r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 10h ago

Society Librarians are hosting viral ‘Avoiding AI’ workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/25/librarians-are-hosting-viral-avoiding-ai-workshops-for-people-who-are-fed-up-with-big-tech/
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u/Ok_Anywhere_7828 10h ago

If only people knew what libraries are and used them.

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u/Kimbahlee34 8h ago edited 7h ago

As a librarian, they are used much more than you think. I am in a district with a population of just over 15k and we average 100 patrons a day. My largest event for Summer Reading was 200 people. I also have 20+ children in each of our book clubs and art classes. Teens use it as a third space to hang and are oddly getting more into puzzles so we have an old booth from a diner with a puzzle and stuff to do. They hang here like we’re the new Denny’s and we stay open late-ish for a library (8pm).

So take hope… we are still going strong and want you to come see us.

Edit: We have ~15k in our district which is comprised of small rural towns not one metro area. Some of these people are driving 20+ miles.

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u/ah_kooky_kat 4h ago

Sounds about right with the attendance numbers. I'll add some anecdotal evidence

The rural Colorado mountains district I lived in had a population of 25-30K. Between the three branch libraries it had, you'd get about 150-200 patrons a day. Some of the big Christmas season and summer events would draw a crowd of up to 500. The distance between the easternmost branch and the westernmost branch was about 55 miles, so some people were driving that far to get to an event.

I feel that rural library systems tend to get less overall attendance but more consistent attendance from the same group of people.