• RabbitBBQ@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Federal library funding is under threat— So go support one of the last remaining public spaces. It’s an outdated idea, somewhere a human can exist without having to spend money.

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I took my young kid to a recent library event - the first time I’ve been to a library in several years, to be honest - and overheard the organizer (or leader or whatever) of the event saying “that’s why we’re here: to give people somewhere safe they can have entertainment for free.”

      I didn’t have much in the way of an opinion on that person prior to that, positive or negative, but I respected the hell out of them after hearing them say that.

  • theblips@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    So refreshing seeing those words actually used in a public setting. Suicide instead of “self unaliving”, rape instead of “grape”, etc. Maybe I really am chronically online

    • lumony@lemmings.world
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      7 days ago

      Maybe I really am chronically online

      Perhaps. It is kind of nice to know that a lot of the drivel we read on these forums doesn’t necessarily translate to how people behave in the real world.

      I’ve gotten way better at identifying users whose brains are “shot” from spending too much time on social media. At some point, I’ve realized I may as well not be discussing with a human; they’re walking memes.

    • xia@lemmy.sdf.org
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      7 days ago

      Even “chronically online” seems a bit euphemistic… it’s like we’re all living under oppressive technofascism.

  • John-Mark Gurney@flyovercountry.social
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    7 days ago

    @MrMakabar
    #AltText

    Sign at end of library shelf:
    Nervous about asking
    ABORTION 363.46
    ABUSE 362.76
    ALCOHOL 362.29, 813.81
    ANXIETY 152.46, 155.5, 616.85 BULLYING 303.69
    CANCER 616.99
    CHILD CUSTODY 343.73 CUTTING/SELF HARM 616.85 DEPRESSION 616.85
    DIVORCE 306.89
    DRUGS 362.29, 613.8
    EATING DISORDERS 616.85
    HIV/AIDS 616.97
    LOSS OF A PARENT 306.87, 155.9
    MENTAL ILLNESS 616.89
    POST TRAMATIC STRESS 616.85
    PREGNANCY 306.87, 618.2
    RAPE 362.88
    SELF-ESTEEM 185.1, 305.23 SEX 613.9
    STIs 616.95

    1/2

    • unbanshee@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 days ago

      We do deserve librarians.

      For people dealing with or processing systemic trauma, this directory isn’t a luxury or a stretch goal feature, it’s an essential accessibilty feature.

      There are a few things I’d add to that list, like burnout, disability, and neurodivergence, but it’s a good start.

      We gotta raise the bar, it’s been in hell for too long now.

  • damdy@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    I really feel being somewhat neuro divergent when my first though was, ‘wtf Is that font’, it’s like someone made comic sans worse.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      7 days ago

      I don’t anyone in the Trump administration can understand the library categorization system so I think we’re okay.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        7 days ago

        It isn’t comic sans though. It looks sort of like comic sans but it’s much cleaner.

        It’s difficult to tell really because the quality the image isn’t best but if you zoom in there’s quite a lot of variation of the same letter form so it’s an adaptive font.

        Look at the two L’s in bullying. They’re not the same both times and the two t’s in cutting merge into each other but not any of the other characters. So there’s some custom letter forms going on there which comic sands doesn’t support.

        • MoreFPSmorebetter@lemmy.zip
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          7 days ago

          I see what you’re saying… It’s still comic sans adjacent and it bugs me.

          My father uses it on everything and he teaches 1st grade so I just associate comic sans with kids. I used to help out a lot in his classroom growing up.

          Seeing stuff like “rape” written in a font that my brain has tied to small children is unpleasant.

  • answersplease77@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    wtf who will go to library and read a book about rape or hiv while they are still nervous or tramatized by it? shit makes no sense. You will either search the internet or see a therapist.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Kids/teens whose at-home internet usage is monitored by strict parents, and who can’t seek therapy without their parents’ consent/knowledge. The parents may even be complicit in/perpetrators of the rape.

      Domestic abuse victims who live with their abuser.

      Homeless who can’t regularly afford internet access or a therapist. Many homeless people regularly rely on public libraries for internet access, and are common victims of rape and abuse. So why not direct them to other resources while they’re there?

      Elderly victims, who still fall back to books instead of the internet, and who grew up with a heavy stigma surrounding therapy. Elder abuse is a very common problem, as they’re often a very vulnerable demographic with few friends and limited mobility.

      People who just like to read. For many people, books are a source of comfort. Not everything has to be done on a smartphone or desktop.

      Just to name a few…

    • dmention7@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      The internet is full of bullshit advice (ESPECIALLY around sex and health issues). Doctors and therapists cost money, and frankly aren’t the best way to just get basic facts and education.

      My small local library has kiosks near the exits where you can check out a book completely unassisted. I could walk in, pick out the most embarrassing book, check it out, and nobody would ever have to know.

      Thanks to a sign like this, someone who didn’t know the library had such resources, and/or was too embarrassed to ask, has a better chance of accessing that info. And they also know that the library staff WANTS them to be able to access that info, further reducing any stigma they might feel.

    • x00z@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      You’re a troll, but I’ll entertain you. “Books about rape or HIV” can also be books that are meant to be an emotional help instead of just a book with facts.

      Some examples for books about rape:

      • I Have Been Raped, Now What? by Susan Henneberg
      • Sexual Assault: The Ultimate Teen Guide by Olivia Ghafoerkhan
      • Shout! by Laurie Halse Anderson
      • Strong at the Heart: How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse by Carolyn Lehman

      Books such as these are meant to help against the trauma.

  • notsure@fedia.io
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    7 days ago

    the single most important reason for libraries to be freely accessible…maybe why certain folks want them to go away

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      If libraries didn’t already exist, to people in the USA they’d sound like some kind of socialist fever dream.

      A place where anybody can go to borrow media for free? Paid with my tax dollars?

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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        7 days ago

        I say this all the time! I use it to try to discredit conservatives when they make up reasons why we can’t have good things. Like, look, you love the library, and you know conservatives would make up all sorts of reasons why it couldn’t ever work. When they’re going on about how free buses (or whatever) couldn’t work, it’s the same

      • lumony@lemmings.world
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        7 days ago

        There could be some poor inner-city child that studies at libraries to get away from their home life and ends up joining the MIC or becoming an investment banker.

      • notsure@fedia.io
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        7 days ago

        Benjamin Franklin was a lover of life, and he seemed to think that books helped to love life…I honestly can’t believe he was so influential as to create one of the finest institutions on the planet. Remember, he hung out with slavers…