Stacey from Exceedingly Mundane has a posted the Question of the Day--this one is from July 5th but it is on a topic near and dear to my heart so I am participating a couple of days late!
OK, time for a Question of the Day: Do you have a library card? Do you use it? How often do you go, or when was the last time you visited your local library? About how many books a year do you get from the library? Does your spouse or kids go, do they have cards? Do your kids do the summer reading program? Or do you just prefer to buy your books and not mess with the library?
First I will re-post part of a previous entry I wrote a couple years ago. It shares such a happy memory of my childhood!
"I have such vivid summertime memories of getting deeply lost in a book, sitting on our front porch in the shade. Devouring books is what I did as a kid which I find rather interesing as I look back. Interesting because neither of my parents were big readers while I was growing up. They did not spend hours reading out loud to my sister and I. They did not help us pick out books at the library. In fact, trips to the library were pretty few and far between and I relied on my school library for the most part. Another childhood summer memory was being old enough to ride my bike to the library, stopping at the 7-11 on the way home for a slurpee....sigh....back when you could let your kids ride their bike somewhere other than just back and forth in front of your house.
The most wonderful summer of all was the summer of the bookmobile!! There was only one summer that there was one of those--before budget cuts, I an sure, brought that magical service to an end. Can you imagine anything more heavenly than a big truck that brought books right to you in your neighborhood. I wish they still had those--my boys would love it. Happy reading.....everyone should have a good book or two going during the lazy days of summer!"
Now, after that bit of nostalgia on to the question of the day! Yes...we have a library and yes we all have library cards. Everyone having their own cards sounds great in theory, but being the bookaholics that we are, and my lack of organizational skills at time, this multiple card thing has cost me some bucks as we have lost track of who has what out and when is it due???? We don't have a nice little small town library--our library is a county library and we just happen to live in the biggest county in the state.....thus their summer reading program really can't afford to give out very many super neat prizes--the sheer volume is too great.
My son signed up for the program, titled, "Get a Clue" and the first prize he can win is a free personal size pizza from Papa Murphys Pizza and the final prize is a little notepad with a built in calculator. (which are the same prizes they gave out last year). If you complete the goal your name goes in a drawing for a free laptop computer. Only 3 kids out of the whole county will be able to win one though,so the odds are pretty slim. He also signed up for the Barnes & Noble's summer reading program and for that one, after he reads 8 books he will win a free book.
Before I went back to work and was still home-schooling we went to the library sometimes as many as 3 times a week. Now we go maybe once a month. We own a lot of our own books and since discovering PaperBackSwap.com I find myself just ordering books from there--then I have no deadlines for when I finish a book. Another thing that has happened is our library got remodeled and it really isn't very pleasant to be in there. It is very retro '70s and very disorganized feeling. The chairs are oddly shaped and not comfortable to sit in. Also, if you just want a computer to look up books but don't need internet accesss, you have to find a computer that is intended for this purpose only and those ones you have to stand at to use! We still go, but I guess I just am resistant to change and miss our old comfortable library!
2 comments:
This is so great, Kim! I'd forgotten about the Book Mobile! Oh, I can still smell the books as we stepped on board. What a treat that was! Boy, can I relate about the library fines. I've actually put a 'hold' on my own library card, so that no one else in the family can use it. The kids would lose their cards or rack up fines and not be able to use them (my oldest son in particular). So they would request to use mine, and the librarian let them! I guess there are worse vices the kids could get into. But, hey, 5 cents a day adds up!
Hey Kim - thanks for stopping by my blog and for playing along to the "question of the day". Libraries, reading and books are near and dear to my heart too, so I love reading everyone's answers, as well as any personal stories. I, too, have fond memories of reading a lot growing up. Like you, my parents didn't read a lot nor do I remember them reading to me. Reading was always just a happy thing for me, a way to escape and visit places that I might never get to see, or pretend to be someone I might never get to be. :) Where I live, we never had bookmobiles, but I bet those were fun! And the same with Paperbackswap - I've resisted joining for the simple reason that I hate going to the post office and standing in line. Now, getting books in the mail is great (like movies, we love Netflix!). Ah, books any which way are wonderful to me.
Great post, I'm so glad you played along :)
Happy Reading!!!
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