Comment by akman

[delayed]

I see libraries throwing out large amounts of books, and then chasing non-book things that became laughably obsolete in a few years, such as:

- audio books on little devices to plug headphones into, which have cheap rechargeable batteries that seem to be mostly dead - collections of children’s toys in a toy room that after a few years are missing most of their pieces - large collections of DVDs - computer labs full of computers that are old/slow and then need all kinds of restrictions due to a handful of antisocial people using them for inappropriate things, leaving them nearly unusable for anyone else - fancy 3D printing labs containing hardware without enough volunteers to teach people how to use it, and with hardware going obsolete or unmaintained/broken - a seed bank that had obviously not had any seed packets taken out in years

My local library is eliminating a section of books in order to build a “sensory room”. Nothing against sensory rooms, but I’m not sure it was a good trade for yet another skip full of books. (There is a YMCA next door that would be a more appropriate place for a sensory room - and indeed it has one.)

On a recent library trip, despite all that, the dehumidifier was not working and I saw signs of permanent humidity damage to books in the archive. This is the one thing libraries should be doing: preserving books.

It's the same here in the various city libraries of Berlin both in the state library as well in the various branches across town.

State: https://www.zlb.de/veranstaltungsuebersicht/

And this is by no means special. I'm pretty sure this is the case for most major city libraries in Europe.

Other than that lots of people do their work or homework there, hangout in the outside spaces, book rooms for community meetings. With some more budget, I think there's a lot to be said for these to become default community activity/collaboration spaces.

Libraries have always had events and activities related to books and other things not book related.

People are just now noticing them. This is a great thing and I hope it sticks.

I believe people are getting sick of every interaction being monetized and are finally seeking out spaces where you can learn and interact with others without that threat.

> I wonder if there's a resurgence across the world where libraries are places of community sharing.

Just last week new stats came out [1] that library attendance by young people in the Netherlands is going up again, so possibly!

[1] https://nos.nl/artikel/2630399-meer-locaties-meer-bezoekers-...

>I wonder if there's a resurgence across the world where libraries are places of community sharing.

I feel there is, but I am not yet seeing anything concrete.

When I was a kid in the 1990s and 2000s, libraries were already de facto community centers as well in the Bay, LA, and BC.

SF folks: check out https://www.milibrary.org/

In Seattle they're mostly homeless shelters.