The Public Library

[Martha]

Back in the days of paper card catalogs, when movies came in cannisters, and when "Carnegie" had the accent on the first syllable, I worked for our local public libary.

I figured that someday I would have to give up my Amazon/Barnes & Noble addiction and start getting books from the library. So today I got a library card and visited our local library for the first time in years. I saw a couple librarians who worked there when I did in 1977.

Man is the library nice. I should have been listening to Nords. There is a website to search for and reserve materials. The search functions are user friendly. Not only do they have books, but they have dvds, cds, and tapes. And internet access everywhere. The library was much busier than it was when I worked there 30 years ago.

To practice, I borrowed "The best of Bollywood, 15 Classic Hits from the Indian Cinema" and am listening to it now.

All those thousands of dollars down the drain to the booksellers. I shoulda visited sooner.


I give it 4 stars.

 

[J-Lu]

Funny... I just got back from the Library a few hours ago. I got a card when I quit working about 9 months ago. My DH laughs at me, but I think it's great. Might as well use it since we are paying for it. I take my baby there every few weeks. We get books for him, books for me, and even books for my husband. I like that they send you an email reminder a few days before your books are due. I'm not one to read a book over and over again, so it is perfect for me.

 

[KB]

That's great that you have a good library system.

I've read more books since I left the work in June, than I have read since I had kids 20 years ago.

Our library system has about 15 - 20 branches, so I do a lot of online requesting books and DVDs from other branches.  They email me when my request is in the local branch.  I even go and sit to read the magazines that I used to take at home.  I let my subscriptions expire, couldn't think of a good reason to keep them when I can read free at the library.

How fun to see people who have been working there almost 30 years.  Something really don't change.

 

[FlowGirl]

I grew up just outside of Seattle and was spoiled by the King County Library System, which last time I checked was the 3rd largest circulating library in the US. Most places I've lived since have been disappointing when it comes to libraries - especially San Diego, where the books were spread around several small branches and requesting a book from another branch was $1 a pop.

 

[KB]

I wouldn't like them charging to request books. Ours is free as long as you request online.

 

[grumpy]

Our county library system is pretty good. We have a "storefront" branch in a strip mall about 1.5 miles from the house. A much larger branch is about 6 miles away. One feature I really like is that you can renew books on the library web site. I generally take out 6 to 8 books at a time and with online renewal up to three times can keep them for two months. I have always done a lot of reading and now that I am retired I can indulge myself even more. I used to read mostly fiction as a way to wind down from the workday. I am reading more nonfiction (mostly biographies) now.

Grumpy

 

[Ginger]

We go to the library about twice a week. Also, I reserve books on line all the time. We usually go to Barnes and Noble and scan what books we want to read, then reserve them at the library. Also, our library has a huge DVD and music selection. There is also a "Friends of the Library" room where you can buy books, paperbacks and childrens' books. Our tax dollar at its best!

 

[Dreamer]

I love going to the library and plan to go more often after I retire.  I usually check out around 10 books at a time.  You are allowed to call and renew the books over the phone.  Our library is downtown and there is a paid parking lot.  If you request a book from another library, it costs $1.00 per book.  They also charge for movies.  

I went to a library in Stafford VA and it had free parking, free movies and was much larger than our library.  

I was from a very poor family when I was a child.  I can remember my older sister taking me to the library.  I can remember the feeling of astonishment that I was allowed to take books home with me.  It was amazing.  I did not have any books at home.  The earliest books that I can remember was Raggedy Ann and Andy, then the Bobsey Twins, Nancy Drew and on and on.

I had not been to the library for several months and went approximately 2 weeks ago.  I browsed the aisles and saw alot of very good authors.  I felt like I was visiting friends that I had not seen for awhile and wanted to rediscover them.  I know that there are probably people thinking what is wrong with her, but that is the way I felt!

Dreamer

 

[haha]

I grew up just outside of Seattle and was spoiled by the King County Library System, which last time I checked was the 3rd largest circulating library in the US.  Most places I've lived since have been disappointing when it comes to libraries - especially San Diego, where the books were spread around several small branches and requesting a book from another branch was $1 a pop.

I recently went to the KCLS website to reserve a book and they said it is the 2nd largest in the country now. I have always had library cards- now I have UW, KCLS, Sno-Isle, and Seattle. I use the academic libraries at UW or WWU. I let my WWU card lapse, but it used to cost me about $20 per year. Money very well spent.

What they don't have I can get inter-library loan, although that is tricky because I only get to keep the book one week on inter-library loans, and since they are usually dense books I sometimes have trouble.

