diff --git a/datalad/cli/main.py b/datalad/cli/main.py
index bb68e46c86..6365c80cb2 100644
--- a/datalad/cli/main.py
+++ b/datalad/cli/main.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def main(args=sys.argv):
         # added new ones to consider
         load_extensions()
 
-    if 'datalad.runtime.librarymode' in datalad.cfg:
+    if datalad.cfg.getbool('datalad.runtime', 'librarymode', False):
         datalad.enable_librarymode()
 
     if cmdlineargs.change_path is not None:
diff --git a/datalad/log.py b/datalad/log.py
index b55010878e..577b4889e1 100644
--- a/datalad/log.py
+++ b/datalad/log.py
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ def get_initialized_logger(self, logtarget=None):
         logging.Logger
         """
         import datalad
-        if 'datalad.runtime.librarymode' in datalad.cfg:
+        if datalad.cfg.getbool('datalad.runtime', 'librarymode', False):
             return self.lgr
 
         if not logtarget: