed I would've been stuck with the jobcentre so I'd probably still be signing on now.

  • 1 decade ago

    Yes the plan is a disgrace these rich out of touch morons who can afford many books and have there own personal computer can't see the damage it will cause. Many in poor communities need libraries for there children and also pensioners use them not just for books or maybe using a computer but for meeting friends a social place of contact small libraries get to know the locals if a pensioner who lives alone and does not turn up for a while there can check on them or contact the police. Its bad enough with post offices its a act of community vandalism taking out the heart to save a few quid. You are right meeting people is much more healthy than just going online i love going on the internet but its not the same neither is online books. Fight back!

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Yes. They provide a valuable service for old people who cannot access the internet or can afford to buy a book. The children's section teaches children that it is fun to read a book instead of being hunched up over a computer.

    I got my love of reading from going to the library with my nan. Before we entered I was warned in no uncertain terms not to make a noise and God help anyone who did as they would get a disapproving Shush off of someone!

    Today's library's are like a Casey's Court with kids running round and people talking aloud.Still no excuse to close them.

    Tooting's lovely old Victorian branch library has been turned into a mosque. What retard on the council allowed that to happen. The main library is a long way away, THAT is why there was a branch library built where it was.

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  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    you're in college, so I bet you have ramen noodles everywhere. Get a bottle of stir fry sauce. Now the world is your oyster. Whatever is on sale at the market is great. some broccoli, ramen noodles (without spices), stir fry sauce, and parmesian cheese is awesome. chicken? Good too. for the convection oven you can make so many things. Google some convection oven recipes. Basically anything you can make in a regular oven can be made there. Now here is a trick I use a lot. You know those frozen pizzas that you get for a dollar and they taste like they were made from cardboard? get a few of those. they may not be great on their own, but combined with whatever leftovers you have in the fridge they are awesome. half a tomato, some garlic, and lunch meat on top is great. You can literally top them with anything to make a pizza that will rival anything you can get delivered. I've even used leftover chinese food on top and it was awesome. Just set the cook time a little longer than normal. another cheap and easy solution is to buy tortilla shells and use them as a sort of crust for mini pizzas/wraps. Just put whatever you like on them. you can also make rice in the convection oven by bringing the water/rice to a boil in the microwave the transferring it to a lidded oven safe pot for the convection oven to finish. If that's too much trouble you can buy microwaveable rice packets that are really good and done in 90 seconds. The potential is endless with those.

  • 1 decade ago

    I am internet savvy and pc literate but you can't beat getting a book from the library. E books just don't do it for me. Also buying books means once you have read them you either accumulate them, give them to charity or try and sell them on ebay - what's the point? I go once every 3 weeks and never know what I want until I search the shelves so they should keep them. The elderly love books and it can be a few hours out of the house for them.

    Tech Savvy people are fed up of trying to educate pork. Since when does everybody have computers? Elderly people who enjoy a good read and don't have the mind for technical stuff like computers. It's a bit different when kids are using them whilst still in nappies, there are loads of people who have never even used one.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Absolutely . I spent this afternoon supporting my local library. Libraries provide a place for quiet research, a place to allow the kids to visit on the way back from school when its raining. A place of learning & literary culture, and a place for locals to meet and research & find out about local issues of concern such as schools, parking ,planning issues etc. Better to shut down the pubs first

  • 1 decade ago

    Most of the information we have at the moment comes from a book .Has been handed down from hundreds of years it is found in the library. The E books are book form taken from books at the moment until the writer just writes them straight on to a hard disk and sent to the E library . , UNFORTUNATE this is the sin of the times libraries going and being replaced with the paperless society .I don't think they will ever be Instinct all together ,just to pick up a book hundred years old is magic , would like to see this world a hundred years from now "My dog tried to eat my library book."

    "What did you do?" asked the librarian.

    "I took the words right out of his mouth."boom boom

    Source(s): lots of things are going . we shop on line , we read on line , we chat line , we date on line , we watch movies on line and yes Rum we have our on line friends we chat to every day , does this free us up to what is coming next which is ? to be cont
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I do not have a basement !

    I agree with the pants bit.

    They have already shut down the libraries where I live. However they do have a mobile one & my house is full of books. But I would have to confess the amount of books we buy as adults has plummeted over recent years due to the internet & ebooks. But on the plus side my 6 year old can not get enough books. He loves them.

  • 1 decade ago

    yes we do need them

    i think this is part of their master plan to stop people meeting and talking - that's why they had the smoking ban , honestly , they knew it would be the death of pubs and social gatherings

    soon we will only be able to meet in churches

    we should all go and take out the maximum amount of books so that we can prove it's a valuable service

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