I still buy more books than I should, but often investment related things that I want to have on hand, or language study or a drumming book that I simply need for a long time.

On the topic of librarians- the woman who runs my local branch supervises about 16 or 20 full and part timers and has been the main librarian here since the early 60s. She is probably on the far side of 80, but the sharpest person you would ever hope to meet.

Ha

 

[Nords]

There is a website to search for and reserve materials.  The search functions are user friendly.  Not only do they have books, but they have dvds, cds, and tapes.  And internet access everywhere.

When I was in Bangkok last year, I was able to log into the Hawaii State Public Library System from an internet café and reserve books to pick up when we returned. I wonder if someone was keystroke-logging my login/password and trying to figure out what kind of brokerage I was using.

It's ironic that, just as you're getting a library card, I've decided that it's worth loosening my death-grip on my buffalo nickels to buy a couple hundred bucks of books a year. But, hey, I'll donate them to the library when I'm finished with them.

All those thousands of dollars down the drain to the booksellers.

I had a huge book-buying monkey on my back in the '80s. It was the only way to get what you wanted when you wanted it and to be able to take it to sea with you.

Remember going to a card catalog, filling out dozens of paper request slips, and waiting months for those books to be found at other libraries and sent over to yours, no doubt for a service charge?

But this raises another question. Will the library card save you enough money to have a significant effect on your SWR?

 

[Martha]

But this raises another question. Will the library card save you enough money to have a significant effect on your SWR?

Let's just say I have a talent for reading fast and that there are times where I read at the rate of one book a day.

 

[treypar]

Our library is great. I can reserve the best sellers online and just wait for them to call me to pick them up to read.

 

[lazyday]

I was just there today myself. Swapping some DVDs for some other DVDs.
Don't read like I used to, but do get investing books from the library nowadays.

And sometimes read the magazines there.

Books on tape can be nice for the car. Including education/nonfiction. Some libraries have lectures on tape too. Or CD, of course.
The Donnell library in New York City even has lectures on video. (But I don't live near there anymore.)

Some libraries have great investing resources. Wish I still had access to the first two pages of Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective. (Now called Red Book and Blue Book, I think.)

When I was working but didn't have my own computer, I would use the library computers to get on the web.

When in school, it was sometimes such a help, to thumb through a dozen books covering the same subject I was having trouble with, and pick out two that I understood and liked.
I even was sometimes able to avoid buying a required book, when the same one was in the library.

Yeah, I guess I'm a big fan of the library.

 

[LovesLife]

I also rediscovered the library when I retired. I think it's the next best thing to sliced bread. All those books to read and I don't have to pay a thing.

My local library also has a book club that I enjoy going to. The book selections have introduced me to stuff I would not normally read and have enjoyed reading the majority of them. There was one selection though that I had a difficult time getting through. It was just too out there for my tastes. Turns out that several of the members could not get through it, either. It was kind of funny that we had all came to the same independent conclusion that the book was a dog.

LL

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Let's just say I have a talent for reading fast and that there are times where I read at the rate of one book a day.

Whoa. Do you speed read? Like sliding your finger across the page as you devour line by line?

I get through about 2 pages a day at bedtime as I drift peacefully off into my usual power-sleep. Wonder what will happen in retirement...

 

[REWahoo]

Wonder what will happen in retirement...

I read a couple of books a month and looked forward to the luxury of spending more time reading once I retired. For some reason, it hasn't worked out at all like I thought it would. I don't think I've finished more than a book or two in the nine months since I retired. I've started several and lost interest in them after a chapter or two. There seems to always be something else I would rather be doing.

Maybe I used reading (I would often read during my lunch hour) as an escape from w*rk, and now that I don't have a need for an esacape...?

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I grew up in the Multnomah County Library system, the main library in downtown Portland, OR, and half the used book stores in town. I, too, have used the KCLS (great!) and the UW and WWU libraries. Great stacks!

One of the things I do to keep out of trouble is to find the used book stores in a new town. The U of Alberta has fine stacks, too. (And a neat little pub on campus close by called the Power House, I think--an old brick boiler house building, it looks like. But now we are mixing pleasures.)

 

[Brat]

I recently went to the KCLS website to reserve a book and they said it is the 2nd largest in the country now. I have always had library cards- now I have UW, KCLS, Sno-Isle, and Seattle. I use the academic libraries at UW or WWU. I let my WWU card lapse, but it used to cost me about $20 per year. Money very well spent.

What they don't have I can get inter-library loan, although that is tricky because I only get to keep the book one week on inter-library loans, and since they are usually dense books I sometimes have trouble.

I still buy more books than I should, but often investment related things that I want to have on hand, or language study or a drumming book that I simply need for a long time.

