Nonfiction Book Reviews

“As budgets get tighter, libraries work harder” scream the headlines.

Or, at least they would if I were the one running the newspaper.

But the truth is, our library has been slammed lately, and I believe very strongly that it’s because of the economic mess we’ve found ourselves in.  I thought that as an “insider,” I would offer some advice to readers who might be looking at adding a little more library time into their lives.

One of the biggest areas we’ve seen growth in is computer usage.  And unfortunately, although we have had our computer usage go through the roof, the amount of computers we have available to the public has stayed the same. I know that this is frustrating to a lot of patrons, because before they had access pretty much any time they wanted it, and now, they are often waiting in lines in order to get to a computer.

The problem is that most libraries, ours included, are supported by homeowners’ taxes.  As the cost of houses has gone down dramatically, tax revenue has decreased dramatically.  At the same time, add in the fact that more people are trying to save money by using the library more, and you are hit with a double-whammy: More users, but less money.  Yay us.  So even though we are in need of more computers to serve patrons better, we are not scheduled to get any in the near future.  If you see that your local library is in the same conundrum, think of me and try to have a little patience with them, okay?

So the long and short of it is, most libraries are probably going to have less computers available than would be considered optimal. My suggestion for anyone in that boat who might be reading this blog: Every library is going to be different, of course, but our slow times tend to happen early in the morning and late at night.

We open at 9:00, and usually don’t get our first huge rush of people (where it might be difficult to get access to a computer) until somewhere between 10:30 and noon.  It lasts until late afternoon, when it starts to taper off again.  Again, it depends on your area, but your best bet is to hit the library first thing in the morning - you’re more likely to have little to no lines then.

The other huge uptick in numbers has been in items being checked out - books, magazines, and movies.  I’d say that this is (at least in part) due to the fact that people don’t want to pay money to buy the movies or books (or rent the movies from Blockbuster) but instead want to save money by getting them for free from the library.  I’m right there with them - I rarely buy a book from Barnes and Noble.  I used to spend a good chunk of money there every month, but now, I just look to see if my library has ordered it in, and if so, I put it on hold.

For anyone who is also trying to check out more books or movies from the library instead of renting or buying them: If your library doesn’t have a great selection, look into the interlibrary program.  Our library offers this service for free, but from what I’ve observed, that’s not standard.  But whether it’s free or carries a very low cost (usually just a couple of dollars) the interlibrary program is a much cheaper way to get your hands on a book than going down to the bookstore and buying it.

If it is a new enough book, you might also want to inquire about ordering the book in.  My library has a quick form you fill out, and the library decides whether the book is popular enough to bring in.  Usually we try hard to fulfill any patron requests.  Once the book is brought in, the patron who requested it receives the book first, so again, you get to read a new book, without paying anything for it.

This is also a good time to reevaluate your magazine subscriptions.  My library has a subscription to a large variety of magazines, and they can be checked out by patrons for a week at a time, and renewed for another week.  How often do you really reread your Oprah magazine, anyway?  Is it really worth the annual cost?  Again, if your library doesn’t carry a specific magazine that you really enjoy, request that they add it in.  You might be surprised.

Last but definitely not least, if you’re into audio books, you might be in for a huge surprise at your library.  We offer free downloads of audio books from our library website, and the books are good for three weeks on your computer, at which point the file is frozen and will not play again.  This allows you to download a book on the spot, listen to it as normal, and never have to worry about the CD’s skipping, etc, or wait in line for a physical copy of the audio book to be returned to the library for you to pick up.  This is a fairly common service for a lot of libraries, so make sure to ask your reference librarian to see if something like that is offered at your library.

I’m dead-beat tired (all these extra patrons have got me running my legs off at work!) so I’m heading to bed.  I hope this was of some use to someone.  If anyone has any ideas of a way to save money by using the library more, feel free to leave a comment below.  I always welcome comments.

Until then,

Havs

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