Do you use the local public library?

[kphoger]

I have the ringer silencer on the side of my phone (it's an iPhone) but I'm not sure if that would stop an incoming call from interrupting audio or not.

That's an interesting question:  does 'Do not disturb' or whatever allow your music to keep playing when a call comes in, or does it stop the music but not ring either?

You know there's an easy way to find out.  Just play music and have your wife call you.

[DTComposer]

I have the ringer silencer on the side of my phone (it's an iPhone) but I'm not sure if that would stop an incoming call from interrupting audio or not.

That's an interesting question:  does 'Do not disturb' or whatever allow your music to keep playing when a call comes in, or does it stop the music but not ring either?

You know there's an easy way to find out.  Just play music and have your wife call you.

Yes, basically turns the iPhone into an iPod. Music and/or streaming and/or browsing are not interrupted.

[Bruce]

One thing I've done during my travels is to stop at various libraries with reciprocal agreements and pick up their card. I've got about a dozen cards from systems all over Washington, including most of this map:

[bandit957]

Once in a while, I'll use some of our local libraries. But every time I do, someone rips a big, loud fart.

I don't use libraries as much now, because the Internet takes care of most of my research and investigative journalism needs.

I used to work at my local library back when the Internet was first becoming popular. We still had the old card catalog with the file cards.

[bandit957]

Also, I infamously tried using the NKU library in 1995, and I was arrested for "trespassing" because I was no longer a student there.

A few years later, I got away with using this library, but then someone falsely accused me of using their computers to make obscenity-filled Usenet posts. I debunked this claim repeatedly by showing I wasn't on campus at the time, but they stuck to their lies.

Anyone else remember these famous stories?

[Scott5114]

But every time I do, someone rips a big, loud fart.

Is it you?

[Rothman]

Hm.  My alma mater welcomes alumni to use their libraries.

[elsmere241]

Hm.  My alma mater welcomes alumni to use their libraries.

And I've never been challenged at university libraries I've used in the past few decades, as long as I pay for my copies.  (Not that I've tried to check books out.)

[kphoger]

Also, I infamously tried using the NKU library in 1995, and I was arrested for "trespassing" because I was no longer a student there.

Hm.  My alma mater welcomes alumni to use their libraries.

And I've never been challenged at university libraries I've used in the past few decades, as long as I pay for my copies.  (Not that I've tried to check books out.)

Even more to the point, isn't NKU a public university?  As such, my first thought is that the public has a legal right to be on campus.  That's how I've always understood it to be.  Maybe I'm wrong about that?

[bandit957]

Even more to the point, isn't NKU a public university?

It is indeed.

I think the problem was that there was an incident on campus in early 1995 in which someone showed up and threatened a bunch of people. He didn't fit my description at all, but the university tried pinning it on me. It took until 2019 for me to prove I had nothing to do with it.

The school scapegoated me because there was a prior incident in which I was kicked off the radio station because I got in an altercation with a star basketball player. The school sided with him because he was a star player. But later, someone told me he got in trouble for rape, and the school covered it up.

Now he's doing time in prison after he was convicted in the biggest drug bust in the history of the state of Tennessee.

[kphoger]

I think the problem was that there was an incident on campus in early 1995 in which someone showed up and threatened a bunch of people. He didn't fit my description at all, but the university tried pinning it on me. It took until 2019 for me to prove I had nothing to do with it.

Aha!  And even if they weren't trying to pin it on you, security still would have been skittish and over-eager.

I was once hitchhiking to a date with my then-fiancée (now-wife).  While I was standing on the sidewalk outside the campus library at College of DuPage with a sign that said "Naperville", campus security drove up behind me, parked, approached, searched my backpack, and told me to leave campus.  After they were done, a lady who had watched the whole thing offered to give me a ride to Naperville.  (My fiancée and I had a nice date, thank you.)

Anyway, I was a student at COD at the time.  A few days later, I walked up to the campus security office and asked them to show me what campus code or ordinance I had violated.  They told me to contact the student services department or something like that.  So I did, and they told me I hadn't violated any code or ordinance, that they had been hearing an increasing number of complaints about campus security harassing students, and that they would look into the matter.

