Public library use up.

[scrapquitler]

My local library is always busy. As long as I've lived here in town it has always been busy, thats nothing new.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Dh and I have are avid readers and have always used our library, but we moved last fall to a small town and the library is really disappointing here. It's very neat and organized and the staff is great, but they never have newer books and have a really small selection of older ones. We do really enjoy their children's story hour every week, I try to take my 4yo each week. They introduce a new letter each week, then read a couple books and do a craft.

We've never borrowed movies from the library, we've already seen most of the ones there.

I've heard rumors of ours cutting hours, too.

 

[momof3girls6712]

We are also propert tax funded and since 52% of the pop doesn't pay tax due to homestead credits we are very under funded. We do not get to buy movies/dvds at all. Maybe 5-10 audi books a year. In fact the book budget for all 5 branches this year was 7000. We are a POOR system. Luckily the Friends of the Libraries provide most new books and audio books and we get movies/dvds donated weekly from regular patrons. All of our stats are up so hopefully the county commisioners will take notice and not cut us any more.

 

[reservations4five]

I have used the library more in the last year than I ever have. I used to buy 2 or 3 books a week, paperbacks mostly. But I read them so quickly it seems like an awful lot of paper, and money to blow. My DH has been layed off since November and I couldn't justify the expense for something that I can get for free.

So I discovered ebooks and also my library has an online feature where I can search and request the books that I want and they will pull and hold them for me. Since I work about a mile away it is a nice thing for me to run and pick them up on my lunch break.

I get around 20.00 a year in fines but that is still cheaper than supporting my reading habit.

 

[Imzadi]

I've never realized libraries had digital downloads for audio books. How does that work? Could I put it on my i-pod. I've only downloaded through i-tunes before so what type of program would i download onto?? Sorry, I'm not so techno-savy.
Thanks, Lori

Yes, depending on how large your library is and how much funding they get. If you are capable of reserving books online, they might also offer downloading or audio books and ebooks.

Either click on the link for reserving books, if you have one, or go to your library's main page and look for "Online Services" or something like that.

Also, if you are close to a bigger city, or work in a big city, you might be able to get a library card from them, which offers the online services. Or your library may have an affiliation with them so you can use those services too.

Also, universities and community colleges might have programs where you can buy a library membership so you can do "research" and have access to their services. Some credit-free or continuing ed courses may qualify people to register for their library cards. It's all worth checking out.

 

[bnf2]

We just got back from the library... only this time we went to the new main branch! We usually stick to the one nearest our house, but decide to make a day of it at the 'big one'. We are fortunate to have several branches and the main one just minutes from our house. And like others we've also increased our use over the past year- cutting back on our book & DVD buying (and are just as happy with borrowing)

Today the kids played some on the computers, got the next Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys books they are now hooked on, along with several other books & DVDs; I got some CDs, old I Love Lucy DVDs and a cookbook; and DH found some books & DVDs on turkey hunting All in all a nice Saturday afternoon!

 

[ncbyrne]

We live in a county where all the libraries are interconnected. They have a LOT of great new release DVDs (no fee, take out for 3 nights) and they are rotated between several libraries. Lots of new books, (they always have the a few copies of the most recent WDW guide books, including The Unofficial Guide) CDs, documentary DVDs, movies nights, book clubs, children's story hours, senior programs and 6 computers. They even have a large section of framed art work -wall large and table top paintings and prints that you can borrow for for free. I recently took out two huge Asian prints for a Japanese event we were hosting. I have always used our library a lot! I love our library!

 

[Belle4mygrl]

I have never bought a book for myself because I can borrow the libraries. I will buy the kids books though. dd15 will read books over and over and of course, we have a small "library" for dd4.

 

[The Iron Giant]

I love to read, but I'm not much of a library person... mostly because I'm terrible with returning things on time.

But I have at least made the switch to buying used books on Amazon. I'm able to find used copies of most every book I'm interested in for a dollar or two. I don't mind paying that much, even with shipping added, since I have the luxury of reading it at my convenience and I don't have to worry about returning it. And its much better than paying $10 to $25 at the book store.

 

[mamalle]

our county library system is great! we have been going for awhile now and recently started going a few times a month to check out books. The kids love going.

 

[Imzadi]

I love to read, but I'm not much of a library person... mostly because I'm terrible with returning things on time.

But I have at least made the switch to buying used books on Amazon. I'm able to find used copies of most every book I'm interested in for a dollar or two. I don't mind paying that much, even with shipping added, since I have the luxury of reading it at my convenience and I don't have to worry about returning it. And its much better than paying $10 to $25 at the book store.

Check out these three sites below. They are MUCH cheaper than buying at Amazon, because basically you are only paying for the shipping, not shipping + book price. Even if you do not have books to trade out, which sounds like you might with your pile from Amazon, you can simply BUY credits from other members who have an excess, for only about $2.75, using PayPal, then use them to get your books. They also have a referral program, so once you get hooked on them, you can get your family & friends to join and get a free book that way.

http://www.paperbackswap.com

http://www.frugalreader.com

http://www.titletrader.com


This site costs a bit more per book, $4.50, but they tend to have a higher quality of books and are stringent about book conditions to trade:
http://www.bookins.com/index.php

 

[ajk912]

I love the library!!

