Comments on: Library Love

By: (un)relaxeddad

(un)relaxeddad — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:47:24 +0000

I love libraries. They’ve been my favourite places in the whole world ever since I was very small. Currently, I have about eleven books and four CDs out, though studying gives me access to a well stocked college library, Of course, I run up appalling fines all the time but I figure it’s in a good cause.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:15:02 +0000

since I’m in the same city as Kate (Ottawa), you know we have a great library service here. We have a super inter-library loan, so if our library doesn’t have it, it will look for you at other libraries! And most often with either no charge or a minimal payment under a few dollars…..sadly, I always bring home far too many books and even though we can renew three times before bringing them back, I still don’t read them all….. I just can’t resist them, they all look interesting! I know Emily thinks she’s #1 bookslut, but I think I’m a close second……and lately I’ve been coming across so many books to read (thanks, book bloggers!) and now my husband’s contract ended and he’s looking for work, so I think it’s back to the library for a bit….very poor with two kids in daycare! Thanks for reminding us of the joy of the library, which is where i lived as a child!!

By: Kate S.

Kate S. — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:02:02 +0000

My library works much the same way yours does and I adore it. When I’m making the rounds of my favourite book blogs, I frequently have the online catalogue open in another browser window so that I can immediatly request any books blog mentions of which pique my interest. The Toronto Public Library nearly always has the books I’m after and more often than not manages to get them to my local branch for me to pick up within days. Of course, like you, I then spend whatever money I’ve saved that way in the bookshop that’s just down the street from the library…

By: bloglily

bloglily — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:34:01 +0000

Dear Ms. Summer Picnic, Welcome! I love that picture on the header of your blog. It’s so inviting. (Your blog is too). You’re right about the library — it’s a fabulous place to browse and dream.

Polaris, Yowza! Or something like that… The dvd/music,etc. section at the SFPL is fabulous. I’m afraid to check anything out there though. You have to be good at returning those things or the fines are steep. Still, I love it when a public institution kicks the butt of Blockbuster.

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont is one of the books I ordered, Ruth. And yes, the virtual library is very satisfying, isn’t it?

Mocove! How cool is that — you’re a page! I was a page when I was in high school. It was my favorite job of all time. And welcome to BlogLily. I’m so glad you’ve come by.

Emily, Ooooo, Emily, very nice use of the public library.

Hello Ofendi and Welcome! Like you, I don’t think that giving anything freely diminishes anything or anyone.

Dear Danielle, You’re welcome. It’s a good article, isn’t it? The author’s the fiction reviewer for the London Times and just published his first novel. It’ll be fun to talk about the books when I get done with them. Soon, I hope.

Hi Julia, It’s fun when you realize you’ve just discovered someone you might really like and then you find out they’ve written a ton of books. Mary Wesley was like that for me.

Hey Diana — Hooray for the prairie libraries!

Bookfraud, The hulking monolith turns out to be our lovely local library where the children’s librarian takes an interest in the reading of my kids and you can request pretty much anything you want and have it there pronto! You need to get out of that house, dude, and stroll down to this little nirvana…

It’s true, Marie — the pleasure of owning the actual book is huge. I save that for things I want right away and can’t get from the library, for poetry, because I go to it again and again, and things that will take me the rest of my life to read, like War & Peace. Oh, and cookbooks. I can’t check out cookbooks. I always get freaked out by the stains on the pages.

Becky — I can’t wait to dig in to ET — and I too have that late return issue!

Good to hear you’re busy Eoin. That can never be bad, can it? xo

By: summer picnic

summer picnic — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:52:37 +0000

Libraries are wonderful gems–and a lot like Flickr: you visit for one thing and end up browsing and browsing, savoring all this really great stuff for free. The “new books” section is remarkably stocked at my local library, so it’s like visiting a bookstore. I visit Amazon to discover new releases and then request them at the library so they’re waiting for me almost as soon as they’re published.

