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Do you use your library?
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Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice)
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Nov 16, 2015 09:47AM
My dad is a library assistant so I use the public library regularly. There is a mobile one that stops in my neighbourhood once a fortnight. During the school hours (since I don't go to school anymore) I'm one of the youngest users there. The majority of users are elderly residents. I always keep a look out in case they drop anything or have mobility issues. I like to help people. My dad has had to break up a disagreement over Mills and Boon Romances involving two elderly ladies who use the mobile library! It's very effective for those who have mobility issues or live in rural areas. I wish they didn't scrap it, for those people, it's their way of social life and community.
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If anyone is interested, here is a video (with subtitles) about the Nordic library mobile in Lapland. It visits three countries and has books at least in six languages.http://www.kirjastokaista.fi/fln-libr...
There is also one library boat on the southern coast.
Alice wrote: "My dad is a library assistant so I use the public library regularly. There is a mobile one that stops in my neighbourhood once a fortnight. During the school hours (since I don't go to school anymo..."Haha that Mills and Boon fight sounds epic.
Jason wrote: "Alice wrote: "My dad is a library assistant so I use the public library regularly. There is a mobile one that stops in my neighbourhood once a fortnight. During the school hours (since I don't go t..."It was, they were arguing over the pictures on the front cover as well as which ones to read!
Jason wrote: "Old people are hilarious."They are.
Btw, I found another documentary, this time about the Library of Parliament, when it was celebrating 100 years of being an open library in 2013, and the importance of openness and libraries in general to the democracy. It also explains why there still is a statue of the Russian Tsar in the middle of Helsinki.http://www.kirjastokaista.fi/eduskunn...
I think the "funniest" part was when it was revealed that their head librarian after the war had such a poor memory that they had forgot to remove the banned books (I presume by the Allied Control Commission) like they were supposed to...
On that site there are also documentaries about libraries Tanzania and Namibia that I found interesting.
http://www.kirjastokaista.fi/the-stre...
http://www.kirjastokaista.fi/library-...
I have borrowed ebooks from the library in the last six months but can't remember the last time I walked into the building. I use ftp to get most of my books for free currently.
A client told me that she didn't like her therapist as she was old. At least 50! The funny thing was that she said she got on better with me. Let's just say I'm over 50. I think I feel complimented but found it hilarious that 50 is old.
Was that in a library, Pat? Yesterday I read that some libraries offer here a "literary personal trainer". If some people want to find something different to read, they can ask them and they collect maybe 20 books based on the client's wishes.
Nope, I work in mental health. There is a book in our library that is called something like..... If you liked this author you may like these other authors. It used to work well for myself and a friend.
I just moved to one of my countries bigest cities, and one week later their library is awarded as the best in Germany! It is an amazing place with 3D printers, DVDs, music, and books galore. I can't wait to get my library card, although I ghasped when I saw the fee for it. I was used to paying ten bucks for my library, now it will be 38! But I'm a power user, I should get my money's worth out of it.
Sorry for the typos! I'm on my phone and it does crazy stuff when I type English :/
There is a fee for using library? Is it a monthly or yearly fee? Ours doesn't have a 3D printer, I think, but the new Helsinki Centre library will have a sauna, of course.
Mod
In Germany you have to pay a yearly fee to get a library card that will let you check out any medium for free. Reservations usually go extra, but the rest is free. Of course you could just go to the library without paying anything, but if you want to take things home, you need to get a card.In Cologne, where I live now, the library consists of many branches in different parts of the city so that every citizen has access to at least one.
Sam wrote: "In Germany you have to pay a yearly fee to get a library card that will let you check out any medium for free. Reservations usually go extra, but the rest is free. Of course you could just go to th..."I've never lived in a library district that cost money to join. Where I live now, everything is free. Even interlibrary loans- they don't even charge for postage. We can take out 50 physical books and 35 ebooks per card. It's open 7 days a week, but due to budget issues, they've cut back on hours- they used to be open until 9 pm on the weekends when I first moved here. And they also don't buy as many books now. They used to buy as many as 500+ copies of popular new releases. I remember a wait of over a month for a new release was unusual and as requests stacked up, you would see via the computer system, the library ordering more and more copies until it could meet demand.
