Imagine #libraries don't exist, but there's this person who thought of them and is trying to convince everyone else about them.
-Borrow books for free? People are going to steal them!
-You can just come in to use a computer? Well that's just going to be abused by freeloaders.
-Staff? Who is going to pay them? Why should my taxes be wasted subsidising access to books for people who haven't saved and bought their own?
How many amazing things do we dismiss? What is our society missing out on?
A #library is a great example of an institution where humans collaborate with each other for motives beyond profit. It is a place where it is easy for everyone to understand how our relationships with strangers can be more than mere commercial transactions.
A library is, in a way, an #anarchist space dedicated to knowledge.
It has rules and we observe them out of respect, not fear.
It has experts whose authority is not arbitrary, but knowledge based.
A library is a sanctuary from capitalism.
@pezmico @srslywrong dedicated several podcasts to the exploration of ideas around #LibrarySocialism - applying the concept/mental image of the library to other aspects of life.
Absolutely worth tuning in...
@hotzenplotz @srslywrong ohh gotta check that out. Thanks!
@pezmico @srslywrong you might enjoy utopian comedy / storytelling mixed with thougts on human emancipation and social ecology...
And the wrongboys are pretty new on mastodon - so show them some love :)
@pezmico oh my, this reminds me of when an "entrepreneur guy" on Twitter was like "How about a start up where you pay a certain fee per month and you can borrow books from us!" and all the replies were.... "wow you reinvented libraries but made it bourgeois capitalist 
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@pezmico
as a librarian for 20 years, couldn't agree more. unfortunately, libraries are under attack and defunded worldwide. knowledge about how to do real research and think critically is pretty much gone. people have all the information in the world available and choose to be ignorant. it's heartbreaking.
@pezmico
Do you commonly interact, in a library, with other customers of the same library? I typically just go there to choose+fetch material, mostly books.
@dj3ei you're right, that's what we do most often too.
But they have story time for toddlers, and singing on other days. There's also occasional workshops at set times. Our central library also has a maker space and some tools you can use, like a sewing machine and little photography stage.
@pezmico
"It has rules and we observe them out of respect, not fear."
What librarians do you have?
We observe them out of both respect and fear.
@pezmico capitalism still pays for libraries and their staff though.
@pezmico
Are we allowed to use the term "commons" in this instance?
https://freefairandalive.org/