We go a few times a month, I love our library. They are currently expanding it while it was already the largest library I have ever belonged to. Also libraries don’t just do books, ours has people who come and do discussions, we caught one a while ago with a guy from NASA. They have a chess club, programming club and they have a small theater for kids reading and small children’s theatre.
jreed2196 on
We have 5 libraries here. They even have a recording studio you can use to record music or podcasts and what not. I love the library. I use it for books, movies, games and I am thinking of trying a podcast. I have been researching it lately. I think a library is one of those things that needs to be funded a lot more. Anything that encourages creativity and stimulates the mind is a great thing.
CatOtterMutt on
It’s much cheaper to go to the library than any of those other events. I’d like to know how many people go to the library and those other activities.
moonbeanie on
I would have gone insane during the recession if it weren’t for my library. They are great.
kcg5 on
I wonder how they define people going to the library, do they mean physically? Not logging in from somewhere?
flip_ericson on
The homeless problem in this country is getting out of hand
[deleted] on
Where I live the library is the busiest place in town besides the shopping street. It’s open 24/7 for everyone, managed by a team of 20 people only and they host a lot of projects/exhibits from local students. Love that place.
rattatally on
They don’t go to the theater because they watch Netflix at home.
In_The_Play on
To be fair, the first few aren’t really comparable if we’re being honest. There aren’t as many seats available for NFL games etc because there are a set number of games and not that many teams. Also it is expensive.
Whoretron8000 on
And if libraries weren’t around, the US would never start such a program in the 21st century. Free internet, books and resources for the people via government subsidies and fundraising?!? That’s communism and takes business away unfairly from Barnes and Noble and Amazon!
AstronautPoseidon on
Truly shocking that people use the free thing that offers multiple forms of entertainment than go to the things that are expensive
Also it feels a bit disingenuous to include events that happen a limited number of times across just a few months with seating capacities against something is open year round with less limitations. You might live 2 hours from a pro sports team but also have a library
Books are cool, libraries are cool, don’t understand the comparison though
NoMoreVillains on
Well the library is significantly cheaper being free and all and they’re probably closer than the closest stadium/field/track
Browzur on
I mean, a lot of college students go to the library daily so thats a pretty large number right there.
Capgunkid on
Ignorant bafoon here: Went to one of the ones here in our area and it was gigantic! Just amazing the size and variety they have. We went for a Harry Potter thing where they had scavenger hunts and you could make wands and hats. They have current movies and new releases as well as classics. Their audiobook selection is enormous as well. Comparable to their video collection.
Xylitolisbadforyou on
The library is free, its open every day of the week and caters to every taste in reading. All those other things, not so much.
Turns out I live in some kind of library utopia. Sorry for overstating the benefits of libraries if yours are less than ideal.
ilikepugs on
My takeaway from this headline is that more people attend MLB games than NHL and Nascar combined.
CountyKildare on
It’s almost as if one of those things is free and the others aren’t.
MyNameCannotBeSpoken on
To be fair, most free things are very popular
TylertheDouche on
Look, I get Reddit has a hard-on for libraries but this free karma farm needs to chill. It’s disingenuous.
I’d be interested in how much traffic is by kids who are essentially forced to go to the library as an after school hub.
I’d be interested in how much traffic is driven because educators still don’t know how the internet and Wikipedia works. This was literally the only time I had to use it in college
I’d be interested in how often each of those 172 million Americans use their library card. Yeah, everyone has a library card. This information isn’t useful.
I’d be interested in just how many people are checking out the 2.1 billion items. They say 16 items for every American – which gives us no information. And 32 items for every card holder – which is another average that gives no information.
It’s clear they are trying to rebrand the library as a hub for x,y,z. But it’s unclear to me why they are pretending books are the reason. Books and the library don’t seem synonymous with these posts and information, but they want them to be. The library seems far removed from its purpose.
Lee_337 on
Wasn’t there a senator or lobbiest that recently said that we should defund libraries because nobody uses them anymore?
bettorworse on
And fully 50% are hobos, to judge by the libraries near me.
IMovedYourCheese on
I can understand the original theater comparison, but the rest of them don’t make sense. A very, very tiny chunk of people even have access to any of those events.
ForgedRaven on
More people probably go to McDonalds
Fugglymuffin on
More and more people have less and less money to spend on these things, and the library’s got free WiFi. I’m not surprised by this at all.
JeamBim on
in LA it’s all homeless drug addicts and people watching porn on the public internet unfortunately.
