Becca S.
Yelp
In the past six months, I have learned to love the library again.
Can we talk about the fact that you can get books for free? Not just books, but DVDs and Blu-Rays. Not just movies, but seasons of TV shows. I don't even have to go in and peruse the aisles (which, if I wanted to for movies, would still be awesome because they have SHELVES of them). I can just sign online, request everything I want, and then they send me an e-mail when the item is held for me.
Yes, you need to wait sometimes for popular items. But, I just watched the first four seasons of True Blood without waiting at all (except for the DVDs to be shipped from another library), and I just have to be on a long holds list for the most recent season. Can we just stop for a minute and acknowledge how amazing this is?
Books and TV seasons can be borrowed for 3 weeks. DVDs and Blu-Rays can be borrowed for a week. Because of this, and the fact that I usually tear through movies and books, I've been making a habit of just stopping by the library once a week to return everything and pick up my more recent holds (holds are only for 1 week). The timing works out really well, and if I make sure I always go on the same day of the week, it decreases my chances of turning something in late and getting a fine.
When you go in to pick up your holds, they have some giant shelves in alphabetical order, and your media is there with a little receipt tag in it. You just find your name, grab, and check out.
So, I use this Key Ring app on my phone so that I don't have to keep membership cards to places. Since I thought that would be fine, I tossed my library cards in favor of this digital version. Don't be like me! If you keep your actual library card, there are check-out kiosks that are like the self-service check-out machines at the grocery store. Otherwise, if you don't have a version of your library card that will scan, you have to wait in line at the librarian desk to check out.
They also have a couple of little kiosks on the outside of the building at right in the entryway to return books. The nice thing about these is that they scan the book as you turn it in (it reminds me of an ATM), so your books gets checked in immediately. You can also request a receipt if you are paranoid about having proof that you actually turned your books in. It is much less scary than dropping your books in a hole in the wall hoping that nothing happens to them.
If you're a fan of digital books on your iPhone or Kindle, the library also has a service called Library2go via the OverDrive app (for iProducts, at least). You can check out digital versions of books. The negative is that there are usually longer waiting lists for these versions of the books, and the selection is smaller than what is actually available at the library, but I've found a number of good books to read that way, and it's really convenient having it on your electronic device. Another bonus is that the books check themselves in after the borrowing period is up, so you can't accidentally get fined for turning them in late. One thing to note is that you have to change the borrowing period from 7 to 21 days in the settings as 7 is the default, and that is a really short period of time to borrow a book! When your hold comes due, the service e-mails you, and you have 72 hours to "borrow" the book.
This library is HUGE, probably because it serves so many people. Every time I stop by it is crowded. I hadn't been to a public library since the one in my hometown when I was a kid and read constantly, so I was really surprised by the fact that you could even borrow movies at the library. If you want to watch something recent, the waiting list is always going to be super long, so it would be worth going to a redbox to pay $1 for, but if you want to watch something like Schindler's List and don't want to purchase it, the library is for you!
If you haven't been to the library recently - GO! It is amazing. I highly recommend taking advantage of the online services to make your experience the best it can be. I honestly haven't explored the building much - I just bee-line to the holds, I might stop and look at the movies, and then I check out. I can't speak to any of the other services or programs that the library puts on, but considering the sheer number of people that are always there and the quality of their other services, I'm sure they are probably worth checking out.