Do you have a library card?

[mimic]

I got one when I was 7 or 8 and still have it. There's no expiration date on it, so maybe it would still work. Course, it's a four hour drive to that particular library now....

 

[Guitarded]

I got my first library card in years about a month or two ago. The first books I've checked out in years are also a month or two overdue.

 

[Listener4]

I have a card. Don't use it that often.

 

[indranee]

I've had many.

 

[JoeZhang]

I have a card, I use it to take out ebooks from home, never actually visit the library.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I have both a Huntington Beach Public Library and an alumni library card (I only use the HB one frequently, though, since it's nearby). The Huntington Beach Central Library is pretty large and in the middle of a beautiful 350 acre park, and there are several smaller libraries around the city as well. It has a huge four-story atrium reading room full of tropical trees, fountains, and waterfalls that is a very relaxing place to read or study, and there's a 300-seat movie theater as well where they do film festivals.

You can order all the books or DVD/Blu-ray (including new releases) they have in-stock at all the libraries online, and they have an extensive used book store (also available online or in the library itself) as well that I like to check out each time. Their full research databases and student resources are also available online.

 

[CmdrAJD]

I use mine fairly regularly. Our library loans our Wii games, which my son loves. He and my daughter also read a fair amount while my wife can rip through several books a week. I don't have a lot of free time to read unfortunately, but I usually have a book or two out at a time.

 

[comsol]

I am actually surprised at the number of people that still have library cards.

Same here. I guess college students having them makes quite a bit of sense but I'm surprised at how many others still have, and use, them. Wouldn't have called that, again with so much information being readily available on the internets.

I've worked in public libraries in one capacity or another for over 30 years. I was just remembering the other day that people were predicting back then the imminent demise of public libraries due to the rise of new technology (which back then was microfiche). The predictions haven't changed, only the technology, and public libraries are still here and going strong.

It's the same at the Library that I work at as well. Our circulation stats have generally been going up year after year for the past several years that I know of, both before and during the current economic downturn (although I haven't seen any for the past several months - it may have leveled off a bit). Fortunately the community that i work in is very literate and extremely supportive of us. Needless to say, I have a library card - but i haven't actually used the physical card in years.

 

[TrickyDickie]

My wife and I just got back from the local library which we have been patronizing for just under a month. We have had a consistently bad experience with libraries and it is definitely continuing.

We returned seasons 2 and 3 of Supernatural on the same day. First, they said that season 2 had never been returned. My wife walked 6 feet away from the main desk and plucked it off the shelf where it was waiting to be taken out again. That was a few days ago. Today, I got ready to check a couple of books out and come to find out that they said season 3 was overdue. So that never got checked back in when I brought it back, either. My wife checked the shelf and that was not there.

Let them try to charge me for it. They will not get a nickel from me for something that I brought back several days before it was due.

Also, in just this short time there have been two instances in which they have had holds listed on my account for items that I had already taken out days ago.

In the past, we have been less than pleased to witness librarians shouting at children for unpaid fifteen-cent fines.

Seems like some libraries could use some cleaning up.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I have a library card for my county library (one of the burb counties of Atlanta proper), but I have not used it in ages because in recent years I have not needed to research anything that could not be researched pretty easily on the net. The only topic that, IMO, is more comprehensively covered by the Cobb Library system than by the internet is Civil War/Confederate History. And since I do not have any History of the Confederacy projects on my books right now...well, there is no point in going to the library.

I'm not even sure if that library card is valid any more, it's been so long.

Truly, though, the Atlanta-area public library systems are pretty godawful - one step up from a paperback novel exchange, only with due dates and fines. With that one exception for Confederate History in Cobb.

The best place to go in town if you are doing hard-core research of any other kind is the Emory University Library, and since I'm not a student, I can't get a library card there. Nevertheless, if I had some hard core research to do, that would be where I'd go.

 

[Capn Flukie]

Yep, I use it occasionally.