Libraries

In France I believe they're government employees. They're paid via taxes in big and medium cities, so free to sign up there. I find them huge, for instance my 300k person city has 8 or 9 libraries on the same municipal network so that everyone is less than 10min away from one by bus or bike. Some are general, other are themed, for instance the music and dance school library is arts themed, there's a children's literature library, and a local history one - but you'll find children's books, arts and local history in all of them.

As a kid in the early 2000s in my village we had to pay 5€/year for books and 10€ if we wanted books, music, movies and video games. In all the cities I've lived in outside of this smallish one (8k inhabitants) it was free. They never really expect you to pay late fees either, you just can't get new books until you've given back the previous ones.

And do you folks over there like banning books as much as the US silly states do?

We got public libraries in major cities, but only if you're lucky. If the library is well-maintained, well-stocked, and generally a good place to be? You either live in the capital (which has one public library of note), or REALLY lucky. Otherwise, it's probably musty and understaffed.

Otherwise, uhh, schools and universities have libraries. They can be decent, but only accessible if you're a student there. There are a few privately-owned library/cafe thing in major cities, and I've heard of philanthropists making small libraries in smaller towns. That's pretty much it.

Reading is just not a national past time here, and the government sure isn't trying to make it one.

I saw a list somewhere of libraries around the world that allow non-residents to have access. In general, most libraries are restricted to local residents.

In Belgium, there are two library networks, a French network and a Dutch network. The French network gives people a gratis membership. The Dutch network charges €5/year.

I’ve not heard of any book bans, but there are notable restrictions for using the info systems. Using a PC is often limited to an 1 hour. Bulk downloading is prohibited, Tor is blocked, Invidious is blocked, some specific branches are skiddish about attaching a USB drive to printer, some won’t allow a PDF to be opened directly from a USB drive, etc.

Price of printing is getting crazy & out of touch with inflation. I think it was 5¢ per page a year ago. Now it’s 10¢ in some branches and 15¢ in others. Which is ridiculous.. inflation did not triple in the past year.