By: Diane Benjamin
Or is the library desperate to remain relevant in the age of internet and e-books?
Yes, Bloomington taxpayers, you are paying at least 6 people to go door-to-door to promote their “free” services!
See the entire release Door-to-Door Campaign 2018
Want to know why living in Bloomington is un-affordable and only getting worse? You are looking at it,
Government’s job is providing services citizens can’t do for themselves: Police, Fire, Roads, Water, Sewers.
It isn’t entertaining anybody. The Bloomington Public Library wants to expand so they have room for events. It isn’t their job to babysit kids at the expense of all taxpayers.
If they stopped by your house, I’d love to know what the spewed.
What is it called when a government agency goes door-to-door in specific neighborhoods? What is it called when government teams up with an agenda group to do it?
Elections have consequences, not voting in local elections has allowed this abuse of taxpayers.
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Snowflake article of the year right here.
Why are they only doing that neighborhood? I love confronting these people when they come to my door. Ha!
Because if they come to neighborhoods on the east side, they will be greeted with “why would I go to a library… I have 2 computers, 3 iPads and 4 iPhones in the house” So the are “reaching out” to people who they think have no access to the internet. Yes, they are vulnerable to the sales pitch of library workers who want to bring them into the library (indoctrination center).
Exactly, because just as they think “some people” simply can not obtain an ID they also don’t seem to know that low income people have VERY cheap access to internet as well as long as they meet a few guidelines and have school age kids in the house.
I didn’t know that… if poor people have some kind of computer/mobile device then they are connected to the world! And a library is needed for what?
1. Probably the only person who is in an exempt, salaried position is the director. All others are paid an hourly wage, so I’m sure their hours were adjusted to they would not earn overtime doing this. Thus, to impact on taxpayers.
2. Yes, libraries are still relevant in the digital age. Internet services into our homes is now about 25 years old. Libraries aren’t shutting down; they are expanding.
Under your theory, those people weren’t needed at the library and are therefore expendable. They are expanding to do events that aren’t why libraries exist. Worse, they want to raise property taxes for the privilege.
It appears no amount of common sense will change your opinion…..
I am glad to see you are not gaslighting today…. libraries are expanding?…. could you provide some sort of proof that libraries are expanding. As someone who spent hundreds of hours in libraries before the internet, I find absolutely no reason to visit one now and I know that I am not alone. I recently got digital copies of the complete works of Shakespeare and Charles Dickens for almost nothing. I can get academic research papers (sometimes at a small cost) and almost anything I want with a few mouse clicks. I would like some evidence now. Please?
some libraries are going 100% digital!
You said for “almost nothing”, which means you paid money to obtain those titles. I glad that your rich enough to be able to afford to spend money like that on those resources. What if you were a student or a elderly person who couldn’t afford to spend “almost nothing” on Shakespeare and Charles Dickens? That’s where libraries come in, giving full access to all books, digital and audiobooks to those who can’t afford to spend “almost nothing”.
Yes I am filthy rich and I use this thing call Amazon Kindle. I spent 99 cents on the complete works of Charles Dickens and all the Shakespeare works were free. You should check it out… Apple has books too… and other companies are out there as well. So your point is? Yes I do have in my budget Kindle Unlimited $9.99 a month that allows me to download and read thousands of books for free… Now Kindle is also across platforms… I will explain for you…. I can read my books on my phone, my Kindle, my computer and my iPad. And like I said before, I don’t need a library to do my research and no one else does. Perhaps you should try joining the 21st Century and see what a new exciting world we have?
FYI – I have fiber-optic cable that is 3 months old…. “Internet services into our homes is now about 25 years old”??? What exactly are you talking about? Do you have old coaxial cable? So what? It’s the signal, the modem and the router that matters.
And books on Amazon Kindle are around $11 to $13 dollars a pop with my Prime membership which I also pay around a $100 a year. So, yes, I’d say you rich. Not everyone can afford such a luxury as paying that much for a digital books. $9.99 a book is also a luxury many people can’t afford. If you’re struggling to pay basic bills and keeping a roof over you head, those expenses are beyond many people. Bloomington P.L has a digital app that anyone who has a library card can download many books, audiobooks, music, movies for FREE! Not 9.99, not 11 dollars not a hundred dollars a year for a membership.
