Our local library is the tiniest space in a village in the UK. We go to rhyme time with my baby. We check out books, audiobooks and any magazine we could possibly think of. The larger libraries do knit and craft clubs which I’d love to some days utilise. Because of the online spaces we as a family use the library daily.
Ahhh, a wonderful post about such a wonderful resource - the library! I am a huge fan and frequent visitor of our local library, and I felt myself nodding my head in agreement as I read your article. The library photo you included is stunning! Thank you for such a lovely post.
Libraries are the most magical places. When I travel I always check out the local library (Austin, TX might be my favorite). I have such incredible memories of sitting down as a kid in my local library, choosing books, making my way through an entire shelf. As a teen I checked out stacks of CDs. I remember in the early pandemic days when we learned the library would be closing I went through like it was Super Market Sweep grabbing books from the shelves, it was the only thing I stockpiled. Earlier today I was nosing around the Ohioana Library site and came across this: https://www.ohioana.org/resources/the-ohio-literary-trail-2/ I absolutely want to make my way through this list!
I still regularly check out and reserve music CDs! And I will often use the purchase request function in the catalog to suggest music/books that I think the library should buy if they don't have something. Like new items that might be more obscure or older titles that they're low on copies. I also use the library for their printer and scanner frequently! We don't have either at home so it's great having that available. I used the scanner and printer for help in making Christmas photo crafts and homemade Valentines!
I love our library. I recently was thinking about why our cute little neighborhood with a greenbelt and a great school wasn't working for me, and realized that in part it's because for the first time in my life I can't walk to the library. I mostly use to support my preferred reading approach (one print, one kindle, and one audiobook simultaneously), but also for the kids events and just as a place for the kids to play and kill time on a slow weekend afternoon. They're always so excited by the play areas, art set ups, and books. I have checked out little STEM backpacks, which have STEM projects the kids can do one time and return (which is as many times as they're willing to do any project). Lastly, every time I hit a paywall on a news article, I go to the library website and see if I can read it through there.
I grew up being able to walk to the library, went to college where I could walk to two libraries, and then for awhile as an adult I lived just a few streets from the library...I MISS IT SO MUCH! It's not even a long drive to get to one from my house, but just the idea of knowing the library is within walking distance is so nice.
I love my library system!! And I always think of you when my family gets a movie from the library -- which is often! my son in particular loves to check out movies and then get holds put on my card because he forgot to put the disc back in the case lolol. My friend works in the library system, and one thing she turned me onto lately is using Libby to read magazine articles that are behind a paywall sometimes. For example, I finally caved and wanted to read that whole viral thing about the Cormac McCarthy muse and the guy who wrote about her, but it was in a publication I didn't subscribe to (maybe The Atlantic? but don't quote me). So I just searched up that issue of The Atlantic on my Libby app and voila! I was reading all about it for free!
the amount of times I almost forget to put a disc back in the movie case...
Thank you for reminding me about the paywalled articles...I always forget about this because I am EXTREMELY lazy and will just give up on something that has a paywall, like, immediately.
I LOVE the library. My favorite thing from our "stuffbrary" are the novelty cake pans, because I do not need to BUY a Power Rangers cake pan for a child's requested cake, I can borrow it for free! And the summer reading program! My reluctant reader was reading Dogman all summer to earn the trampoline park pass. Just this weekend, my daughter wanted to pop down and get the second Princess Diaries book, only to discover as we walked past the DVDs that they had the original Jumanji that dad's been wanting to show them. Libraries are the BEST.
I love my local library in the south of England! They even have newspapers, and coffee and tea, as well as board games and puzzles. What’s not to love!
My niece loves Yoto! My sister-in-law got the original machine and cards through a neighborhood free thing but I am stunned at what new cards cost. Will definitely be looking into the library for options!
I LOVE the library! I'm also in Columbus so you know we're blessed with a particularly good system. I'm actually working on a library themed post for Valentine's Day 😍 And yes, I DO walk around the house bragging about how much money I've saved via the library. When they started tracking that on checkout receipts it really added value to my library experience.
I moved three years ago, and I still have not made a card for my local library (I know, I KNOW). But I use the Libby app of my former local library still heavily, for ebooks and audioboooks, and my husband takes advantage of kanopy.
Our local library is the tiniest space in a village in the UK. We go to rhyme time with my baby. We check out books, audiobooks and any magazine we could possibly think of. The larger libraries do knit and craft clubs which I’d love to some days utilise. Because of the online spaces we as a family use the library daily.
