A Few Facts and Opinions About the Tacoma Public Library

1) They have a lot of DVDs that are not Masterpiece Theater or documentaries, including such as The Marine starring John Cena, The Devil's Rejects, and Transformers: The Movie. I wonder if they think public libraries should carry these films for the same reasons that I do.

2) Many of these unconventional DVDs, including Back to the Future, in addition to being uneducational in the traditional sense, are bootlegs! Do Phyllis and Janet (two of the librarians or at least two librarian-sounding names) go to those guys who spread out blankets on the streets to stock the shelves? The intellectual commons meets copyright law at the library in more ways than just letting you at books for free! I kinda imagine DVD bootleggers have a deal worked out where they can slang product as long as they donate some merch to the public well-being. We should do the same for drugs and prostitutes maybe.

3) You can't look at pornography using the wireless, unless it's through Bloglines. I don't think that they respect Bloglines users more, they just have outdated software.

4) A child was molested by a man here in October 2006. Security is very tight at the library. They only let one person in the bathroom at a time, and search it after each use (I'm thinking drug deals). Four security guards prowl around, making patrons feel even more uncomfortable than they already are just being in a public library. The guards are not afraid to tell you not to tip back in your chair.

5) Just down Tacoma Ave sits the Pierce County Courthouse. Right next to it, the jail, which houses an above-average percentage of the population, if you catch my drift. It might say something about a town that the nearest building to its library is its jail. Are they hoping spillover from one to the other? Or maybe fearfully anticipating the opposite.

That man [in the jail] and the man in the [library] / Don't realize how close they really are
--Nobodys

6) Every once in a while, someone will enter the library talking at a very high volume. Maybe the frequency of this occurrence is accentuated by the fact that I'm spending a lot more time in the library than ever before, but I seem to remember places like Milwaukee Public and Georgetown University enjoying a greater degree of quiet.

6) [Opinion only] Good library.