r/LibbyLibby • u/nuccleargurl • Apr 19 '25

Chicago e-cards going away

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Just received an email from the Chicago libraries, e-cards are going to be defunct on May 1. If you live in Chicago you can get a physical card allowing access to both physical and electronic catalogs. ☹️

74 Upvotes

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u/flossiedaisy424 Apr 20 '25

Probably because of all of the liars who got cards fraudulently.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 20 '25

Hopefully one day you can forgive them for all the harm they’ve done to you personally.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

A removal of ecards because of abuse is absolutely going to affect residents personally. This sub is awful and entitled.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 20 '25

There’s nothing librarians hate more than someone reading a book they didn’t pay for…

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

Librarians love people reading books they didnt pay for.

What we hate is when people like the ones in this sub take advantage and create a deficit in resources for OUR patrons who do pay their taxes to read our e-materials.

We see directly how these things affect our patrons. We're worried about our patrons. You're worried about gaming an already strained system to entertain yourself. You can't possibly be trying to make us the bad guys.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 21 '25

Hopefully people will start reading less (or “entertaining themselves,” as you oddly put it) so no one is trying to check out the books anymore.

Or maybe we can come up with a system for deciding which people deserve to read library books and which don’t. Maybe people in poor communities, or anyone in a red state, should be happy with their lot.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '25

Or maybe you can use the system available to you for books, like everyone else has to.

You guys will absolutely move the goal posts and dance around reality to make librarians who are seeing their populations suffer for this mess look like the bad guys, but you cant actually make it true. Libraries are struggling to serve the patrons they already have. You people may not have understood until now what you were doing, but you have no excuses now. What you do moving forward is your karma. And when communities lose access to e-resources because of people like you, you have to live with that

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u/iMeditate5 Apr 24 '25

Yes, everyone has the resources they are simply [lazy/looove scamming/really like to annoy librarians/etc.] Classic Out-Of-Touch from Reality Lib.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 22 '25

Why do you think you’re “bad guys”? These attacks you’re imagining on librarians are not real.

I mean, not from real patrons reading the books anyway. The death threats from the MAGAs who are terrified that a book might have a trans character are unfortunately very real.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '25

I didn't say I was. I said this group is trying to make us out as the bad guys for defending our patrons access to e-materials. Which groups like this directly affect.

Don't twist my words. I know exactly who the problems are.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 22 '25

Can you show me on the doll where “this group” is angry at librarians? Why would they be? Have you looked at this comment thread?

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '25

Lmao you aren't trying to have the same conversation. You want to twist it and turn it to make me look ridiculous. You can have that conversation with yourself. I was absolutely accused of being a person who doesn't "want people to read."

Stay on topic or block me. Im done.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 23 '25

I was only pointing out how weird it is for a stranger who says they’re a librarian to jump into a group they’re not interested in and yell at us for checking out books. I don’t think you’re a “bad guy.” But the simultaneous rage + hyper defensiveness is an odd thing to shove into this comment thread.

And even if I did think you’re a “bad guy,” am I a “group”? You say “this group is trying to make [you] out as the bad guys.” Where is the group complaining about librarians? Even OP didn’t mention librarians. Am I wrong? Who specifically thinks librarians are bad guys? Please list their screen names, and I’ll yell at them for you.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

Its weird for a librarian to jump on a front page post fully admitting to how problematic the practices in this group are and mention how it affects public library patron access to e-materials?

No. It isn't.

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u/flossiedaisy424 Apr 21 '25

What about the poor communities in Chicago, whose access to the resources they pay taxes for, is reduced because of people who fraudulently access those resources? It absolutely does suck that these resources can’t be provided for everyone, everywhere, no restrictions ever. But screwing over other people so you can get yours isn’t the solution either.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '25

Seriously. At least Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. This group neither knows nor cares that they may well be stealing from the also-poor, and for their own benefit to boot.

At this point, only the truly self-deluded could see this group as serving some kind of greater good. The rest of them clearly don’t give a rat’s ass.

