Originally Posted by Eclectus

You failed to prove your first allegation and corollary, by not disclosing the about 200,000 population city you live in without public library evening hours.

Do we just have a semantic quibble? You view "public library" only as one operated by a city or county department, and I view "public library" as any library owned by a government agency that the general public is allowed to use for its elightenment, and even entertainment.

At UC libraries, members of the public can peruse reference and archival materials at their leisure by requesting them, that no one is allowed to take out the door, and the librarians are absolutely gracious in retrieving them, providing assistance and advisement, as librarians in general are. (They don't make as much money as they could doing something else, but they love their books and booky things just as much as LBS owners love bikes and bikey things.)

Since many public university libraries have "Friends of the Library" type programs that enable general public members to borrow materials, even the non-borrowing-privilege limitation on first glance is not absolute. You just have to enquire.

You may have more "public library" service in your city than you realize.