This is a really old argument. It used to be that “everyone” has their own books so there was no need for libraries. The other argument was that books had germs and heck you certainly didn’t want those germs in your house. You digital argument holds no water, since almost every library has digital access for all their material. Also tell me again when we will be a totally paperless society and not have the need to have the need for computer access for those that need it. I have yet to go into the Bloomington Library and not see every single public computer they own being used by patrons.
This is really an cynical argument against our established institutions. Public libraries are one of our oldest institutions in this country. Until you can convince me that the need for verified information and knowledge are obsolete, then you’re wrong.
You keep ignoring facts. Libraries in Bloomington and Normal now want to do events. The events have nothing to do with books.
I/we are still waiting for your evidence to back up your assertion that libraries are expanding? And explain your statement, “Internet services into our homes is now about 25 years old”???
I had an Internet connection into my home in 1993. That’s 25 years ago.
And many libraries are expanding. Do a simple search to see how useful libraries are in the digital age. Just because YOU don’t go to the library anymore, doesn’t mean the nation doesn’t go to libraries. Don’t be so narrow-minded.
He asked for proof, that isn’t it. How much more property tax do you want to pay?
Libraries have been “doing” events for YEARS. It’s nothing new or revolutionary. These events have EVERYTHING to do with books. Preschool and child story time? It’s about getting children to love and read books. Every single “event” going on has been around for years. Just because you think it’s new, doesn’t mean that is new. It means you haven’t been paying attention or your purposely stirring up controversy where there is none.
Not the kind of events they do now!
You are funny Yamaha2004 … I ask for evidence to back up your claim that libraries are expanding and you tell me to go to the internet to “Do a simple search to see how useful libraries are in the digital age.”
And you have had internet in your home for 25 years? Really nothing has changed from the days of “AOL, you have mail?” What has changed is we are in the beginning of the age of information. The world is being connected in real time with a billion mobile devices. This is a world like nothing that has come before.
Why can’t you bring evidence that libraries are expanding? Because there isn’t any and you know it. Your defense of libraries and the Bloomington Public Library is rooted in some other reason. You know that your friends and neighbors don’t use the library. I am sure that You don’t use the library. So you are defending it with weak unsubstantiated arguments for what reason?
I would expect that you have some sort of skin in this game. Money, support of a person or support of the establishment must be behind your defense of it.
Now since you made the claim: “Libraries aren’t shutting down; they are expanding” we are waiting for evidence to back this up? Can you provide some links to articles talking about how libraries are expanding?
So they know the bell is tolling for their library, libraries everywhere and their jobs, so they are going door to door in Multi-Cultural areas (poor neighborhoods) to beg folks to visit their library? The city (the library) employs an outreach associate? I wonder what she makes to reach out to the community? This is just a continued denial of the reality of the 21st Century. We don’t need libraries anymore… just like we don’t need malls…. Get your resumes ready overpaid City library workers… you will not be retiring from the jobs you are currently in.
I loved the Bloomington Public Library when I lived there. If I didn’t have access to our own rural library, I would pay for a BPL card. I think you are missing the point. Libraries are more than just books. They also provide services and programming for kids and adults. They want that message to reach the neighborhoods that would benefit from those services most.
On a different note, if you are going to post a “news” article, you may want to check for grammar errors before posting.
Why? don’t like it, don’t read! Glad you declared libraries for more than they were ever intended! Libraries aren’t more than books because they don’t fund themselves!
Who appointed you the arbiter of what public libraries are or aren’t? They been more than books for a very long time going back over a hundred years. Libraries have been the source for information, call any reference librarian and they will give you a complete answer to complex questions that can be verified. The internet has a lot of false and biased information that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Anyone stating that all you need is the internet is mistaken. Libraries are font of verified information, knowledge. Anyone can go to a public library and learn anything from how to speak English, how to get a GED or how to become a policeman or fireman. Children have been going to libraries to learn how to read for a very long time, that’s nothing new. Neither are the many programs they present to patrons.
