Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for May 13, 2012

Hope you didn’t forget your library card.

Awesome. Public Libraries are underused and under-appreciated.

YES!!! I use the libraries all the time, despite the ‘net. Many times I want in-depth information, not the sound-bites (bytes?) that pass for information. At the same time, I can’t always afford to buy the book – so it’s “I go, I go, to the library I go!” So YES YES AND YES!!!

I’d like to say something funny, but some subjects are too serious….God bless you Mr. Miller….

Human beings have been as intelligent as us all, for 100 thousand years. But we are a lot smarter now due to the collective knowledge of all there is and all that was………libraries.

If you are lucky it is a Carnegie Library.

My library system is fantastic. My favorite thing right now is that I can order books- even inter-library loan- online. They show up at my local branch and I can go pick them up. I can browse the computerized ‘stacks’ for hours and no one bothers me. And I can do it at 3 am if I want. I’m disabled and being able to do so much ‘at’ the library is fantastic!

The most wonderouse place in the world, Part of an education system that we can’t find the dollars for

Never fear! Fox News is always there.(Yes, Burford, that’s sarcasm.)

Our city built a new library several years ago. The wailing and gnashing of teeth that went on prior to its construction was unbelievable! However, it got built – plenty of off-street parking (that wasn’t available at the old location), rubber flooring (I swear, you could drop an engine block on the floor from 10 feet and you wouldn’t hear it 20 feet away), reading “nooks”, meeting rooms, heck, I could go on for quite a while – the place is truly modern. And it’s always busy. I love the place!

Willey, my Mom the librarian thanks you. Happy Mothers Day!

Did both, got neither!

And when is the last time you “rolled up” your car window? Some phrases will never die.

I use my library all the time!! I usually read books during down time at work ( I work in a call center), and once I read them, I am usually done with them. With the library, I can just read and return them!!

Too bad it was shut down by budget cuts to maintain the politicians’ salaries.

On my planet, libraries are always open. There is always fresh tea, and if you’re lucky, scones! There are librarians, of course, but the whole shebang runs on the honor system. Can’t get to the library? Give them a call and they’ll deliver. We have our equivalent of the internet, of course, but it is operated by the Global Library System, and is merely an extension of the physical libraries. It is used primarily for civil discourse, additional research, and entertainment. Other than inherently evil subjects, such as child pornography, only a few things are forbidden on our “internet”; advertisements in general, pop-up ads in particular, spam in any form, and search results that apply to anything other that what you specifically request. Although technology has solved most of these problems, there are those who will try. Punishment is simple, banishment from the system for a period of time. This is enforced by your personal MAC address (the one embedded in your neck). So, you may ask, if it is so blissfully wonderful there, why not go back? I have been assigned to help ease this planet into a comparable state of enlightenment. The medium I use most often is comic strip comment sections, as these seem to be peopled by thinking, intelligent, sensitive creatures who are open to new ideas and methods of thought. My work here is far from done.

Libraries are awesome. Too bad so many people have forgotten how to find adventure in reading.

“Speak to me oh repository of infinite knowledge!” Libraries rule.

I’d’ve never thunk that the power of knowledge would be filed by the dewey decimal system. Hope all knowledge is like that…I’ll ask my boss.

Once upon a time, I worked with a group of minimum security prisoners out on a work release program. When they explained to me what their crimes were, I was amazed at how hard they worked at being criminals. I asked why they didn’t just get jobs instead of spending weeks, if not months, planning elaborate criminal schemes, often involving considerable effort. Seems similar.

Do kids today even know what a library is?

yeah! I had my library card the minute I could print my name, and I took my sister to the library 10 years later when she learned to write her name. Libraries are like home to me!

Cartoon of the year.

Somehow it follows that Non Sequitur fans would also be library fans. Me, too!

Depends on where you are. Alot of the public libraries have not gotten a single new book in 20 years.

We don’t want any new ideas!!!! Harumphf.

I heartily second that! Some of the biggest influences in my life have been librarians. They are an underpaid and under valued group of people. God bless ’em

If you live in Calif. moonbeam brown wants to close em all.

Great strip tho i love it

Every Tuesday the bookmobile parks next to our neighborhood fire haul. I visit each week and fill my basket with books, mags and sometimes CDs or DVDs. I also visit with the two librarians and my neighbors. A nice way to keep informed and to acquaint yourself with the people in your community.

I KNEW IT!! I KNEW IT!! I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!!!……………..

Three cheers for libraries and the wonderful people who staff them.

My local library is almost always closed. They have horrible hours, and when they are open, it’s only open for short periods of time. Then I found out I can go to another town, another county even, and use theirs. Last state I lived in, they sorta didn’t like that. Here, I got a library card pretty quickly (put in a request for one online!!), and it’s the best library for miles and miles. The only downside is, it’s miles and miles away. On the plus side, I can borrow virtual books!

Is that a real quote of Zappa?I always thought he was smarter than most people gave him credit.

Great strip, Wiley! Thanks.

Wow. Mine’s only 2 blocks away and I still don’t go that often. At least, not since I found Hulu and Netflix. We’re lucky, ours is kind of privately owned, due to a grant from a founding father type family. 4 County loaning, and new books all the time, even a librarians corner in the local paper. Still does lots of business. Whenever I go by on my way to the bus it’s full of cars.

now , if you zoom in closely on the door of the library. you’ll see a sign saying:CLOSED- in order to continue to give tax cuts for the rich*, we can’t afford to waste public money on frills like this.have a nice day..*oops, sorry- I mean JOB CREATORS

Thanks, Wiley. And sending the love back at ‘ya…as a children’s librarian, I’m regular putting the Extraordinary Basil in the hands of kids.

