SMF

I enjoy reading, and I do a lot of it - about half a dozen books each week, mostly fiction, all from our local city and county library branches. Like many, I bemoan the disintegration of our infrastructures and the general incompetence and inefficiency of government, but I have to admit that here we have great library systems. Thursdays are the weekly errand days for my wife and me, and our stops always include the county library branch, which has the largest selection of books and allows them to be taken for 4 weeks, and the city branch, which lets us take movie DVDs for 2 weeks (I know: "Who even uses DVDs any more?..." - but they get new release movies just a couple months after they're at the theaters, and we still use the DVD player). I always have 40 or more titles on reserve at each library, just waiting to be activated. The county library even has free interlibrary loans, so that if they do not have a particular book in their system, they'll search other systems countrywide, and if they find the book they'll get it for me. And if they can't find it anywhere, they send me nice email note apologizing but saying they tried. But what got me thinking about all of this was a book I just got through the interlibrary loan system from Shelby, Montana, which on the inside of its cover has a checkout sheet for handwritten due dates! Living in a relatively large city makes me forget sometimes that other places sometimes still do things the old-fashioned way.

on the opposite side of things, apps such as Libby and OverDrive allow you to loan ebooks, listen to audiobooks and watch films etc from your local library or a consortium of them. Also, several of the larger libraries, NYC for instance, allow out of state patrons to access their catalogue electronically for a modest annual fee...i think $50

I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t been to my local library for a very long time. I don’t read as many books as OP does, just one a month (usually history or biography), so I buy the book I want to read; it’s not an e-book, however. Ironically, my wife’s first job was as a librarian for the Hampshire County Council, England, where she was in charge of the mobile library.

With the amount of public domain ebooks (most all classics, e.g.) available for free, I have not borrowed from a public library in at least 5 years. A few weeks ago I went in to take out a book or two, and was informed by the librarian on duty that since I didn't have a card any more I couldn't borrow books without paying a new "resident's fee" because I was deemed a "non-user" of the system. Boy did that make my blood boil, and also make me second think around using our system here in Ottawa.

Contrast that with the little local library in Ocean Park Maine, were we holiday every summer. Anyone who has come into town has full access to the library catalogue for a measly $1.00 for the season. If you are a local resident, access is entirely free. That makes sense to me, and we often pay the $1 just to participate in the funding of the library itself.

Go figure.

This reminded me of a time when I had a job that allowed me to travel throughout the state. I've always enjoyed browsing among the shelves and was in the habit of visiting the local libraries whenever I could. They would always have a different assortment of my favorite authors, rare books, or new releases in stock, so if I wanted a certain book that was checked out or missing in one little library, I would usually find what I wanted in the next county.

We live near a university and it has a great library, with online title searches available to the public. The coolest feature of it is an extensive archive of newspapers on microfilm going back to the late 1700s. The ads are fun to browse for what are now collectible antiques. If you buy one of the special mag stripe cards for the readers you can print off photocopies.
It's a great way to kill a rainy (or snowy) day.

Sorry I missed this thread when it was originally posted.

I am envious, John, that you have that much time to read so many books a week. I am lucky if I get a half hour a day to read. Many days I don't have time at all. I am still reading Diamonds Are Forever for several weeks now and that is a short book.

In the Evenings after dinner I do take time to read the news and various forums though.

Chris

feel the reading pain, chris

its not a lot of time for sure, but 15 minutes a day i set aside to read/listen to a book. My read pile is starting to grow

clive

Our local Maine library does much the same thing John. But I must confess I don't use it very much. If I want to read something I generally buy a copy so that I can make notes in it. I just don't have time to read for pleasure anymore other than the odd entertainment that I find in my subscriptions that I read for my avocation which I was told years ago I can't discuss here.