A LOVE LETTER TO LIBRARIES

Photo by matthew Feeney on Unsplash

You know when your friend moves away and although you’ve always loved them, you appreciate them more? Who’s feeling like this about their library in pandemic times? Us, that’s who! Hollis and I are going to tell you a bit about our habits and why we use and love our particular libraries.

Yes, we can still access all the ebook and audio goodies. They have also been a treasure in these times but our libraries have been through thick and thin with us. All those times when we couldn’t get a book any other way, we requested it and ta da…there it was. When a book was so expensive we couldn’t justify it, there it was. When they bought something we requested, that’s the best feeling. Getting us something from another library in the district, no problem!

Micky here. My local library is in the small market town I live on the outskirts of. It’s a 15 minute walk from home, 2 minutes in the car. It has fantastic opening hours, lots of computer space, kids activities (I use to take my kids to story time and sing-a-long stuff), groups that meet there AND I used to have PhD supervision there with my supervisor who lives in the same area. The best thing about it is the range of YA, fantasy and sci-fi books, I love browsing the stacks. Biggest shoutout to Crompton Library!

Up until about three years ago you could hear me moaning a lot about the poor ebook and audio library services for my area. I don’t think they listened to me in particular, but they generally invested in the future of this kind of library media. We now have BorrowBox app which is okay but not as good as Libby or OverDrive, but it will do. We do however, have a pretty fab selection of books on ebook and audio, usually without a huge wait and they are renewable which I love. Here’s what I’ve borrowed lately (I didn’t get to them all) and what I’m on hold for.

Hollis, unlike many, has been blessed by the library gods pretty much from day one. Toronto has a ton of branches, intra-library own if your local is too small to carry a title at all times, and our OverDrive system is pretty topnotch. We might not always have something right away (though the turnaround time between new release and availability is generally quick, particularly for popular authors or buzzy titles) but the amount of books that get added each and every day? Astounding.


So tell us, are you a library user, either long-time or newly converted? Or are you a click-and-buy and to hell with potential wait times? Let us know!

4 thoughts on “A LOVE LETTER TO LIBRARIES”

  1. I feel you!!!! Libraries were closed the first three month of the lockdown and I was missing having access to library dearly. I get 90% of my books from the library at the moment, and I can’t imagine my life without libraries. It’s hard to imagine that there are countries that do not have the easy access as we have in the US.

    ~ Corina | The Brown Eyed Bookworm

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I feel this comment so hard. I could not have survived the last decade, much less the last year, without my Overdrive! very very lucky. are your libraries still open? I know with all these up and down waves things are probaby ever changing. – H

      Like

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