New release DVDs take FOREVER to get, so I usually don't bother with those. The new release books they are able to buy more of so get those quickly. I recently read the new Jodi Piccoult book, and the new John Grisham book. I love it!

Another thing I started recently doing at the library is doing all my copying there, too. They have free internet, up to an hour a day per library card. You can get up to 15 copies per day for free. So anything I need printed online, I just pop in the library, log into my email or wherever and print it off!!

Last week I printed off the Gap G&G coupon, coupons for the Chuck E Cheese website, my kids' soccer registration forms, everything I needed online for free!! I don't even buy printer ink anymore, the library is close enough to my house and I almost never need to print off more than 10 copies a day. That saves me probably $20 a month on ink! Not to mention dealing with my printer getting jammed all the time. We would go through almost a cartridge a month, easy, and those are $33 for our Lexmark cartridges.

 

[shoney]

I was recently looking at the tax bill and our library taxes are over $500 a year...so I decided to look into the library services a little more. I used to buy books...target, amazon, etc..no more. Our library also has free passes for museums that I will now reserve for future trips. We also have a reservation service for DVD's, so you don't have to wait for it to hit the shelf. They will call you when your movie is in. For that much a year, I want to really start taking advantage of the service. If everyone else does the same, I guess we'll see an increase in tax!!!!

 

[branv]

Well I was being silly. There were plenty of times I'd go and look at books but never buy them b/c of the price -- I might occasionally pick up something at Half Price Books, but that still stuck in my craw. Especially when you're a pretty fast reader, needing a new book to read every 2 or so days can get expensive. Our local library is seriously tiny -- as in the main circulation area is the size of my living room and the children's is the size of my kitchen. Practically nothing I wanted was ever there. It took me a good two years of living here to realize that a) I can check out books at the town next to us with the much bigger library and b) even my tiny local library participates in Tex-Share -- a statewide interlibrary loan system (academic and city). DH was able to get even a pretty rare book on brewing that would have cost him $200 to buy USED but only cost him $2 to have it shipped to our local library instead.

So we use the library MUCH more now

Wanted to add that the larger library I've been visiting has been packed with adults in the middle of the day during the weekday. And none of them are checking out books, they're all sitting at the terminals with internet access. Almost all of the 25 or so computers are in use, and I assumed it was job-hunt related, or they can't afford internet service anymore. Makes me very sad.

 

[SarahK]

The library where I work has had a huge increase in circulation due to the economy. We have a lot of people who come in to use our career center and are there all day job hunting. Lots of increase in DVD circulation too. To the librarian who is not able to get TV/masterpiece theatre dvds--We have a huge collection of those, and they circ better than any other dvds in our collection! Great for statistics, so you could use that as a selling point maybe? The economy means that though we have increased usage by the public, we are still facing a possible budget shortfall, so we have already cut 3 paid positions and our budget for new materials is much smaller.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I get movies at least once a week via the library and guess what flies out quick? The TV shows (Grey's is huge right now) and recent movies (I'm on the waiting list for Twilight on dvd 4th in line!). Already put in for Doctor Who and Psych *crosses fingers*

Longest wait was about a month for Iron Man so far.

 

[KristiMc]

I love our library. I go usually twice a week. DVD's are free to check out for 1 week. Wii games are good for 2 weeks - though they are hard to get. They have a great website that is hooked in with the whole Cleveland library system and very easy to put books on hold.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I am a librarian, so I am happy to hear usage is up! At my library, I haven't seen a huge increase, but we been getting more kids in our storytimes, to the point of overfilled classes.

But like others said, I am just waiting for the budget cuts to hit the library where I work. Since I am the newest hire (and at part-time, since they only hire part-timers or temps for now on since they can't afford medical benefits), I would be the first to go. My library has many librarians who are "lifers" - they expect to stay here for their entire careers, always getting their great benefits and retirement packages, and are under the assumption they can never be laid off, period. Never. They couldn't care less if there are budget cuts, since they assume they are immune and their great benefits will always be there as promised. Yeah, they really believe this. The town can go completely bankrupt and my colleagues will still expect the same salaries, raises, and benefits.

Me and my colleagues live in such seperate worlds, working at the same library. Some of my colleagues will be in for a very rude awakening if the budget cuts hit us hard.

 

[gymboqueenkaylee]

I use our Library all the time. I get books, DVD's rented (for free, even new releases), CD's (to put on my Ipod), you name it, it's all free. I have seen lots more people at my library lately since the economy has went down the toilet and so many people have lost their jobs. I was doing the library thing before, glad everyone else is catching on!

 

[familyS]

I read about 2 books a week. I used to buy books from Barnes and Noble clearance twice a month and stop by the library every 2 months.

The economy has definitely affected my family.

Now I use the library twice a month and go to Barnes and Noble every 2 months We even dropped our B&N card.