Bashing libraries appear to be a sport to you and your readers. Your view point is a minority sentiment not shared by any majority in Bloomington or anywhere in this country. Libraries are more relevant now than in the past.
Bashing tax increases so they can hold “events” is why I’m bashing libraries. It isn’t about BOOKS!
DAXDAXTERSON … you are a silly person… I need to go to a reference librarian to find out the true facts? Really? Children learn to read in the public library? Really…I thought school and home was for that? The internet is your enemy with false information that I need a librarian to verify? You can learn a new language at the library? Really can I learn Chinese there? I have always wanted to be a Fireman… the library can help get me to my dream?
There is no library bashing going on here. Here it is simply for you: Libraries are places to store and loan out “dead tree” versions of books. They are obsolete and a waste of money. The attempt to turn them into community centers or whatever is nothing more than trying to keep a dinosaur from going extinct. Dead tree versions of books are a thing of the past and the need for keeping them in buildings called libraries is over. If this was not funded entirely by hard working taxpayers, we all could care less about them. But keeping a 20th Century vestige of the past alive with our money is not something that we are prepared to accept. Our roads are falling apart and our economy is failing. I think we have better ways to spend the money that we all send to the city.
The library release has misspelled word in it. Gee, should people who work there know how to spell? They do get paid where I don’t.
Right, no name…. perhaps you should try writing 1/10th of what is done on this site with the demands of producing and commenting everyday of the week before you make condescending comments about grammar and your obvious disrespect for what is being reported by putting the word “news” in quotations. Yes this is citizen journalism and it is happening all over the world. So this is the real news… the WGLT, Pantagraph, CNN, MSNBC, etc. is the Fake News. Get used to it… there is more and more of it out there and it is putting the mainstream corporate media out of business.
Great that you love the library… I loved libraries too… but libraries are about books… actually that is really all libraries are about. Now I know that the Bloomington Public Library (and many others I imagine) are desperately trying to reinvent themselves into service providers, daycare providers or community centers to justify keeping their doors open and their jobs secure. So unless you are technologically challenged or don’t have access to the internet… there is NO reason to go to the library. Libraries are already obsolete and will be disappearing by the thousands in the next few years. Just like big box retailers and malls… libraries are no longer needed and they are a complete waste of money…..taxpayer money.
In conclusion, I have written and edited for the best part of 40 years and I still in my haste will publish in this publication (and others) an occasional error. Even someone with my skills makes mistakes. So he who lives in a glass house (unless you are a perfect writer) should not be throwing stones at Diane. She does an amazing job and donates untold hours to exposing corruption and telling the truth to the people of our area.
(Side note to Diane, publish or not is fine: Don’t know if you have a say in it, but I don’t care for the new format. I do like that one can now track the comment counters from the main page, but the byline, teaser, tags, counter, and added white space now mean one can only see one article per screen, i.e. I saw the library article but would never see the weekend funnies if I didn’t scroll to look for them. Ideal, imo, would be to have zero to two of those five items so that one can see at least one and hopefully two days’ posts.
I’m torn about the header. ‘News Nobody Reports’ being more prominent may be better for pulling in new readers, but having it overshadow ‘BlnNews’ seems like poor branding. Either way, again, less white space so it isn’t pushing out the actual articles.
Maybe make a post about the new format so you can either explain the reasoning or ask for others’ input so you can find out what readers prefer?
Sorry to complain. You’re still far and away the best journalist in the county afaik, and thank you for that – just the format change seems to be for the worse.)
I’m still working on the format, not keeping it this way!
For what its worth i liked the old layout better. Story titles were all right there nice and close no need to scroll like it is now. I know some people might like reading the first sentence of a story before clicking it but it does make the page to long. Reading comments was even easier and faster the old way.
