god I love librarians.
the single most important reason for libraries to be freely accessible...maybe why certain folks want them to go away
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?
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
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 It's an outdated idea, somewhere a human can exist without having to spend money.
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.
In order for things like this to keep being offered, please keep an eye on your local library's board and director. Ours are terrible, and gleefully destroying all our similar initiatives... Recent events have them feeling very empowered to do so.
Also, consider picking up a job like that too or running for a seat on such boards. There's always too few applicants for such roles and extremists have an easy time enacting change.
What handy list of words trump is about to ban
Here is the canonical list:
British spellings are fine then
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
Even "chronically online" seems a bit euphemistic... it's like we're all living under oppressive technofascism.
Oh good, books on how to bully. We don't want folks to lose their technique.
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 616.951/2
SUICIDE 362.28, 616.85
As a library, we're not here to judge, we're here to help
2/2
Dewey gang represent
Library of Congress is better because all bible classifications start with the letters BS. Also Melvil Dewey sucked
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvil_Dewey#Controversies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Classification
Hey, you leave us to our dead classification system! Go hassle the latin scholars!
Yeahhh we're gonna need a 741.6 as well...
But for real, things like this are great. Local elections ALWAYS matter. Just an unfortunately large amount more than ever.
@MrMakabar this is lovely - please add alt text ❤️
edited it
Trying to decide which anxiety DDC to look at first would give me anxiety lol.
I had to look it up:
152.4 Psychology > Perception, movement, emotions, drives > Emotions and feelings
155.5 Psychology > Perception, movement, emotions, drives > Psychology of young adults
616.8 Medical sciences and medicine > Diseases > Diseases of the nervous system and mental disorders
We don't deserve librarians
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.
I love this! It's a really thoughtful thing to do
I really feel being somewhat neuro divergent when my first though was, 'wtf Is that font', it's like someone made comic sans worse.
Not to discredit this but I feel like maybe there should be a directory about all topics with shelf numbers and not just about hard to talk about topics?
As a library, you should give me a directory where I can find anything I want. And these topics could be included in that one directory and not singled out in the middle where anyone looking at it can be targeted by some fucking bigot.It's just the Dewey Decimal System, so you could look up whatever topic you like to find what it would be classified under. There's thousands of topics that are covered here - there's a reason it's used for every non-fiction clarification in a library - that would be far too numerous to list on a single shelf listing. This library has chosen to prioritize the awkward questions as a way to help someone who otherwise may not know how to get help.
Alternatively, most libraries have a catalogue you can search by keyword and it will give you book results which will let you know where they are on the shelves. But again, that requires you to know that the catalogue exists and how to use it. It's always going to be easier to ask a librarian, who can make sure you find something to help.
If someone is going to single you out for looking at list that includes "cancer", "divorce" and "loss of a parent" they didn't need a reason to target you in the first place.
Have you... never been to a library?
And there generally is, most libraries have a catalogue or at least a directory explaining the numbering system at a topic level. Thing is, this sign doesn't just help people come to the library wanting help with these things. It helps people in the library who are experiencing this and didn't know they could find a book to help them.
Hell some people don't even know they need help with these things until someone offers.
Yes, but any librarian you might ask for the directory, is going to ask you what you are looking for.
The reference librarian is your friend...
Given the sub, I was expecting to be surprised that Solarpunk was one of these difficult topics.
Hey these are great suggestions, I'll get child custody for today
Had depression yesterday, would not recommend...
Post-Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) ?
Comic sans spotted
That's not Comic Sans. The E looks completely different.
Look at you, jumping right to judging.
Of all the fonts in the world why is it always comic sans...
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.
No it’s not
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.
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…
valid response. thank you
🤡
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.
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.
Shut up.
