Throw in free internet access, and you also run into the issue of people (see bums, teenagers, and degenerates) consuming or attempting to consume porn in public.
Rumor has that in the largest public library where I live, the staff are less concerned with stocking books and more with policing the behavior of the homeless that are taking advantage of the "...free indoor space with AC/heat."
I cannot verify the behavior part, though the last time I was there, the place reeked of unwashed human with the unhoused taking up most of the benches and chairs with not a book to be seen.
This is the effect of the ALA pushing the idea for about two decades that libraries just need to change with the times and stay heckin' valid in the modern climate, man. Old school libraries still see traffic, and still have a function (protip dangerhair MLIS holders: it's those icky things full of paper on your shelves).
Throw in free internet access, and you also run into the issue of people (see bums, teenagers, and degenerates) consuming or attempting to consume porn in public.
Rumor has that in the largest public library where I live, the staff are less concerned with stocking books and more with policing the behavior of the homeless that are taking advantage of the "...free indoor space with AC/heat."
I cannot verify the behavior part, though the last time I was there, the place reeked of unwashed human with the unhoused taking up most of the benches and chairs with not a book to be seen.
This is the effect of the ALA pushing the idea for about two decades that libraries just need to change with the times and stay heckin' valid in the modern climate, man. Old school libraries still see traffic, and still have a function (protip dangerhair MLIS holders: it's those icky things full of paper on your shelves).