• stebo
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      642 months ago

      No, $122 from the printing factory and 13¢ from the authors.

  • @[email protected]
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    662 months ago

    Regarding libraries, this is such a socialist idea, that enriches society and educates the people. I wonder why no one thought to defund them, because think of the lost profits for companies like Amazon, etc. /s

      • Flying SquidOP
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        262 months ago

        And have succeeded. In the stupidest ways. I can’t find the article since there are so many fucking attempts, but there was one where they got rid of the library’s funding in the only public room in town big enough to hold the meeting on getting rid of the library’s funding: the library’s meeting room.

  • @[email protected]
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    662 months ago

    Does this include any “library of things?” Because at my library I can check tools, thermal image cameras, tables, board games and all sorts of other things.

    • @[email protected]
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      172 months ago

      Where are you where you have those options? Id love to be able to checkout tools at the library.

      • @[email protected]
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        72 months ago

        Not poster but northeast US in the more populated areas seem to have better stocked libraries. Mine has music, movies, board games, and a whole bunch of random equipment for stuff like research or cooking or building. Microscopes and knitting sets and pasta makers, construction equipment etc.

        • Flying SquidOP
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          22 months ago

          This library is in Indiana and still has one. My local one, also in Indiana, has one too. They both have maker spaces as well. The one here has free large format printing, 3D printing, sewing machines… some other things too that escape me now.

      • fmstrat
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        52 months ago

        This is pretty common in most blue states.

      • @[email protected]
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        32 months ago

        Illinois, in a suburb northwest of Chicago.

        They have so much to borrow totally free. So many people think of libraries as just books, but they often are so much more.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 months ago

      I’ve been to libraries where you can borrow music CDs, movie DvDs, and even games such as Nintendo Switch cartridges. My local library does DvDs but not the other stuff.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      52 months ago

      I don’t know whether she takes advantage of them, but that library definitely has a LoT.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 months ago

    Anyone who has ever suggested defunding or closing libraries should be hanged at the stake.

  • @[email protected]
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    242 months ago

    How much money is she spending that just the savings add up to 60’000? Or is that just an error and that’s the joke?

      • @[email protected]
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        232 months ago

        But she wouldn’t have?

        Before Netflix I wasn’t buying hundreds of DVDs per year. It doesn’t make sense to claim that use of a service, even a free one, constitutes “savings” based on hypothetical behavior where you would have bought all the content individually at list price.

        • @[email protected]
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          242 months ago

          That’s the thing, in a lot of cases you’d simply go without whether you wanted to or not. They use “savings” to illustrate how much it would have cost to buy all those books on their own, that’s it. They clearly wanted to read those books but they wouldn’t be able to afford them without a library. If they had the money to spend on them I’m sure they would have but they didn’t and that’s literally the whole point.

          Not being able to afford something and not wanting that something are different and calling this “savings” is fine and makes complete sense.

          Example: I’ve seen 1085 episodes of One Piece. Without Crunchyroll(and it’s low fees, compared to buying box sets I’d never rewatch) I’d never have been able to see all that content. I would have wanted to, but I couldn’t.

          Or to mirror your own words more: Before Crunchyroll I never would have seen it as without the service to offer these savings I’d be shit out of luck.

        • @[email protected]
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          92 months ago

          This person has read 40 books. They must love those books so much that they would have definitely bought them if this library didn’t exist. It’s not saving per se, but it’s money that could have been spent. They got the books they love and they didn’t spend the money. Win win, right?

          • @Taiatari
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            52 months ago

            Why does everyone assume books equals novels. The books loaned might have been text books or even journals.

          • @[email protected]
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            They wouldn’t have spent 60k on books over that time, they’ve only saved that much because the books were free. If they had to pay for the books they would have been more selective and less liberal in the amount.

            Spending $150 a week is just a lot of money to spend on books, it’s only that much because of the free price tag, so it’s extremely disingenuous to use that amount as people wouldn’t realistically spend that.

              • @[email protected]
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                2 months ago

                A more realistic metric would be used books (also reflects the quality of all but brand new fresh books which are a rarity obviously), but you can’t quantify that price, so yes using new is disingenuous, but go off on a rant I guess? I think it’s a great idea, but let’s not kid ourselves that people would actually be spending that amount on books. It’s great for a feel good story though, I’ll give you that.

                • Flying SquidOP
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                  22 months ago

                  A more realistic metric would be used books

                  Do used bookstores all charge the same prices these days?

