I support public libraries, at least in theory. My parents encouraged good library habits that persisted through college and my first couple years of living in New York. Then I moved to Brooklyn, and in typical Brooklyn form, things went downhill.
Aside from the Central Branch at Grand Army Plaza, the branch locations are pretty sad. I used to patronize the Park Slope branch before it closed and it was nuts. Broken AC, potato chip bags and books all over the floor, super slow and crabby librarians. The atmosphere was altogether very unlibrary-like.
And that was the nicest branch I've ever set foot in. In Clinton Hill, the fiction section literally consisted of trade paperbacks and mystery novels. I got by only because I ordered the books I wanted to read through the online system. Until one day a book I returned--Victorian Custards, if I remember correctly--wasn't checked in properly (totally not my fault!) and I also incurred quite a few overdue fines (totally my fault!). To make a long story short, they put a hold on my card. And I haven't been to the library in three years, being that I'm on the lam from an $18 fine.
Anyway, here's some news that just might convince me to go straight. The Brooklyn Public Library's new executive director Dionne Mack-Harvin (the first female African-American to hold the post, by the way) is shaking things up! She's put together a list of new proposals mean to rejuvenate the library system, including home delivery of books and DVDs. The books would be delivered by UPS or FedEx. The DVDs would be administered by Netflix and would allow access to a smaller selection of the Netflix catalogue. And, it being the public library, DVDs would be free! Free! Free!
I have my doubts about logistics related to book delivery. UPS makes an attempt to deliver your package, the notification slip gets lost, they don't come when they say they're going to come, you know the drill. Next thing you know, you have to trek out to shipping headquarters in Canarsie just to pick up a grubby copy of Great Expectations?
But that Netflix option sounds pretty enticing! The library already has a really great selection of DVDs on file, but they charge you $1 a day as a late fine, plus you're supposed to return them inside the building instead of using the book drop, which makes the whole thing seriously inconvenient.
We shall see what happens, fellow Brooklynites. It being Brooklyn, however, means we probably shouldn't hold our breath.
1 comment:
I still have library books from the Brooklyn Public Library. They are mostly cookbooks with a lot of pages missing, which pissed me off so I never returned them. And now I have fled the jurisdiction. Ha!!!
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