[hbelkins]

I have the ringer silencer on the side of my phone (it's an iPhone) but I'm not sure if that would stop an incoming call from interrupting audio or not.

That's an interesting question:  does 'Do not disturb' or whatever allow your music to keep playing when a call comes in, or does it stop the music but not ring either?

You know there's an easy way to find out.  Just play music and have your wife call you.

Yes, basically turns the iPhone into an iPod. Music and/or streaming and/or browsing are not interrupted.

Tried this at work. Played a YouTube music video and called my cell from my desk. The phone call interrupted the music.

[bandit957]

Some libraries had soundproof booths. One cool thing people used to do was stand just outside the booth and yell really loud just to see if they really were soundproof.

[SEWIGuy]

Also, I infamously tried using the NKU library in 1995, and I was arrested for "trespassing" because I was no longer a student there.

Hm.  My alma mater welcomes alumni to use their libraries.

And I've never been challenged at university libraries I've used in the past few decades, as long as I pay for my copies.  (Not that I've tried to check books out.)

Even more to the point, isn't NKU a public university?  As such, my first thought is that the public has a legal right to be on campus.  That's how I've always understood it to be.  Maybe I'm wrong about that?

The general public generally has a right to be on campus, as long as they follow campus rules such as no smoking, etc. But they do not have a right to access buildings. However, most colleges and universities will allow access to facilities like a library, bookstore, student union, etc. (There could be state-specific rules that I am not aware of.)

[Bruce]

For the University of Washington at least, the main libraries are open to the public but certain amenities (such as PC access, Wi-Fi, certain collections) are restricted. Most on-campus buildings are also locked for obvious reasons, but the grounds are a major tourist attraction and thus always open to the public.

[DTComposer]

The Stanford library allows the public to visit ("for research purposes"), but they need to register with ID, and they're limited to seven days per year.

The San Jose State library shares their space with the main branch of the San Jose Public Library, so it is open to all, although students have extended hours.

[andrepoiy]

Yes.

For whatever reason it looks like my local library has a lot of money. Every title I have suggested to them to add to their collection (except for college textbooks) they were able to acquire! Even super obscure titles like the personal bible of Turkmenistan's former president!

[1995hoo]

When I was growing up, I used the public libraries in our area (including the many Fairfax County libraries as well as the ones in the City of Falls Church and Arlington County) all the time. Not just to check out books to read, either. In high school I was at the main branch in Fairfax City all the time to work on school assignments. When I was a little kid, we often went to children's events at some of the branches. My mother was really good at finding either free or inexpensive things for kids that often had an educational component (not necessarily apparent to us as kids), and a lot of the time there were library programs of that sort. I guess she's still good at that now because she regularly attends things like lectures at the National Gallery of Art or other museums, and some of the ones she attends are at one of the Fairfax public libraries. ("Libraries"—the county system has 22 branches.)

Nowadays, the only thing for which I've visited the library in recent memory is to use the drop box for our car tax payments each October in lieu of mailing the envelope. I view the drop box as more reliable. I tend to read fairly long books, 600+ pages, and I don't want to limit myself to the checkout period to try to finish something. More importantly, I also prefer reading on my Kindle and a lot of the books I read these days are not available through the system the library uses for Kindle patrons.

I have the ringer silencer on the side of my phone (it's an iPhone) but I'm not sure if that would stop an incoming call from interrupting audio or not.

....

One important caveat about the "silent switch" on an iPhone: If you use the "VIP" feature to designate certain priority contacts, and if you have it set to allow VIPs to ring through if your phone is in "Do Not Disturb," the ringer will still sound if one of those people calls you, even if you have the silent switch enabled. I found this out the hard way once when my wife called me at work and my phone started blasting the Guns N Roses song I have set as her ringtone. Recently I wondered if that would still happen, so I tested it the other day by enabling the silent switch and calling myself from our home phone—sure enough, the ringtone sounded. So if you use the "VIP" feature in the way I mention above, you have to turn the ringer all the way down using the volume buttons if you want to make sure it will not sound.

(Partly because of that issue, I enable airplane mode in certain circumstances—if I'm at Mass or at the movies or in a courtroom, where I don't want my phone making noise, or if I'm at the dentist or the barbershop, where I don't want my phone startling me in a way that might cause me to move my head at the wrong time.)