HighFiveDude on
Why are libraries bragging so much all of a sudden
brownchr014 on
That’s because they have sooo much to offer besides books. Like computers and a lot of different programs.
Telandria on
I have to wonder though whether bias by country was looked at or if global statistics were used for libraries, and whether or not people who sit and *watch* games/etc that are televised was considered. Or even whether or not it was just limited to America or what. (Edit: Does seem like probably limited to America, not that th at changes much)
Because it seems kind of a given that if you take a given day and look at all libraries in the nation, which is probably hundreds of thousands, vs whatever NFL matches are scheduled that day, and *just* the people who showed up at the stadium, it’s kind of a ‘no shit’ situation, as stadium seating is actually fairly limited — and far, *far* more people are going to be sitting in bars or in their living rooms watching the match than as compared to actually crossing the country to sit in a stadium.
Similarly, just for american football alone, the NFL is not the be-all, end-all of football matches. College football is a fairly popular subsection, and isn’t strictly an NFL sport. Ditto for college basketball and the NBA, etc. Nor is NASCAR the only racing competitions.
These ‘statistics’ seem… heavily cherry-picked without more information.
Edit: Yeah, see, they use phrases like ‘go to X matches’ — that is not the same as ‘spent their time watching the games’ by a long shot. It’s not even in the same ballpark (pun intended) as counting TV/Sports bar attendance. Which matters, especially as they’re also touting statistics like ‘checked out X item this year’, when you can check out things like ebooks and movies remotely from your library.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
TheMacPhisto on
Someone want to explain why there’s a reddit circlejerk going on this week over libraries?
happy-cig on
Bc the library is free.
Raeandray on
This isn’t really news though. Probably get downvoted for this, but libraries are free. Of course more people visit them than expensive sports games (with limited seating) and movie theaters.
DazedAmnesiac on
Again…what’s *actually* happening here is the rapid decline of physical entertainment in all forms other than the **FREE** library visits
TrueStory_Dude on
Actually, there is another part/clue there.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
kaoticFuk420 on
The homeless can’t afford tickets
Toofast4yall on
I’m shocked that the number of people in the WORLD going to a FREE library exceeds the amount of people in a SINGLE COUNTRY that go to a $300-400 NFL game. What kind of statistic is that? Can we get a stat that compares apples to apples?
[deleted] on
Well tickets cost quite a bit of money. Of course more people go to the library. These posts are getting fucking stupid.
Furiousfuzz on
I should hope so. NFL is basically 32 cities having 8 games a year, plus a handful of play off games. Some NHL teams struggle to break 10k average attendees.
40 Comments
We go a few times a month, I love our library. They are currently expanding it while it was already the largest library I have ever belonged to. Also libraries don’t just do books, ours has people who come and do discussions, we caught one a while ago with a guy from NASA. They have a chess club, programming club and they have a small theater for kids reading and small children’s theatre.
We have 5 libraries here. They even have a recording studio you can use to record music or podcasts and what not. I love the library. I use it for books, movies, games and I am thinking of trying a podcast. I have been researching it lately. I think a library is one of those things that needs to be funded a lot more. Anything that encourages creativity and stimulates the mind is a great thing.
It’s much cheaper to go to the library than any of those other events. I’d like to know how many people go to the library and those other activities.
I would have gone insane during the recession if it weren’t for my library. They are great.
I wonder how they define people going to the library, do they mean physically? Not logging in from somewhere?
The homeless problem in this country is getting out of hand
Where I live the library is the busiest place in town besides the shopping street. It’s open 24/7 for everyone, managed by a team of 20 people only and they host a lot of projects/exhibits from local students. Love that place.
They don’t go to the theater because they watch Netflix at home.
To be fair, the first few aren’t really comparable if we’re being honest. There aren’t as many seats available for NFL games etc because there are a set number of games and not that many teams. Also it is expensive.
And if libraries weren’t around, the US would never start such a program in the 21st century. Free internet, books and resources for the people via government subsidies and fundraising?!? That’s communism and takes business away unfairly from Barnes and Noble and Amazon!
Truly shocking that people use the free thing that offers multiple forms of entertainment than go to the things that are expensive
Also it feels a bit disingenuous to include events that happen a limited number of times across just a few months with seating capacities against something is open year round with less limitations. You might live 2 hours from a pro sports team but also have a library
Books are cool, libraries are cool, don’t understand the comparison though
Well the library is significantly cheaper being free and all and they’re probably closer than the closest stadium/field/track
I mean, a lot of college students go to the library daily so thats a pretty large number right there.
