this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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I've never paid for a library card in my life.
There's no way card fees or late fees could ever fund a library. I'm pretty sure those are just policies enacted by people who either don't understand or don't care.
The late fees are usually miniscule and they act as a deterrent to keep people from holding onto the same book for an extended period with zero repercussions.
The library card itself is mostly meant to make sure the people borrowing books are known for purposes of late fees etc. It's nothing else than an account registration, the only reason it sometimes costs money is because the library is meant to attract only a small specific area of a city (the others have their own libraries) but due to a lot of communter traffic they're worried about X-times the amount of estimated people getting books from this particular place.
So they make the cards cost a tiny amount (I think I paid €5 before) so that you won't just want to get a card from every single library in your city.
Some US libraries have a reprint fee if you lose it. But I have never seen a library that charges for the initial card.