I Went to the Library Yesterday!

[mystang52]

For the first time since the pandemic lockdown, I went to my town's library last night. Title of this thread has that intentional exclamation point. I was genuinely thrilled to go inside, and look for....books. I have an e-Reader, and obviously it serves its purpose but for me my Nook is just not a "real" book.
The book I went to get was not available in electronic format through my Library system's eCatalog. I had been so ingrained, since early 2020, to just search for ebooks that it took me a second before I did the online check for the "normal" version.
Going into the library gave me a Pavlovian response. Pre-lockdown I often went to my library twice a week. They now have some COVID protections in place, such as plastic dividers by sitting areas and for the librarians, but otherwise it was just like the good ol' days. I forgot how much I missed going there.

 

[JeffyD]

Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. - G. Marx

 

[athena53]

I went to two local libraries Monday in search of reference books to use for a paper I'm writing for a class- Encyclopedias, etc. Both libraries, part of separate systems, had nothing (other than one having a dictionary). Wow. It's all on-line. OTOH, what I found on-line was a treasure trove- access to articles from all sorts of refereed journals and a wonderful book 600-page on hymns and hymn writers published in London in 1869. (My paper is on the history of hymns.)

I bought a Nook in January of 2020, which turned out to be great timing, so I've mostly been downloading library books. When I visit the grandchildren, though, I have a great time looking through the physical shelves to find books they'll like. They also use the Nook; I always end up with a dozen downloaded Disney Princess books I have to return!

 

[pacergal]

I love wandering in our library!

 

[street]

I use to love going to the library. In the evenings on winter nights, I would spend hours enjoying the library. I haven't done that in many years now.

 

[Palmtree]

Libraries are just great. Young or old. Black or white. Rich or poor, everyone can take avantage of the wealth of knowledge and entertainment available. Of all the things my taxes go to support, libraries are the things I agree with the most.

 

[mystang52]

I use to love going to the library. In the evenings on winter nights, I would spend hours enjoying the library. I haven't done that in many years now.

OP here. Me, too, but I guess I still love going. Your "winter nights" comment struck a nice chord with me. In my working years, getting home after dark, not much to do (I watch little TV) I would especially enjoy going to the library after dinner.

 

[Souschef]

DW was given a Nook, but she could only buy books from B & N, which were more expensive. It died, and she has a really nice 10 inch Kindle Fire.
After she got her reader, I realized that they had internet connectivity, anbd that sold me. I subscribe to 4 sites of bargain books. Also on a flight some years ago, the nice guy sitting next to us downloaded Calibre to my Kindle. It is a program to change the format of any e-book .

 

[braumeister]

Libraries are just great. Young or old. Black or white. Rich or poor, everyone can take avantage of the wealth of knowledge and entertainment available. Of all the things my taxes go to support, libraries are the things I agree with the most.

Very well put. About 7% of my property tax goes to support the library and it's one of my favorite causes. I often donate books to them as well.

When I was a kid, the library was just a quarter of a mile from home, and I would head there to spend a couple of hours as often as possible. It was an escape from an occasionally toxic home environment, and helped me to develop great study habits. In fact, once in a while a librarian would ask me to give another kid a lesson in using the card catalog!

 

[Marita40]

I still love the library but don’t go often anymore due to the marvelous Libby app that lets me borrow a world of library books with one click on my iPad. AND a very robust Little Free Library community that I frequent on daily walks. Between the two I am always well stocked with books.

 

[street]

OP here. Me, too, but I guess I still love going. Your "winter nights" comment struck a nice chord with me. In my working years, getting home after dark, not much to do (I watch little TV) I would especially enjoy going to the library after dinner.

Yep, that was me totally. I was in a new community and all I could afford was a spot on the floor to live and sleep, so the library was a nice place for me to go for a lot of reasons.

 

[travelover]

I love the library. I go there to warm my fingers and use the bathroom.

 

[teetee]

I love libraries for the monthly magazines and friendly clerks.

For some reason my stress from work is halved Everytime I stop by our local libraries, even if I just want to check out some digital media like movies.

 

[Music Lover]

I regularly read library books, some actual books but most are downloaded. I have the app on my 65" TV and read a lot of books that way. GF thinks I'm crazy but I'm in my recliner and very comfortable.

 

[Midpack]

There’s no way I’d buy any hard copy book anymore, but I still prefer them to eBooks, so I’ve been checking out books from our local library almost throughout Covid. The library was only closed for a month or so, though entering and browsing wasn’t permitted again until a few months ago. Everything was online hold/curbside pickup for a while. Then patrons could enter to pickup on hold books, but only one person at a time. Now the library is open, masks still required/enforced. I’ve been able to find and put books on hold throughout so I haven’t needed to physically browse yet, maybe some day.

 

[Sunset]

I prefer real books, and OP has reminded me we need to go to the library like we used to do a lot.

I have a Fire tablet and have downloaded library apps to it, and have used it to borrow books for when on a cruise ship. Lighter and smaller than carrying a couple of actual books, plus can bring a bunch so I have a choice.

 

[Ronstar]

I used to work as the janitor at the local library when I was in high school. I would clean the place and then spend a couple of hours alone there looking through books. I later spent a lot of college time in the library and work days in the library. There was dynamite blasting on the street where our office was, so I took my work to the library for a month or so.

I'd like to get back to the library at some point. But I can probably find as much of the info I'm looking for from my home computer.

 

[Lsbcal]

Yes, it's a pleasure to turn some real pages.

 

[Music Lover]

There's also a great used book store a block from the library so I often go to both places in one trip. The used book store offers a 50% return for most books (return it and get 50% of the purchase price back) but I usually just pass it along to someone else to read.

 

[braumeister]

The used book store offers a 50% return for most books (return it and get 50% of the purchase price back) but I usually just pass it along to someone else to read.

That's a really nice policy.

I have a relative who owns a used bookstore. People are constantly dumping piles of books at his door (when it's closed) just to get rid of them. He says hardly any of them are worth bothering with, so he gives most of them to Goodwill.

 

[rodi]

Our library shut down for the first 2 months of covid before they started allowing you to reserve books and pick them up outside the library during restricted hours in a covid safe manner. So I never had to give up my love of reading non-digital books. About 5 months ago they reopened in person. So nice. I know all the librarians so it's nice to say hello when I go to pick up my next read. I also volunteer for the 'Friends of the Library' book sales. Traditionally the book sales are sales of donated books. This past sale, a few weeks ago, had a bunch of library quality books. During the covid restrictions the librarians culled the collection of our local library, culling out books that were duplicates of less popular books. This added a bunch of 'library quality bound' books to our book sale inventory. It was awesome. We made more in a 6 hour sale than we've made in previous 3 day sales.

 

[MichaelB]

There's also a great used book store a block from the library so I often go to both places in one trip. The used book store offers a 50% return for most books (return it and get 50% of the purchase price back) but I usually just pass it along to someone else to read.

Passing along a book is what I miss the most about real hard and soft cover books; now my reading is almost all ebook. Outside the US books were generally more expensive and less available, and passing around was important. Nothing, however, beat sharing books with my mum.