Ignorant bafoon here: Went to one of the ones here in our area and it was gigantic! Just amazing the size and variety they have. We went for a Harry Potter thing where they had scavenger hunts and you could make wands and hats. They have current movies and new releases as well as classics. Their audiobook selection is enormous as well. Comparable to their video collection.
The library is free, its open every day of the week and caters to every taste in reading. All those other things, not so much.
Turns out I live in some kind of library utopia. Sorry for overstating the benefits of libraries if yours are less than ideal.
My takeaway from this headline is that more people attend MLB games than NHL and Nascar combined.
It’s almost as if one of those things is free and the others aren’t.
To be fair, most free things are very popular
Look, I get Reddit has a hard-on for libraries but this free karma farm needs to chill. It’s disingenuous.
I’d be interested in how much traffic is by kids who are essentially forced to go to the library as an after school hub.
I’d be interested in how much traffic is driven because educators still don’t know how the internet and Wikipedia works. This was literally the only time I had to use it in college
I’d be interested in how often each of those 172 million Americans use their library card. Yeah, everyone has a library card. This information isn’t useful.
I’d be interested in just how many people are checking out the 2.1 billion items. They say 16 items for every American – which gives us no information. And 32 items for every card holder – which is another average that gives no information.
It’s clear they are trying to rebrand the library as a hub for x,y,z. But it’s unclear to me why they are pretending books are the reason. Books and the library don’t seem synonymous with these posts and information, but they want them to be. The library seems far removed from its purpose.
Wasn’t there a senator or lobbiest that recently said that we should defund libraries because nobody uses them anymore?
And fully 50% are hobos, to judge by the libraries near me.
I can understand the original theater comparison, but the rest of them don’t make sense. A very, very tiny chunk of people even have access to any of those events.
More people probably go to McDonalds
More and more people have less and less money to spend on these things, and the library’s got free WiFi. I’m not surprised by this at all.
in LA it’s all homeless drug addicts and people watching porn on the public internet unfortunately.
Why are libraries bragging so much all of a sudden
That’s because they have sooo much to offer besides books. Like computers and a lot of different programs.
I have to wonder though whether bias by country was looked at or if global statistics were used for libraries, and whether or not people who sit and *watch* games/etc that are televised was considered. Or even whether or not it was just limited to America or what. (Edit: Does seem like probably limited to America, not that th at changes much)
Because it seems kind of a given that if you take a given day and look at all libraries in the nation, which is probably hundreds of thousands, vs whatever NFL matches are scheduled that day, and *just* the people who showed up at the stadium, it’s kind of a ‘no shit’ situation, as stadium seating is actually fairly limited — and far, *far* more people are going to be sitting in bars or in their living rooms watching the match than as compared to actually crossing the country to sit in a stadium.
Similarly, just for american football alone, the NFL is not the be-all, end-all of football matches. College football is a fairly popular subsection, and isn’t strictly an NFL sport. Ditto for college basketball and the NBA, etc. Nor is NASCAR the only racing competitions.
These ‘statistics’ seem… heavily cherry-picked without more information.
Edit: Yeah, see, they use phrases like ‘go to X matches’ — that is not the same as ‘spent their time watching the games’ by a long shot. It’s not even in the same ballpark (pun intended) as counting TV/Sports bar attendance. Which matters, especially as they’re also touting statistics like ‘checked out X item this year’, when you can check out things like ebooks and movies remotely from your library.
[deleted]
Someone want to explain why there’s a reddit circlejerk going on this week over libraries?
Bc the library is free.
This isn’t really news though. Probably get downvoted for this, but libraries are free. Of course more people visit them than expensive sports games (with limited seating) and movie theaters.
Again…what’s *actually* happening here is the rapid decline of physical entertainment in all forms other than the **FREE** library visits
Actually, there is another part/clue there.
[deleted]
The homeless can’t afford tickets
I’m shocked that the number of people in the WORLD going to a FREE library exceeds the amount of people in a SINGLE COUNTRY that go to a $300-400 NFL game. What kind of statistic is that? Can we get a stat that compares apples to apples?
Well tickets cost quite a bit of money. Of course more people go to the library. These posts are getting fucking stupid.
I should hope so. NFL is basically 32 cities having 8 games a year, plus a handful of play off games. Some NHL teams struggle to break 10k average attendees.
In a country pushing 400 million.
I’m calling complete bullshit on this