Eskating cyclist, gamer and enjoyer of anime. Probably an artist. Also I code sometimes, pretty much just to mod titanfall 2 tho.

Introverted, yet I enjoy discussion to a fault.

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • Depends.

    Items get sent around all the time. In-network, copies are interchangeable, and the system balances them out among the libraries. AFAIK there’s no particular need for a copy to go back to the same shelf, so it doesn’t happen.

    If no-one is looking for a certain item, it wont move again unless someone asks, or if the library needs space for something else.

    It’s kinda nice. Every time I visit a library it can have an entirely new selection. With recent requests to that location which have been returned again, or just returns, appearing on the shelves.



  • Sure.

    Items are grouped by type (games, video, music, tools, devices, fact, fiction, for adults, for kids, comics, audiobooks) etc. Each library may subdivide things in slightly different ways, due to the fact that they vary massively in size. I think some do use DDC for some subset of their inventory. But HelMet has a lot of media and items that do no fit into the DDC system.

    You can certainly find something based on how things are sorted, and if you know its there.

    But since the collection is region-wide, you don’t necessarily know that. Step one to finding a copy of something is to look up what libraries currently have any. When you look that up, the shelf location is right there as well.

    Many locations simply number their shelves, and then further subdivide them by a point value, and then sort alphabetically.

    A Harry Potter book for example, could be on shelf 86, section 11063, by “HAR”.

    Each entire shelf is usually in alphabetical order overall, too, but the numbers make it really easy to zero in on exactly where a given item can be found.

    But since any book might move to any other library, at any time (due to requests or due to borrowers returning books to a different library to where they picked them up), there is the simple problem that a location can run out of space in a given section. Hence they need to be able to put items on any shelf, and still have it trackable by the system.

    Otherwise they can end up having to shift hundreds of books over to make space for just a couple more items to go in the right spot in the order.


  • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyztoLemmy Shitpost@lemmy.worldLibraries are cool
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    24 days ago

    I suspect that depends.

    At least at finnish HelMet libraries, you can just walk in and take any book out of any shelf, and sit down to read it. Once you’re done, you put it back in the exact same spot.

    If you don’t remember where that was, then you can hand it to a librarian to re-shelve. They will check the inventory to see where it should go.

    You can actually also do that yourself, since the same system is available for finding any given book currently in the library, but it works just as well for putting something back.

    All of the above is allowed without signing up for a library card.

    If you want to bring a book home, that’s when you go to the checkout, scan your library card, and the barcode on the book. This removes it from current inventory and logs you as the current borrower.

    When you bring it back, you scan the book again and leave it on the shelf by the returns scanner. Because the book was removed from the inventory, it wont have a place on a shelf yet. Also, because the inventory of any one library here is everchanging, things may have moved around.

    This system also allows you return books to a different library from where you borrowed them. Since the HelMet libraries in the capital city region all interoperate, they share collections, and the location and lending of every individual item is tracked across them all. Across four cities and 66 libraries, and even a couple library buses that visit schools and more remote spots on a schedule.

    You can even browse the inventory online. See where copies of what are available, what’s available but currently lent out, request something be moved to a library close to you so you can read it, or reserve a spot in line to borrow something popular.

    Kinda just gushing about our libraries. If they don’t have something, HelMet does intralibrary lending. They will get a certain book or item for you from another library network entirely (even from abroad), lend it out to you, and once you’re done, return it back to the providing network.

    They do their darndest to make physical media as accessible as the internet, and it’s freaking free (for the most part, some things have a fee).

    That’s how it should work everywhere.



  • It does rely on people putting relevant hashtags on their posts, but do you want to hear from someone who doesn’t do that?

    Why wouldn’t I?

    Hashtags are not even close to a reliable way to follow a subject. The fact that people can post without them, means a lot of people don’t. Not because they don’t have something interesting to say, but because they are posting it for their followers. The entire culture around how discussion should be conducted is different among users used to the twitter format.

    To post on lemmy, your post must be associated with a relevant community. Hence, posts go out to subscribers interested in the subject, rather than to the followers of the user. As such, posts live or die on the merit of their content. Not who posted it.





  • I also need to work out how to do automatic certificate renewal and if that’s even worth doing

    This is what certbot is for. For example, with nginx, you just set up the webserver to be reachable via your domain.

    You then install and run certbot, and it will aquire, install and configure, and then set itself up to auto-renew, a certificate. All with just one command.

    With Nextcloud specifically I also don’t like the fact that you can’t change the domain after the initial setup

    Yes you can?

    I’ve done it thrice now.

    Is this some limitation of the docker AIO stack?