Thursday, April 08, 2010

A Very Late Weekly Geeks

I really had intended to do this week's Weekly Geeks earlier in the week, but then I forgot.  So here is it better late than never, right?

The topic this week is libraries.

I don't know how I would have gotten through childhood without my library.  For several years in late elementary school and early junior high, we went to the library once a week as a family.  Like now, I always came home with more books than I could realistically read.  Some things haven't changed, I guess.

I had a shelf in my bookcase devoted to library books.  I had them arranged by due date, and I'd read the ones with the closest due date first.  I also had them arranged in order of page number, figuring that shorter books would be easier to get through by the due date.  Of course, I'd only get through half of my books, so I'd have to renew the rest.  Plus I'd check out more, so I'd wind up with more books than I could get through again.

It was a vicious cycle that I never wanted to see end.

Of course, I was buying or being given books, too.  But they wouldn't get read in favor of the library books because I could read the books I owned if I ever caught up on library books.  Like that would happen.

Somewhere late in Jr. High I stopped going to the library quite so much, although I still used it some for pleasure reading.  But I was finally trying to read the stuff I owned that I hadn't read yet.

Now a days, I buy more books than I can realistically read.  Unfortunately, much of what I read would be hard to find in a library, too.  And I've gotten spoiled by having a book to read whenever I feel like it without having to go to the library to get it or request it far enough in advance if I need it through interlibrary loan.

But in the last year I have started using the library a bit more again.  I probably got two dozen books from the library this last year, specifically kids' books I wanted to read.  It's a small dent in my reading budget, but it's a nice start.

Maybe I will turn to the library more in the coming years.

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