Marvelous! Thanks. If we put more money into libraries, we would need fewer prisons.

it is the source of knowledge and power, until the book burners, censors, and historical revisionists arrive to gut all the knowledge that does not conform to their world view. They believe, as do all fanantics, that their way is the only way and everything that says different is blasphemy. All who want to keep the library as a place for everyone to aquire kew knowledge have to get up off the couch, stop watching TV, and fight for the right of everyone to read all points of view

Wiley, keep up the fight, your POV is always interesting and offers insite into the fanantic.

I know a shorter route to the Library. It’s also very nice that our county libraries work together, so if I want a book that isn’t available at the closest branch, I can check it out at another, or have it transferred in.

They also have downloadable e-books and audio books. Huzzah

My spousal unit, the librarian, thanks you on this Mother’s Day Wiley. Yes, modern libraries DO offer “modern services”, well, as much as they can afford them when “tight fisted” tax (non)payers complain about the cost of educating their kids, or the community to the “real world”.

Which, Carnegie libraries have, sadly, mostly grown old and fallen down. While he did do some good, folks should remember his giving was his guilt over the people who’d died in his mines and mills.

Living in the big city, with many local branches of our library is no excuse. Vote for the library levy!!

A certain element has distanced themselves from this strip. Their Achilles heel.

I still remember the smell of the first library that my Mother took me to more than 50 years ago – the smell of adventure and old books. Those who love libraries will NEVER be bored. Thanks, Wiley!

Thank you, Mechanic, for voicing one of main problems in library land; lack of decent funding by short-sighted citizens.

outstanding Wiley, you hit the nail on the head.

I became a librarian back in the late 1980s because I believe in what they are and represent. Back then, the Internet was just gopher and FTP and email. Then, the problem with getting people the information they wanted was a matter of access to information. Most of the information was already presifted for quality because there were publishers acting as intermediaries and libraries were the next filter.

Now, at least in the developed world, the library/librarian’s job is to help people analyze and understand information, to deal with the flip side of limited access. When people say “We don’t need librarians, we’ve got the Internet,” it just tells us that our job as information stewards and educators is far from done.

Thanks, Wiley!

Brown isn’t a closet conservative, he’s just willing to risk political popularity by making cuts that his base (including me) won’t like. Very few politicians on either side are ever willing to do that.

BOOKS! Bringing the power of knowlege to common folk for thousands of years.

If the republicans don’t close them. The tea party un-Americans don’t read…..

I ♥ My Library!Especially since I can download library books on my Kindle! :-)

I think the point is missed by some: the path is education, curiosity and discovery. Once someone claims to ‘know it all’, they are worth ignoring.

What a great resource libraries are. Besides books, you can find wonderful movies, new and old, on DVD, not to mention many of the really good BBC and PBS series, all for free. But don’t forget to donate one occasionally, too.

Our library system is AWESOME! One exception- stupid budgets always cut library hours. Our county system is used very heavily. The local paper even writes up good stories about the heavy usage, especially when cuts are being talked about. Thankfully we’ve had some wonderful benefactors in our area to support our system. We appreciate our librarians!

roctor, I was thinking the same thing..

Wonderful. Thank you, Wiley.

Wow! You guys are great! Hey, Wiley, how is it that you attract so many intelligent AND funny people? Oh, right, you’re brilliant and funny. And I suppose being one of the finest artists on the planet doesn’t hurt too much…

Two favorite books, Blue Beard, by Kurt, The Snow Fly, Joseph Heywood.

My greatest day was at age 8 when I found out I did not have to stay in the children’s department, but could use the whole library. And the universe opened up!

I know some people wish conservatives didn’t read… How do you think they know what the Constitution was intended to do? The Federalist Papers should be required reading n school…

My local library system is pretty terrific. I can order books online, they put them in a sort of box at the local bank. You open up your slot with your card number, get the book out, and drop it off at the same place. My only gripe is they won’t inter-library loan books to the box- you have to go to the main branch for that. I think they have an antiquated “physical signature” rule that gets in the way…

“There is no royal road to knowledge”

Pygar: I think Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention should be on that list too. I was shocked back during the bicentennial of that document that no publisher had it in print. I had to use Interlibrary Loan to get to read it myself.

Brillant! Not much else to say.

….so, which way to the college library?

Thank you! It’s nice to see that libraries are still known as a an “access to the power of knowledge”! From your friendly neighborhood librarian :-)

Be careful when you say that as my library was firebombed in 1989 because someone felt children were learning too much because of public libraries. We have come back even bigger and better.

Twilight Zone has nothing on Wiley! :)

Re: accessing the Internet. EXACTLY! (for FREE) .The library is doing its job supplying you with access to information. You can also get audiobooks, DVDs, books for the blind, etc. As a high school librarian I substituted my reference budget for subscription on-line databases. Once again – information!

And what we seek…So near to touch…And for the meek…It means so much…

That daily chores subside…As we move towards truth…For no ignorance to hide…Our new wisdom tooth….

Book is your best friend so always go to library and make your friends more.

Its Mother’s Day! Why didn’t this end with they guy winding up at his mom’s house? FAIL!

Good thing I spend all my time at the library! SO smart! at least according to Mr. Zappa!

they are browsing the ebooks online…or is that just optimism? But don’t worry about THEM…just keep on reading yourself! :)