Looks like the Nashville Public Library now has an online library card application.
This is great news. If you haven’t been to the new downtown branch of the library, first, shame on you, and second, get a library card and go check it out. It’s an amazingly beautiful building. Next time you compulsively type “www.amazon.com” into your browser to check on some new book you heard about, maybe try “www.library.nashville.org” first and save yourself some money.
Oh, where shall I begin my rant against the Nashville Public Library?
First there was the time I tried to go there at 5:05pm on a Friday, nearly an hour before their scheduled closing time, only to be told they were already closed. Meanwhile, catering staff could be seen setting up for a private reception in the lobby. Excuse me? You’re closing a public resource down early to prepare for a private function. Wrong answer.
Secondly, as a resident of Williamson County, I’m not entitled to a free library card. I have no problem with this, and my family does have one for which we pay a very reasonable $25/year. My wife keeps it with her so that she can bring our kids there and check out books. Which led me to the big confrontation with the library staff a few months ago.
I was downtown when the urge to research a specific topic hit me, so I walked to the library and sat down in the public computer area to do some net research. There are like three people, including me on the computers, so there were a LOT of empty seats. The little library worker bee comes over and asks to see my library card. I told him I had one, but not with me, and he proceeded to kick me out of the computer lab.
Help me understand. I’m free to come into the library with or without a card and perform research using any of their print material, but I have to pay for a library card to use their electronic services? OK, I can understand that they don’t want people coming in off the street and surfing porn in front of kids. But a)I wasn’t surfing porn, b)I was wearing a suit and tie, and c)it’s not as if they don’t have homeless people using their Internet connection.
Funny, and I thought libraries were supposed to be about providing access to information, not grubbing for money and turning people away.
That blows.. One thing I really liked about Adam Dread’s campaign is that he was big on increasing the library hours. One thing that bugs me about the library is the narrow window that it’s open.
There’s something fundamentally flawed in our society when we have 24/7 Wal-Marts, but not libraries.
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Plus, if you take a walk up the giant staircase to the top floor, your trip to the library doubles as your workout for the day.