On the topic of librarians- the woman who runs my local branch supervises about 16 or 20 full and part timers and has been the main librarian here since the early 60s. She is probably on the far side of 80, but the sharpest person you would ever hope to meet.

Ha

I too am a KCLS customer, love them.  Our branch jumps with users of all ages, meeting rooms are busy, the children's section is large and wonderful.  If we ever consider moving to another community the library system will be screen one.

The Seattle Library has an outstanding history section, very good for family research.  The Multnomah County (Portland) Library is great too.  I am sure I am much older than Ed, but we grew up in the same stacks.

If I purchase a popular current title when traveling I donate it to the library as soon as I get home.  It lights up the librarian's eyes.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

If I purchase a popular current title when traveling I donate it to the library as soon as I get home. It lights up the librarian's eyes.

Good for you, Brat!

I am sure I am much older than Ed,

(Don't bet on it! )

but we grew up in the same stacks.

One of the things that is different about the USA is our libraries. Between Tom Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Andrew Carnegie (funny that he went back to Scotland in the end, eh?), we have a tradition that is unique in the whole world, in my experience.

Libraries were my eyes on the world. I used to sneak into the Lewis and Clark library to read their books. (Heck, I used to climb the fence and swim in their outdoor swimming pool at night.)

When we lived in Denmark, we used to go to various libraries--and were the only customers there, even at the university (Denmark's Technical Highschool--university, to udlanders) library! Never did figure that out, considering DK has a very high literacy rate.

Did you buy the bagels at the Farmer's Market downtown on Satutrdays, too?

Cheers,

the old Gypsy

 

[sgeeeee]

Yeaaa, for the Mesa Public Library. I rediscovered the public library about 3 years ago. I reserve books via internet from any of the libraries in the chain. I pick them up from the library closest to me. I renew them online if I need to. And I drop them off at any of about 6 places in town. Plus, sometimes I just go to the main library and spend time in the stacks.

I worked stocking books in the University Bookstore as an undergraduate, I lived in the stacks as a grad student and post doc, and I still review, edit and write books for three different publishers. Books are good. Yeaaa for the public libraries.

 

[Martha]

Whoa. Do you speed read? Like sliding your finger across the page as you devour line by line?

I get through about 2 pages a day at bedtime as I drift peacefully off into my usual power-sleep. Wonder what will happen in retirement...

I dont know how people can read sliding their finger across the page like that. Too distracting.

I think reading fast for me resulted from lots of practice going back to early childhood. The height of my reading prowess was when I was about 10 to 12, when all I would do was read, read, read. From Heinlein to Tolstoy. Then, of course, puberty intervened.

 

[Eagle43]

I go to the library at least once a week; have done so for years.  And I use the online capability to check my status and books availability.  We've used their DVDs, CDs, but not the internet connections there.  It's a great service and a real money-saver.  I seldom buy books anymore, save some of the ones recommended on this forum (ESR Bob, the Kaderlis) because if I just remain patient, the library will get what I want to read, and then I can drop it off at any location. I have also donated a couple hundred books over the years. IMHO Library attendance is the closest thing to a mandatory function of ER. 

 

[kz]

I was at the library yesterday for my weekly visit. I had two books on reserve to pickup. I even get hubby to accompany me once or twice a month since he retired.
A few yrs back our library was getting very overcrowded so they organized a fundraiser. I don't remember what their goal was but a very wealthy widow (she/late husband owned an international catalog co.) made a healthy donation of 5 million dollars. People in the area were so impressed that another 5 million in pledges came pouring in. Needless to say we had an enormous expansion to our library!

 

[yakers]

Whoa. Do you speed read? Like sliding your finger across the page as you devour line by line?

I get through about 2 pages a day at bedtime as I drift peacefully off into my usual power-sleep. Wonder what will happen in retirement...

Man, you folks are awesome. When I tuck up in bed with a book at night I am lucky to get in a page, sometimes I get a paragraph or two, sometimes it seems like I read/reread the same paragraph the whole week. Maybe I need more sleep? Maybe I need to retire.

 

[justin]

Just went to the library yesterday. Got 5 books, 4 of which were travel guides for Orlando. It's great to be able to request the latest and greatest assortment of travel guides, have them sent to your local branch and pick them up in a few days.

I'll probably flip through the orlando books and may use them a little for planning an upcoming trip, but then I'll most likely never use them again. The library is a great source for that kind of book - one you need on a temporary basis and never plan to re-read.

The library's internet interface makes searching the catalog and requesting books extremely easy. Renewal online with reminder emails. How great is that?