The sad thing is that all it would have cost to maintain that level of service was for a bond issue to pass- the average cost would have been less than $20 per year. (Not per person, because it's funded by property taxes, so per house.) The tragedy is that if only homeowners (who actually pay the taxes) would have been allowed to vote, the bond would have overwhelmingly passed. Stupid, stupid people voting against getting something for nothing.
Mod
Service always has been, and remains excellent. It is also a fabulous building you really want to go to as well and there is room to sit, read, browse, look at the papers and so on.
I am in there most weeks either collecting or returning.
Mod
The children's bit is quite nice and well stocked, and we are there a lot.
It saddens me that the poorer areas have the most run-down/cut facilities. The council have just decided/been forced to to close half the (extremely well-attended) children's centres in the borough too. Wrong place for politics, I know, but it makes me so angry :(
I have moved in my current city 3 months ago and have yet to try my local library. I have browsed its online catalogue, though, and found it quite good, even if not as good as my ex-library in my ex-city. However, I am trying to read books from my "real" TBR pile, so I probably won't visit it for a while...
Mod
Everything at my library is free. I live in a small town, but they communicate with neighboring libraries and you can request books they may not have.My work allows me an online library subscription where I can access University libraries and get ebooks or journal articles.
I love my library. Reserving books online for 50p each is just so easy, and on a recent visit, I found 'A Year in the Life of Victorian Britain,' by Felicity Trotman, sitting on the shelf on day of publication. Divine joy :)
PS - WOW, thanks to reading through this thread, I just discovered that our library now does ebook loans! Last time I asked, they had no idea if they would be offering them and when... Wonderful :)
Has someone heard about self-service libraries? There was a news story about them yesterday. People can use their library cards to get in and to borrow and return books at any time (or almost). They are even planning a service where a librarian in another library can help people to find the right shelf.
Mod
Our library got people working in it 10-18 every day (10-14 on sat and closed on sundays). If we need to use the library outside of these opening hours, we can use our card (the yellow card - a danish thing) in the hours 7-22 every day to open it ourselves. Here we can deliver books, pick up reserved, use the computers, machines, just sit and read, use the toilet and generally just use the library as you else would - other than getting help from the people working there.
This one is a mix of complete self-service, and service - which I really like!
Paul wrote: "Most of my libraries are self service using automatic machines to check books in and out."Yes, those are common but there are still people working there.
I don't think we have had them that long, Trine. It requires all kinds of supervision equipment and for example my library is open from 10 to 20 on most days, so it hasn't really been needed. I think they have or are going to have them in smaller villages that doesn't have a main library with a librarian.
Mod
https://www.change.org/p/john-whittin...
Paul wrote: "I currently have 60 books out from the library!"Oh Paul, 60? I thought my 12 was excessive. It is certainly encouraging me to read more though, and reserving special favourites ensures that I am enjoying everything I read. Long live our wonderful library service!
Sadly our local council has just announced plans to slash the library budget. 14 out of 15 libraries in danger of closing unless volunteers come in to run them over the next 4 years. So wrong.
In a tiny village near us the old disused red phone box has been turned into a community library, with donated books filling floor to ceiling shelving. What a brilliant idea! You're asked to only borrow one book at a time.
We have a couple of those in our area too, Joy! I love the randomness of those public shelves. You never know what you get.
Mod
Joy wrote: "In a tiny village near us the old disused red phone box has been turned into a community library"One Finn made a sauna out of an old phone box. I guess because... why not?
Paul wrote: "I hope they frosted the glass!"Nope, and it's mainly see-through glass anyway.
http://www.teuva.fi/kulttuuri/saunat/... (SFW)
Joy wrote: "In a tiny village near us the old disused red phone box has been turned into a community library, with donated books filling floor to ceiling shelving. What a brilliant idea! You're asked to only b..."If they did that round here somebody would trash it or set fire to it.
Mod
https://www.librarieswest.org.uk/clie...?
I now have a huge catalogue of books to choose from! :-)
Nice one. Off to the library on Saturday to see what I can find.
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