Shoutout to that public library in Portland that had zero working computers

Visited downtown Portland last week for a work thing and ducked into the main library to print some forms. Walked past like 30 computer stations and every single one had a 'out of order' sticky note taped to the screen. One guy at the front desk told me they've been down since April and the city keeps pushing back the repair date. How is a library supposed to function without computers in 2024, that's like a diner with no coffee.

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_west21d ago

Hold on @miles946, are you saying they haven't resorted to carrier pigeons yet?

felixfisher20d ago

Actually the lack of computers might be a weird blessing in disguise. When my local branch went down for a month last year, people actually started talking to each other and using the physical books more. The librarians were helping folks fill out forms by hand again.

miles94621d ago

Blame the city's IT vendor contract too, they locked the library into a single company for repairs and nobody else is allowed to touch the machines. I heard a story about a library in Seattle that had printers down for six months because the contracted company kept sending the wrong parts. Does Portland have a backup plan for this, like mobile computer stations or a van with laptops?