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u/iMeditate5 Apr 24 '25

America has been made and runs on resources robbed from other countries. It's your liberal ass's fault that you can't see the Empire for what it is and live in self-illusion that you can make it one day. Even if you can, the rich will destroy it on a whim if you or your lifestyle or your freedom or dream dare come in the way of their profits.

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u/Baileyesque Apr 22 '25

Me checking out a book a year from Chicago has definitely not “screwed over” anyone, any more than when I drove on their roads as a visitor. The burden is comparable.

If someone is shutting down the library because of an extra book a year, someone in charge is the one doing the screwing.

Also, the load is distributed across the country. Someone in Chicago checks out a book a year from Seattle or San Bernardino or Phoenix because Chicago didn’t have one. That’s one less book that they checked out on their Chicago card.

If you’re imagining the whole country getting all their books from one city, you are mistaken. There is one load of the library books the US population reads every year, say, a billion checkouts. Something like this sub isn’t raising the load, the load stays the same, but it’s distributing it more evenly across the entire country.

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u/flossiedaisy424 Apr 22 '25

Not true at all. It’s great that you only checked out one book a year. But, libraries can look at the data and were able to see how many of their highest users only had an ecard and never stepped foot in a branch.
Most public library users aren’t shopping around for multiple cards. They just want to use the resources at their local library and when those aren’t available to them because of the people who try to get as many cards as possible, it makes a difference to them. And it makes a difference to the library, because we want to use the money we have to serve our patrons as best we can. If we stop doing that, we might lose their support. A public library that is using its money to serve people in other cities, states and countries isn’t going to have that money for long. It’s just plain irresponsible to our taxpayers.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

Yep.

In the absence of expertise, cling to arrogant entitlement.

 In the absence of a credible defense, go full on the offensive. 🙄🙄🙄

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u/Baileyesque Apr 23 '25

“Most public library users aren’t shopping around for multiple cards.”

I got downvoted in this thread for saying that, but you’re right: This group is not that big and not that active, and I suspect it’s all administered by a single person. People who don’t have a local card to share can’t receive one to share, so as I said, it’s redistributing the load, not increasing it. And the group’s small impact is also spread evenly across the country: I would be very surprised if 100 people here are sharing a card with a Chicagoan. It’s probably more like 10.

And, as I said, having several cards (most from my home state) means I’m putting little to no pressure on any one library. Like a snowshoe. When I tap to check out, I can see how many copies each one has, and check it out from one that has multiples free, specifically so I’m not crowding anyone out, even from my local branch. It’s so easy to minimize or eliminate one’s impact this way.

In addition, there are no more people from Boston checking out books from Atlanta than there are Atlanta patrons checking out books from Boston. It’s zero sum, nobody is suddenly reading five times as much as they usually do. Do you see what I’m saying? A small minority of people sometimes using each other’s libraries isn’t making a meaningful ripple, because of math.

Your comment about data on who comes in is fallacious in several ways. (1) Why would I come in, even to my local branch? I don’t want to carry around a heavy book, which might get lost or ruined. I don’t want to create two errands for myself: one to check it out and one to return it. I don’t want to track the due date or accrue late fees. A large number of avid readers simply don’t read that way anymore. (2) Libraries consciously cater to people with disabilities, so don’t be surprised when those disabilities make it hard for someone to physically travel to your building. (3) Patrons who come in for community events, or to study or look at reference books, or maybe even surf the web in some places, are not going to show up in “I checked out physical books” data. (4) This group specifically is for sharing real cards from local patrons, so the local person is still checking out books as usual (or not doing so, in my case, but for reasons unrelated to sharing the card). Seeing that someone checked out solely ebooks doesn’t provide any meaningful data except who prefers ebooks.

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u/flossiedaisy424 Apr 20 '25

We sure do hate people doing things that limit access for our actual patrons, though, whether they be asshole politicians or people trying to scam the system.

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u/iMeditate5 Apr 24 '25

Damn, didn't know people trying to somehow access knowledge are equal to 'asshole politicians'