10 on Tuesday - Libraries!

Carole's topic today is 10 reasons to use the public library.  This is totally a topic I can get behind, as a former patron of the bookmobile and daughter of a children's librarian.  Actually, I'm having trouble figuring out where to begin.

1.  Not only are they "free" (in that you are paying for them anyway), but borrowing a book seems like an enviromentally sensitive solution.

2.  Story Hours.  When I was home with La, when she was little, these were such a great way to get out of the house and do something fun (for free!).  She was at an age where I probably got more out of it than she did. 

3.  Summer Reading Clubs.  I really had a lot of fun with these when I was a kid, and my kids always sign up for them eagerly too.

4.  Drawing/Puzzle table.  This is the girls' favorite feature at our library.

5.  Hold.  At our library the best way to get THE book you want is to put it on hold.  It's always a cheap thrill when the email comes and says that your materials are ready.

6.  Randomness.  As much fun as it is to get the thing you're looking for, the adventure of finding a book that just "looks good" is excellent also.  This has many applications:  the regular fiction stacks, the picture books, the dewey decimal section that has your favorite topic, the new releases, the books on CD.

7.  books on CD!  I now have a CD player in my car and books on CD from the library is like the best thing ever.

8.  The artifacts.  One of the things that I loved at the Stuart library was the high school yearbooks from the year my mom graduated.  Turns out one of our friends' mom was in the same class as my mom, but went to Martin County High.  Also, they had these books of newspapers from the 30's.  Those were really cool too. 

9.  The librarians:  I have no idea how they do it, but they are always friendly and helpful.

10.  It's just a good place to find something you'd never thought you'd find.  For instance, I was stunned to find (in elementary school) that comic strips were put together into books and you could find them in the library.  I borrowed a lot of Family Circus books back then.