Ten on Tuesday - 3/29/2011 - Support Your Local Library

I wanted to get this post done last night, but my attention was required elsewhere...

This week's topic via Carole is Ten Reasons to Use the Public Library:
1. You are already paying for it through your tax dollars....Get your money's worth.
2. They have tons of books...so you don't have to go out and buy any and your house can stay clutter free. (Merry Karma is into clutter freeness.) Not that books are clutter, but after you read a book, how many times do you read it again? And if you do want to read it again - it will be waiting for you at the library.  A cool thing is to check out a knitting book that you are thinking about buying to see if you really need it in your personal library, or if knowing it is available at the public library if you need it is good enough.  Also - if they don't have a particular book for which you are looking, they can hook you up through inter-library loans and get the book from another library.
3. There are tons of magazines and newspapers (aka periodicals) you can go read there. You don't have to blow your budget with subscribing to multiple periodicals. And what happens to those periodicals at home after you read them anyway? Either they get recycled or thrown away (horrors!) or they just pile up around the house (double horrors!)...that clutter thing again.
4. Want to read a book and knit at the same time?  They have audio books that make it easier.
5. Quit wasting your money on renting or buying DVDs. The library will let you borrow theirs and there are no late fees if you don't bring them back the next day.  (There are late fees if you don't bring them back by the due date - but they give you a longer time than the video store does.)
6. Is your computer in the shop and you need to check e-mail or see Merry Karma's latest knitting projects? Well, hop on over to your local library where they have computers available for patrons to use.
7. Need to look up your roots? Most libraries have extensive genealogy departments that can help you find out if you were one of Thomas Jefferson's illegitimate offspring....or just maybe who your great-great-great-grandparents were.
8. How about those children's programs?  I remember taking The Kid when he was itty bitty and there would be puppet shows, Miss Mickey would read a story and she would also lead the singing of Skinnamarink at the end.  Then he and I would go check out more books to read until the next week when we would return.  They used to have a tree house where we climbed up and had a pic nic a time or two.
9. They have book clubs and free classes.  I went to a seminar/class about crock-pot cooking not too long ago and got some good information about safe food temperatures, as well as some new recipes.
10.  The librarians are nice and informative people who can help you with just about anything.  In the age of Google, we sometimes forget that, but the human touch is really important.

And don't forget to honor someone you love with a donation to your local library...those tax dollars don't go as far as they used to.

MK out.

(Image was borrowed from the Diluth, MN public library website.)