Libraries

[Ethel]

Do any of you use the local library? I get 90% of my novels from the library as I read on average 6 books a week.

I have borrowed many reference books too, including computer and IT; cookery and gardening books.

I can't understand why more people don't use their libraries. Mine sells tea and biscuits; gives computer lessons; has free internet; has a book club; a session for toddlers; authors and poets visit to give readings.

I can reserve books online and get an email when the book is ready to be collected.

So my question is - why don't people use their libraries?

[carrot99]

I'm always round my local library, Ethel. I couldn't afford to buy the number of books I get through.

I've recently found out that I can access the Times Archive on-line - you can call up original copies of the Times back to it's beginning. All you need is for your local council to subscribe to the Archive and then you just type in your library card number! Excellent for the genealogists.

[cazzz1975]

I love libraries too, I definately use mine

[eash]

I use mine too :-)

[Ethel]

Yes, there are some excellent websites available that would normally be fee paying.

The majority of people I see in my library are chidren doing their homework, mums with young children and pensioners. There seems to be very few people over 20 and under 55. My local library is really quite small but still has a wealth of up to date books for XP, Vista, Office and build your own pc books as well as the latest novels.

[Ethel]

:) It is the only thing I don't mind paying council tax for.

[Buenchico]

Hi Ethel!

I use my small local branch library just a few times a year. However that's only because I normally use the major branches of Suffolk libraries, in either Bury St Edmunds or Ipswich, which I get to quite often. (Often it's to look up an answer to an AB question!). If I simply want to browse the catalogue, or reserve a title, I'll normally do it online.

I'm also a member of Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire libraries. I've still got a ticket for Barnet libraries, from the days when I got my journalism qualification through evening classes at Barnet College, but I'm not sure if it's still valid. I also make use of the library facilities at the University of Essex from time to time.

Chris

[terambulan]

Only good for reference books....novels are so cheap & easier to carry on hols.

[Bathsheba]

I worked in libraries for over 30 years Ethel, and your question has been raised in many many meetings!
These days libraries don't use the number of books issued for their statistics, they now count users. The public computers are well-used, and as internet access is only available to "members" of the library, the registration figures are showing huge increases.

[Ethel]

Where would we be without them, Chris?

terambulan - novels aren't cheap when you read 6 or more a week. A buy a few paperbacks from charity shops to take on holiday and leave them behind.

[Ethel]

Bathsheba - I do miss those little tickets and cards from the 'good old days' and those drawers full of index cards to help find the book you wanted.

My librarians let me stamp my books myself - one of life's little pleasures. :)

[ChuckFickens]

I have not been in one for years, I used to be a massive reader of books as a child though and would normally be in my local library about 3 times a week..

I now buy a few paperbacks a month from tescos as they are so cheap and once they have been finished they normally get passed onto friends, I never see them back again but then I get a fair few different ones back to read by the same route.

when it comes to reference books I can normally either find what I need online or get work to pay for them if they are genuinely for work reasons (which is lucky when you see the price of some of the books on things like exchange)

[saxy_jag]

I work for a library service and, like Bathsheba, we constantly ask ourselves the same sections. We're winning, though, and numbers are increasing.

All sixteen of our libraries do the things you said, Ethel, although the libraries that offer tea and biscuits tend only to do so to the pensioners that get brought in on our minibus. We do a housebound service, too, and run two book buses for the kids as well as loads of other schemes for older kids - family workshops, study support and a forthcoming children's literature festival. In fact, our Children's Service manager (my boss, actually) has just been nominated a national reading hero and is off to number 10 very soon.

Our latest thing is sofas and magazines, where people can just come in and sit and read (or not, as they wish) a magazine or two.

If anyone hasn't discovered their library yet, give it a go. Public libraries have changed a lot in recent years and you'd be surprised how much they have to offer. Where else could you access the internet for free, and borrow top ten DVDs for a couple of quid a week? In the current, cash-strapped climate, it's got to be worth a look.

[Ethel]

Oh yes - I'd forgotten the cds and dvds too. :)

When I was housebound I had the mobile service - excellent.

[Ethel]

I do think you broaden your reading habits when you use a library - after all it costs nothing to borrow a book you are not sure you will enjoy, whereas you tend to be more selective if you are buying them

I always pick one book blindly - I have found some real gems that way that I would otherwise have not bothered with.

[ChuckFickens]

I think it's a shame that so few children these days see reading as a leisure activity that can be done for pleasure and the only time they open a book is, reluctantly, when school work forces them to do so.

[Bathsheba]

Ah yes Ethel! The Browne issue system! Now that was fun- until a junior knocked a whole tray of tickets on to the floor that had taken a couple of hours to sort! Happy days ;)

[cazzz1975]

there is always a gaggle of pensioners around the large print mills and boon, I like to read reference books , mainly because Im a geek but I do venture into fiction ville as well

[saxy_jag]

Another part of my job (which is mainly admin) is in the Reader Development section - reading groups, inter library loans, acquisitions, special promotions and collections etc. - which means I get to keep a crafty eye on what's coming in. I've often picked up something I was dealing with and reserved it for a read. I've found some great books that way, and discovered some great writers too.