By: polaris

polaris — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:57:52 +0000

Happy to see that you’ve been bitten by the bug too. The US Public Library system is a national treasure and it is a pity that more people don’t utilize it. I discovered it in Minneapolis when I was a broke graduate student and have been amazed ever since.

Have you seen their multimedia section, BL? Imagine my surprise when I looked for a 1929 movie and there it was. Documentary films and videotapes are available in their thousands. I gorged on the National Geographic and NOVA and Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot tapes.

In contrast, in my neighborhood Blockbuster, I asked for the documentaries section, and was shown a miniscule shelf marked “Special Interests” with about 10 DVDs.

By: realruth

realruth — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:56:30 +0000

It’d yesrs since I’ve browsed physical library shelves because our local Christchurch City Library also has a facility to order online. I read reviews, then order the books I want – it costs just $1.50 per book.

I’ve never read Elizabeth Taylor, but I enjoyed the film of “Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont” so maybe I”ll add her to my online reading list.

By: mocove

mocove — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:35:40 +0000

As a shelver in the library, I get to see all the books. It's like getting paid to be at the bookstore. And I must confess, as an employee I incur no fees. So the answer is to get a job at the library! Take a look at my shelving blog, Shelver Scratches

By: Emily Barton

Emily Barton — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:24:49 +0000

Here’s another thing one can do: read book blogs on the road in Salt Lake City, log onto the library web site back home to find out if those books that sound so wonderful are available and at what branches, request they all be sent to your local branch, and have them waiting for you to pick up when you get home from your trip. Yes, libraries are magnificent places!

By: ofendi

ofendi — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:36:48 +0000

Beig a librarian, semi-retired now, I was really glad to see such a big and positive response to Bloglily’s post. Back in the ’60s when I started library work, public libraries were doing pretty much the same things, though the arrival of computers and E-mail has speeded things up a lot.
Way back in the days of Andrew Carnegie, about 100 years ago, some people were opposed to public libraries because they thought people would stop buying books. It wasn’t true then, and I can see from several of the responses that libraries actually encourage people to buy books.
Nowadays, of course, people are using the same wrong argument against internet file-sharing…. but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:57:18 +0000

Yay for the library (public or academic!!!). I use both types of libraries shamelessly–taking advantage of every service I can. Isn’t it wonderful? And free! I love ET and I need to read more of her work. Thanks for the link to that article by the way!

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:28:13 +0000

I just discovered Elizabeth Taylor too, thanks to an article in the Guardian about underrated authors. I'm interested to hear what you think about her!

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:00:55 +0000

I just had to brag about my own wonderful library system. See, we’re small. And out on the prairie. But there are all of these other small towns with small libraries and then there are a couple of bigger towns 1-2 hours away with bigger libraries and all of these libraries are linked in our computer system.

I always picture the person whose job it is to make the daily drive between all of these libraries so that we can all have our books. I thank this person mentally each time I pick up a new stack.

(And depending on how far away the library is that had my particular book, it may or may not be quicker than Amazon but it’s still fairly quick and it’s still – free!)

By: bookfraud

bookfraud — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:34:08 +0000

i can’t remember the last time i was at “the library.” this thing called “the internet” makes me want to sit in front of my computer all day and order stuff like books for exorbitant sums of money, all in the comfort of my own home…

i rarely make it to the library; then again, while i’m a cheapskate, i will shell out for books…

i remember a commercial in the late 1990s — it painted the library as this gray, hulking, nasty monolith and your home — and the research you could do online instead of the library — as paradise…

By: mariegauthier

mariegauthier — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:26:39 +0000

A customer introduced me to Elizabeth Taylor a few months back, but I regret to say that I have not yet read her — my non-poetry reading hours are much curtailed post-Vincent.

That’s quite the library you have! While I love the folks in my small little village library, their poetry section is more of a shelf, so I tend to use the Jones Library in Amherst — very very nice — or order books from my bookshop.

Back in my early 20′s, when I was seriously $400/month poor, I used the library much more, biking nearly daily. Age has definitely made me more acquisitive…