But then again im old and set in my ways and hate change. 🙂 Either way i will still come here several times a day to see whats new. keep up the good work that you do…
I like the old way better too. Working on getting it changed.
Yahoo!
Is this better?
Yes … I like it now!
We never go to the Library and have not been their in years because you can google anything thing you want to find out about today. I do know though that a lot of the homeless people like to go their to get in out of the elements and read the newspapers from what homeless people have told me when I’m out walking my little dog.
I have done a couple Word Press sites… they are really very adaptable…work with it until you get exactly what you want.
I reader paid for an upgrade to premium version. Ads should be gone, lots more flexibility. See how it looks now. I’m using a tablet so i can’t tell much
I like the white text on grey background, seems to be easy on the eyes.
Lawrence, you’re a “silly” person if you think that everything on the internet is true. It’s apparent that you are here to solely bash libraries because like the writer of this blog, you don’t use libraries. Evidently prejudicial attacks on an institutions is par for the course on this blog. Let’s get rid of everything that make our democratic country great. If you want a poorer, more uneducated population, then do away with public education, public libraries. Your opinion and the opinion of the writer of this blog is a minority opinion, not the opinion of millions who use public libraries every single day.
Thanks for answering my question. You use the library everyday? or just work there? or one of the homeless who hangs out there?
It is almost like he/she works at a library.. when I said silly, I was trying to be nice LOL – there are other words less flattering I could have used… my need for reference librarian to verify facts is just completely out there… so this sounds like either a current or past librarian? Either that or we have somehow encountered a time portal that is connected to 1956?
Now you have done it…. you just gaslighted me…. you lied about what I said … since you are new to this forum I will have to educate you: Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim’s belief.
What I said was in the form of a question to you: “I need to go to a reference librarian to find out the true facts?” Where in this statement did I say I believe everything on the internet? So you are lying about what I said which is classic gaslighting.
If you want to rebut with reasoned arguments, I will respond again to you. But I make it a practice on this site and others to call out gaslighters and then troll everything they say from that point forward.
You decide…. I will be waiting for you to act like an adult and debate in good faith without gaslighting me.
Again, it’s apparent that you don’t use the library if you think only the homeless use it. Far from it, libraries are used by people in all walks of life for different reasons. Yes, I use the library frequently and no, I do not work at a library. I’ve been to many libraries across this nation and in different countries and have compared public libraries as to quality and public use. The best public libraries are the libraries where communities invested in their libraries. I’ve been in libraries were the public is very proud of their library, use their library and wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Libraries have been using programing and outreach for years. It’s absolutely nothing new. Children’s programing has been around for years and years. So have many adult programs. Community organizing? When exactly did that become a dirty word? I guess only in your mind. Who exactly put you in charge of how we spend our taxes? No one.
I wouldn’t be cast aspersions on anyone’s spelling or grammar, looking at your postings; you could use a good trip to the public library for a book on English language composition.
Since they can’t spell, I will skip it.
Once again you are being a serial gaslighter – lying and saying Diane has said anything about anyone’s grammar? Can you read? Please read what she said – FYI – for being a librarian you are a really bad liar… is that what your teach children… lying? Wow… libraries have really changed!
Wow, you really have the Progressive word and sentence twist thing down REAL well, as well as the ability to quickly compare apples to oranges – Good job!! I am sure you like being called one of the “smart people” by the elitists who run the little cabal of leftists you like being a part of, you know, so you can sit at the “cool kids table” and go to all of the right parties and eat at the right places…
I have a question about the employment for McLean county and all of Illinois…. before I knew better, I would just bring up the government website that has all the numbers… now thanks to DAXDAXTERSON, I will just wait until the library opens tomorrow and go down there and talk to a “reference librarian” to get the “real numbers!” Thanks DAXDAXTERSON , I never did trust the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics anyway… that internet thing can’t compare to those reference librarians! They really rock!
Who said I was a librarian? No me. I’m someone who uses libraries. Both of you state that you do not use libraries, haven’t used them in years. How do either of you know what anyone who uses libraries wants from their local library? You don’t. Ms. Benjamin then opines that libraries are somehow doing something new. They aren’t doing anything new. I could go back a hundred years to when libraries were doing the exact same thing as are now.
