Saturday, September 4, 2010
There's a library across the street from my house, so I finally came to my senses and went in today and got myself a library card.
[Gasp! You don't have a library card!?]
It's probably been about 10 years since I went in to a library or had a card. I love books, so much in fact, that once I was out of school and employed, I could no longer bear to only "borrow" books, I fell into the habit of buying every book I read, of buying books on random subjects that I might've been mildly interested in. There's also the fact that the trusty interweb made it big, so when in earlier years I might have gone to the library to research something, nowadays I can just Google it. Case in point, we own tons of cookbooks, yet when I want a recipe for something specific I usually just find one online, I certainly don't go to the library to look it up.
So a a test run, I checked out 3 books on quilting (yes, I know, very exciting), the lady advised me that there's a 3 month probation period for new card holders and in that 3 months I can only check out 10 items at a time, once the 3 months is up (assuming I haven't taken off with the 10 items, or racked up thousands of dollars in late fees) I will be allowed to take out up to 50 items at a time. 50 items. I do not understand how anyone could need to check out 50 items, which are only in your possession for 21 days, all at the same time, but hey, I haven't had a library card in a while, maybe the times have changed. The librarian also advised me that they subscribe to 3 different quilting magazines (I was unaware that you could even check out magazines), so I guess I really have no excuse to go out and spend money on reference/quilting books or magazines (she says, knowing she ordered 3 used books from abebooks.com a few days ago). If I find a book I love or can't live without I can go buy it, otherwise the library is now my friend again. The exception of course, is that I know I cannot "borrow" fiction from the library, fiction is still something I must possess, even if nowadays most if what I buy is in ebook format.
Postscript: Though I was in a library, I still managed to buy a book - 75 cents for an out of print F. Paul Wilson novel to add to my collection :)
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4 comments:
I love buying books too, and I have bought quite a few from the library (sometimes even for a quarter), I have had to get rid of some books though just because I don't have the room for them all. I have been going through my storage items and I got rid of 90% of my cookbooks, like you said the internet has all the recipes you could ever need. Having said that, I did just take out a "4 Ingredient Vegan" cookbook from the library, but I have yet to read it yet.
I used to hold on to all my paperbacks. However, since we moved 3 times in 5 years, I did finally pare down on novels that I was certain I would NEVER read again, (mostly chick lit...). Now since I mostly read ebooks I've had to get over the "collecting" issue, and I try to only buy hard copies of things I actually want to collect, whereas I used to just buy every thing I read, hence thousands of books. I am fortunate enought to have an extra room where we have books and computers and that's all, but still the shelves are full.
Ah, and where does taking out digital fiction from the library fall...?
I haven't yet tried to borrow an ebook from the library, I'm told the selection is a bit lacking and probably not to my reading tastes, but I will take a look because I believe they get current (shameful) bestsellers, which I do, on occasion, read.
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