Oh, how I love my library! I still remember signing my first library card. What a thrill! I read everything, and I mean Every. Thing. in the children’s section of my childhood library. My mom, who had worked at the library when my oldest brother was a baby, cut a deal with the librarians, through which they would guide me through the adult section of the library, helping me to select age-appropriate books. I would take out as many as I could carry, and in the summer, sit under the tree at the bottom of the hill near the library’s parking lot and read, read, read until my mom finished running her errands and picked me up again.
Later, during my lean years in Verplanck, New York, my ex-husband and I visited our library every few days. We couldn’t afford to rent movies, but oh, how we loved watching them. Fortunately, our library had lots of new releases and plenty of classics to keep us entertained. We took out loads of cds, and of course, books.
Since the mid-90s, I’ve been part of a college/university community either as a student, staff member, or faculty member. I’m happy to have not only my fantastic public library available to me, but also an academic library. The world is at my fingertips!
I guess I’ve covered a lot of my reasons To Use the Public Library, but in case you prefer list form, here goes:
1. Books. For free!
2. Movies. For free!
3. Music. For free!
4. Audio books. For free!
5. Browsing shelves. Isn’t it fun to discover books you didn’t know existed?
6. Free wifi. I don’t use it, but it’s nice to know it’s there.
7. Computers and printers to use. There have been times when I’ve been without either or both, and it’s a comfort to know I can print documents (for a small fee) or check email if I need to.
8. Downloadable books. My pal Rae told me about this feature, and it’s been great to access books from my bed.
9. Magazines. For free! I’ve tried to cut back on subscriptions, but I still enjoy reading magazines.
10. Information about cool stuff going on. I enjoy perusing the posters and brochures near the library’s entrance. I learn about all sorts of cool events I wouldn’t otherwise hear about.
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Oh, yes, it’s still Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and today’s theme is all about skills. As I consider the body of my crafty work over the last year, I’m hard pressed to determine what new skills I’ve learned, but I do have one I’ve honed. I’m gaining confidence in designing hairpin lace patterns. I’ve got a number almost ready to share, and I’m super proud to have published the Picnic Mitts pattern in Craft Sanity. It feels like a real tribute to my mom and to my heritage as a crafter!
How about you? What skills in your crafting have you developed in the last year?
or…
Why do you love your public library?
I loved my days working at Shedd Free Library in Washington, NH. I fancied myself a librarian… loved when new shipment of books came in and the head librarian left them for me to catalog and cover.
Absolutely fantastic list!
I love my library because it has books to the sky (and CDs and DVDs though I rarely remember to borrow them)! The NYPL totally spoils me. Don’t forget that with your library card, not only can you download books, but you can often access electronic article databases… I am just passionate about libraries and all the many services they offer (NYPL teams up with SCORE to help small businesses and they also [i think] teamed up with someone this year to help patrons with taxes).
I try to give back when I can and make a donation to support my local library. I remember my first library card too and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without all the opportunities it opened for me.
This is such a great post! We loved it so much, we linked to your site. Thanks for speaking up from the Staff at the Delaware State Library.
GREAT post. I have an average of eight library books checked out at any given time along with a DVD or two and some magazines. A secret of mine is that I’ll be in a store and perusing the book aisles, and I’ll snap camera phone shots of the covers of books that look good and text the titles to my email address. 90% of the time, my library system (countywide) has the books I was tempted to buy. This has saved me hundreds of dollars on books!
I found out that if your library system doesn’t have a particular book, they can access a bigger inter-library-loan system that looks for the book you want statewide..and they’ll reserve it for you, have the book mailed to them, and set it aside for you. I do that when some newly published books aren’t available yet in my library. My librarian friend told me the library is mandated to pay the fees to participate in this statewide system (I’m in Wisconsin) so it’s worth making use of the program.
I reserve so many items each week (I’ll put a book on hold the minute a blog or friend mentions a book they love) that I’m on a first name basis with most of my librarians 🙂