Ahhh, a wonderful post about such a wonderful resource - the library! I am a huge fan and frequent visitor of our local library, and I felt myself nodding my head in agreement as I read your article. The library photo you included is stunning! Thank you for such a lovely post.
Libraries are the most magical places. When I travel I always check out the local library (Austin, TX might be my favorite). I have such incredible memories of sitting down as a kid in my local library, choosing books, making my way through an entire shelf. As a teen I checked out stacks of CDs. I remember in the early pandemic days when we learned the library would be closing I went through like it was Super Market Sweep grabbing books from the shelves, it was the only thing I stockpiled. Earlier today I was nosing around the Ohioana Library site and came across this: https://www.ohioana.org/resources/the-ohio-literary-trail-2/ I absolutely want to make my way through this list!
Thank you for sharing the Ohioana link...I hadn't heard of that and it's so fun! And I love seeing Wagnalls on the list!
I still regularly check out and reserve music CDs! And I will often use the purchase request function in the catalog to suggest music/books that I think the library should buy if they don't have something. Like new items that might be more obscure or older titles that they're low on copies. I also use the library for their printer and scanner frequently! We don't have either at home so it's great having that available. I used the scanner and printer for help in making Christmas photo crafts and homemade Valentines!
I used to check out SO many CDs in high school! I love and am not surprised that you make homemade Valentines...that's so cool!
our local library has a program where you can rent American Girl dolls, which is just SO COOL I can't even with it!
OMG. This is, so far, the best and most surprising non-traditional library item.
I love our library. I recently was thinking about why our cute little neighborhood with a greenbelt and a great school wasn't working for me, and realized that in part it's because for the first time in my life I can't walk to the library. I mostly use to support my preferred reading approach (one print, one kindle, and one audiobook simultaneously), but also for the kids events and just as a place for the kids to play and kill time on a slow weekend afternoon. They're always so excited by the play areas, art set ups, and books. I have checked out little STEM backpacks, which have STEM projects the kids can do one time and return (which is as many times as they're willing to do any project). Lastly, every time I hit a paywall on a news article, I go to the library website and see if I can read it through there.
I grew up being able to walk to the library, went to college where I could walk to two libraries, and then for awhile as an adult I lived just a few streets from the library...I MISS IT SO MUCH! It's not even a long drive to get to one from my house, but just the idea of knowing the library is within walking distance is so nice.
I love my library system!! And I always think of you when my family gets a movie from the library -- which is often! my son in particular loves to check out movies and then get holds put on my card because he forgot to put the disc back in the case lolol. My friend works in the library system, and one thing she turned me onto lately is using Libby to read magazine articles that are behind a paywall sometimes. For example, I finally caved and wanted to read that whole viral thing about the Cormac McCarthy muse and the guy who wrote about her, but it was in a publication I didn't subscribe to (maybe The Atlantic? but don't quote me). So I just searched up that issue of The Atlantic on my Libby app and voila! I was reading all about it for free!
the amount of times I almost forget to put a disc back in the movie case...
Thank you for reminding me about the paywalled articles...I always forget about this because I am EXTREMELY lazy and will just give up on something that has a paywall, like, immediately.
I LOVE the library. My favorite thing from our "stuffbrary" are the novelty cake pans, because I do not need to BUY a Power Rangers cake pan for a child's requested cake, I can borrow it for free! And the summer reading program! My reluctant reader was reading Dogman all summer to earn the trampoline park pass. Just this weekend, my daughter wanted to pop down and get the second Princess Diaries book, only to discover as we walked past the DVDs that they had the original Jumanji that dad's been wanting to show them. Libraries are the BEST.
Cake pans! So fun.
I love my local library in the south of England! They even have newspapers, and coffee and tea, as well as board games and puzzles. What’s not to love!
I love the idea of puzzles at a library!
My niece loves Yoto! My sister-in-law got the original machine and cards through a neighborhood free thing but I am stunned at what new cards cost. Will definitely be looking into the library for options!
They are so expensive!! Definitely nice to be able to borrow them.
I LOVE the library! I'm also in Columbus so you know we're blessed with a particularly good system. I'm actually working on a library themed post for Valentine's Day 😍 And yes, I DO walk around the house bragging about how much money I've saved via the library. When they started tracking that on checkout receipts it really added value to my library experience.
I moved three years ago, and I still have not made a card for my local library (I know, I KNOW). But I use the Libby app of my former local library still heavily, for ebooks and audioboooks, and my husband takes advantage of kanopy.