I just finished reading The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow and in it the MC runs a black market library bringing people books to allow them to escape the horrors of their reality. It was only natural that this month’s blog post should be about my own love for libraries and how much I am missing them being open. So here are five reasons why I love libraries.
1. Free Books
The obvious first reason I love libraries is the free books. What other place can you walk into and fill a reusable bag to the brim with books and not pay a dime? Growing up, my mom would take my sisters and I to our local library about once a week and we would get so many books of all different types of genres! Now that I’m older I have a more realistic idea of how many books I can finish in a week or two, but still get a few new books to devour each time I go which has probably saved me A TON of money in the long run. Plus, if you don’t like a book no big deal just return it and get a different one.
2. Free Quiet Place to Write
I love a good Starbucks or local coffee shop to write in as much as every other writer, but those caramel lattes start to get costly if you go a lot. Though the library (generally) doesn’t have coffee, it is free and quiet. I get a lot of writing work done just being out of my house and away from distractions (the tv). The library is the perfect place to find a quiet spot and just focus on what you really need to get done, but may have been procrastinating.
3. The Book Sales
Oh boy, I get a thrill when I discover a library is having a book sale because library book sales are (generally) different than other book store sales in that it’s fill a bag for five dollars. You heard right, fill a giant brown paper grocery bag full of books for only five dollars. If you purchased most of the books you can find at those sales individually they would cost way more than $5.00. I’ve found some really good books at these sales too, sometimes complete and barely used series.
4. The Kids Summer Reading Program
I don’t know if you were as much a book nerd as I was growing up (still am), but every summer my local library had a kids summer reading program and it was my jam. The program was were you could win prizes for reading a certain amount of books. Me, already an avid book reader, loved this program. Not only did I get to continue reading all the time, but now I got prizes for it, double win! If you have kids I highly recommend looking into these programs at your library.
5. Free Online Resources
My library has a ton of online resources such as: ebooks, classes, news, magazines, homework help, audiobooks, video streaming, and music. I used to utilize the libraries online databases a lot when I was working on homework for school. Check out what online resources your local library has to offer!
Libraries have always been a big part of my life and whenever I move finding the local library is one of the first things I do! I am sad they aren’t open right now because of COVID-19, but a lot of them have set up COVID friendly resources including online resources, curbside book pickups, and wifi hotspot locations. Check out your local library’s website to see what they are doing!
Also, thank you to all the librarians out there who keep the wonderful world of public libraries operating I really appreciate all you do!
Sign up for my email list to be alerted when I post more fun things!