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January 18, 2006
It's like TiVo for books for free.
I was at a party this weekend where a group of friends were lamenting the amount of money they spent on books this past year. At some point I asked how many of them had library cards. Only three did. For as much lifehacking and greasemonkeying, and google maps mashups I or any of my geek-ass friends do during the week, the fact that most of us don't have library cards negates any claim we have towards being truly clever. If public libraries are the spiritual precursors to the Internet, then why aren't the people I know using them more often?
Sometime during the rise and spread of superstores like Barnes and Noble and Amazon I decided that the availability cost of going to the library and checking out a book was higher than that of actually purchasing that book from a bookstore. Looking at book sales over the past decade or so, I wasn't the only one. But as the number of unread books on my bookshelf continued to grow, my need for to have that book available immediately has decreased considerably. Combine that with the ability to search for and reserve books online and the public library is looking a lot more attractive to me.
If you stop to think about it, it's probably true for you as well. For those of you living in New York, did you know that you can apply for a NYPL library card online in less than 60 seconds? Or that you only need one form of proof of residency for a card with the Brooklyn Public Library? As David described it the other day:
As David says, "It's TiVo for Books and it's free."
So I figured what better way to make sure that everyone I know has a library card than to call them out through a public library card meme.
So how about it, friends? Who among you has a library card?
David Jacobs
Tricia Wang
George Hotelling
Ryan Shaw
Andrew Baron
Amanda Congdon
Eli Chapman
Daniell Krawczyk
Yury Gitman
Dan Melinger
Tim Shey
Jay Dedman
Andrea Harner
Andreas Jackson
Sheila Callaghan
Josh Kinberg
Liz Fine
Chelsea Peretti
Melisssa Riker
Mike Migurski
(I will add more bloggers to this list as I go through my feedreader. -kc.)
Posted by yatta at January 18, 2006 2:43 PM
Comments
I'm not on your list, but I'd like the record to show that I've got 3 library cards: Public and University libraries where I live and one for the public library in Ann Arbor that really helped me when I was staying there.
Both my parents are librarians, so I'm damaged goods.
Posted by: Andreas Haugstrup at January 18, 2006 4:08 PM
Three library cards? Nice, Andreas. (Even if you did have an advantage over the rest of us.)
And I never knew you lived in Ann Arbor. My list of Michigan friends is growing every day. ;)
Posted by: yatta at January 18, 2006 5:45 PM
hi. i have four university library cards, a nypl card, brooklyn public library card and a library of congress card. despite having seven library cards at my disposal, i buy more books than i can read.
Posted by: adriana at January 18, 2006 10:26 PM
i've got 2: the los angeles county public library, and the privately owned one in arcadia (but it's for the public, and it's really nice). if you include the one for my school, then i guess i've got 3 library cards. :)
Posted by: annie at January 19, 2006 5:36 PM
I do. Though I only used it once, two years ago... it's not the checking out that's the problem, it's the returning on time.
Posted by: Sheila at January 23, 2006 8:45 PM
Josh, the NYC public library DOES have free Wifi, AND they let you plug in your laptop.
And you can plug your laptop in at alt.coffee too... just remove the tape from the outlet and hide your cord with your jacket. If you're called out just say it was pulled off when you got there.
In general I think it's pretty shady to lure folks in with the promise of access and keep them there long enough to buy an overpriced coffee and use up their laptop battery.
Posted by: Sheila at January 23, 2006 8:50 PM
I've got a card for the public library here in Lowell (where they have a reproduction of Jack Kerouac's library card on display) but it's getting transfered to the "nostalgia wallet" next month.
We're moving to North Carolina to be closer to the Wake County Library System (my wife's new employer).
Posted by: Daniell at January 24, 2006 8:31 PM
I have an NYU library card, which I definitely do use. I used to have a Brooklyn PL card but alas it left with my wallet in the hands of a couple of thieves a couple of years ago. I never got a new one because I started at NYU directly afterwards.
Posted by: Shawn Van Every at January 28, 2006 1:41 PM
Hells yeah I have a library card, which I keep very busy with this: http://sindikk.aeshin.org/amazon2melvyl
Posted by: Ryan Shaw at January 29, 2006 2:56 AM