        • @[email protected]
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          52 months ago

          I prefer to buy books to own. But books are expensive, so if a particular book feels like it’s not something worth the money to keep, I just borrow it from the library instead. That’s literally money saved for me. Yeah, you could argue that if the library wouldn’t have been an option then maybe I wouldn’t have bought the book at all, so no difference there, but it’s still the difference between reading the book for free or not reading the book at all.

    • @[email protected]
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      372 months ago

      My partner is in the Lit world and you drastically underestimate how much some people can read. If they are an avid reader and a long-standing member I can see it. Especially If they’re using the retail price to calculate that it adds up quick. hardcovers can easily be $40-60.

      • Flying SquidOP
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        162 months ago

        She also has a kid and has been going with the kid to the library since he was born to check out a bunch of books every week. He’s in grade school now… I want to say he’s 10?

        • @[email protected]
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          172 months ago

          $6996.99 per year is $134.56 per week. If you get 5 books per week, that’s $26.91 per book. Given the picture includes a single book costing $19.95, that feels very reasonable. Maybe it’s 6 books a week, maybe some books are more expensive.

          That’s a very consistent habit though.

          • Flying SquidOP
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            102 months ago

            They literally go every week and she and her husband and her kid all use it, so it would add up.

          • @[email protected]
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            52 months ago

            I go to the library every week with my kids. We usually have 20-30 books checked out at a time. 5 books per week is nothing for a whole family.

        • @[email protected]
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          52 months ago

          Yeah that’s definitely where that amount is coming from if it’s been well over a decade. Books are actually really fricken expensive!

          • Flying SquidOP
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            72 months ago

            Especially children’s books in terms of a per-page ratio. You check out 10 children’s books, because your kid will get through them all in a few days, that could be $200 worth of books.

            • @[email protected]
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              52 months ago

              With children’s books most of the page count will be in illustrations. You’ll go through them very quickly.

  • @[email protected]
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    152 months ago

    She must read a book a day or only borrow gold plated books. 7k past year? If a book cost 20 dollars thats 350 books!

    • @[email protected]
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      162 months ago

      Libraries also have movies and games!

      Also a lot of libraries have other stuff you can check out! Tools, sewing machine, printer, photo scanner etc!

      We scanned hundreds of old photos in minutes with the thousand dollar value equipment at our library totally for free! It was really cool! Ours has all kinds of equipment for converting old media to digital.

      Plus these huge satellite maps of our city from the past, it’s like a 3.5’x3ft book of aerial photos. Idk what you’d need that for, but it was fun to look through them!

    • @[email protected]
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      42 months ago

      It seems feasible if you don’t imagine they’re all big novels. A lot of nonfiction you might borrow several of in one visit and not read front to back. Think recipe books, handicrafts, anything along those lines. Could also be smaller things like children’s books, poetry collections, etc., or some of the books were unusually expensive.

    • 🦄🦄🦄
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      32 months ago

      Do you buy a copy when you find that you actually liked the book you pirated?

      • GHiLA
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        I literally send authors the average cost of money for their book to their patreon with notes telling them I would’ve paid their publisher if I could’ve gotten a DRM-free .epub after enjoying the copy I got on zlib.

  • FartsWithAnAccent
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    102 months ago

    Too many people sleep on libraries, they have all sorts of shit from music to movies on top of all the books, magazines, microfiche, etc.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 months ago

      Just got a library card a few months ago. Had one when I was a kid and forgot how great it was. Not only do you get access to a huge amount of books, music, magazines, they also have ebooks. I don’t even have to leave the house to get something to read. Just download it on my epaper reader. Plus: never again late fees because the license just expires after the rental time is over.

  • Rufus Q. Bodine III
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    82 months ago

    I’m more impressed with all the shelf space she saved by returning those physical books.

  • @[email protected]
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    62 months ago

    so what you’re saying is the library IS tracking everything she reads conspiracy music intensifies

  • @[email protected]
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    2 months ago

    Wait, not every library does this?

    Regardless they mildly bother me because they use the MSRP from when the books were new, not the actual price people pay for used books (which is what library books are).

  • @[email protected]
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    52 months ago

    Seems like a bad idea to point this out. You’re just giving more ammo to conservatives and media conglomerates that this hurts business and is “socialism”.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 months ago

      They stopped caring about money in legislation when they realized they don’t need to hide their grifts anymore. As long as they keep believing the library is for WASPs we’ll be fine.