NYT-IHT looks at Luc Ferrandez
I just told someone in a comment that I rarely link to the New York Times, but here’s a terrific NYT-International Herald Tribune piece on Luc Ferrandez and snow removal – with links to Fagstein, Maisonneuve and OpenFile too.
Raoul 19:45 on 2012/03/28 Permalink
well in 2012 i’d argue you dont need as many libraries. shut all the small branches and use part of the savings to fund municipal wifi. They also keep finding bedbugs in library books, it doesn’t inspire confidence lol.
Kate 19:51 on 2012/03/28 Permalink
Can’t say I agree with you. Old people and kids seem to use neighbourhood libraries a lot. It’s nice to have places you can go and sit, see other people, do homework, read a book or newspaper, maybe use a terminal or a bathroom, not have to buy coffee or junk food to pay your place – and not have to go too far from home for it.
Richard 03:29 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
One of the last free common spaces we have left. Up there with garage sales for fostering community. Wifi, not so much.
Jack 08:18 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
I mean seriously in the corporate car future who needs to read, its a waste of time.Vroom,Vroom!
Chris E 08:43 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
Even garage sales aren’t a sure thing everywhere: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/03/28/quebec-yard-sale-restrictions.html
Kate 09:01 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
Chris E, they made that into a whole issue on CBC radio yesterday at lunchtime.
In the Netherlands there is one day a year when you can have a garage sale. It’s on a national holiday and everyone gets out and strolls around and buys each other’s unwanted stuff. Works for them.
There’s one household I see from the bus here where they’re chronically selling junk in the small front yard of their ground-floor triplex flat. It’s a mess, and if I lived nearby it would be an irritant. Should be some limits, no?
Raoul 09:32 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
Why not municipal wifi? when libraries are starting to report that they do more volume in ebooks, it makes one wonder why you need to pay for bricks and mortar and a librarian. Most of the comments to date are about “free common space” more than the actual books. How many parks could we maintain by shutting a library? theyd probably look better than they do now.
Chris E 09:36 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
Yeah, not sure if people should be operating permanent junk shops out of their front yard but I do like the summer tradition of weekend yard/garage sales. I know that every weekend in the summer if I’m looking for something to do and have a few spar dollars, I can bike around and visit yard sales. I love riding down the Boyer bike path through Petite-Patrie and Villeray on weekends and checking out all the yard sales along the way. This would be lost if they were limited to just a couple days a year.
Kate 09:44 on 2012/03/29 Permalink
People definitely need to be able to have a couple of sales in advance of moving day here, certainly. I always stop and look over what’s being offered at yard or garage sales if I’m walking by – have been known to buy a book or two – but I didn’t expect the passion for them that some people expressed on CBC yesterday.
Anyway, Montreal is not talking about clamping down on them. St-Lazare isn’t even on the island.
Raoul, municipal wi-fi in parks is a different issue. Libraries have all kinds of uses and municipal buildings are important in a climate like ours where you can’t exactly hang around outside in a park year-round. Libraries don’t take up a huge amount of space, either, and some are connected to Maisons de la culture which allow boroughs to have art exhibits and other cultural stuff too.
If you want to argue that the city should withdraw completely from providing these services that’s one thing (and I won’t agree) but if you’re basically saying that a whole library can be replaced by offering internet access I won’t agree either. The two things are complementary – you can’t substitute one with the other.
Especially as copyright laws tighten, there will be resources we can’t get over the internet, but that many people can’t afford to buy. This is a key reason libraries need to be strengthened now, if anything.