You’re able to spend a great deal of money downloading materials. No everyone is as rich as you, you don’t have to be homeless to go to a library and use their materials . You comments about libraries being ” …are places to store and loan out “dead tree” versions of books”, means only that both you and Ms. Benjamin haven’t been in a public library for years. People still check out actual books by the thousands year by year. Just because the writer of this blog hates libraries, doesn’t mean everyone hates libraries.
I also don’t need a lecture from you about gaslighting. Your opinions are not more salient or better informed than mine. Stop sounding like a pompous, patronizing geezer who yells at kids to get off his grass.
It was Ms. Benjamin who brought up spelling as an issue. If you’re going to complain about spelling your spelling should be impeccable, not at times questionable.
People check out books at libraries? Wow, brilliant. That is what a library is for, not entertainment and free room that get reserved by their friends. Go ahead and ask how I know that!
And you and you alone get to define what libraries are and aren’t. Who died and left you in charge of anything? Who elected you? No one. Lawrence who is your compatriot in library hate states that libraries are place to store dead trees because everyone in the world reads expensive e-books from Apple and Amazon. That happens not to be true, but heck disparaging an institution seems to be more important than telling the truth.
You opine that libraries shouldn’t be for “entertainment”. Well, children’s story times and programs go back years. Adult programs are nothing new, which always included book clubs and special interest programing. Reserving study rooms is something public libraries have been doing for years. Oh, the unmitigated horror, friends studying together. Civilization must be falling apart because “free room that get reserved by their friends” (sic). What the heck does that even mean? Who knows, you are not running on logic.
Community rooms are nothing new they go back years. You are trying to create controversy by using words like “entertainment” and “community organizing” to attack an institution that you hate. Fine. Hate standing in unincorporated Ellsworth shaking your fists. The rest of us who love to read and love to bring our children to libraries so they have a love of reading will support libraries.
I KNOW for a fact that people with different politics than the staff have reserved a room and been cancelled just days before an event if somebody they prefer wants it. It’s why the room shouldn’t even exist. Everything is about politics and they use events to indoctrinate with tax dollars.
You are nuts… go away… you are waste of everyone’s time…
I wonder how successful the library was with this initiative. I highly doubt there was a stampede of low-income individuals running to the library during or after. Do we really think there are many people in Bloomington that deep down want to come to the library, but just don’t know how to get there or what amazing services they offer?! This is the same flawed logic of the Downtown cabal saying we need street signs directing people to the Downtown. You can’t create demand out of thin air; you must offer products/services people want, need, or desire.
The library is still running frequent TV ads on Peoria stations. Why?
What is the cost of TV ads? It has to be very high… they are desperate to create demand. Nothing they do is going to change the fact that libraries are obsolete. There are better and cheaper ways to help low income people to access information. Should we have a place where disadvantaged people can access the internet? Yes Does it have to have dead tree versions of books? No Does it need a large staff, advertising and outreach efforts? No
The library is LYING when they say “Come get your FREE card”. I guess the people who live around Miller Park don’t pay any property taxes. FREE???? My @$$! Take a look at your property tax and see just what that “FREE” service costs you! It is all about building their little fiefdom up and stealing more of my money through taxes to better their lives and pensions… certainly not mine!
We all know that there is no such thing as free… especially when it comes from government funded non-profits. We are on the edge of massive changes to our world. AI or artificial intelligence is just beginning to move into industry, medicine and finance. Soon AI will change our world in ways we cannot imagine. And yes there will be a few libraries in existence in the future but they will be museums and curiosities from a world that no longer exists.
Who would have thought just 5 years ago that Eastland Mall would be dying today? Who would have thought just 5 years ago there would be an entire series on YouTube dedicated to dead malls? This is where libraries are going….. For those who don’t want to accept this… good luck…. it’s happening anyway!
https://youtu.be/C_-cBLQlB-A