the Library

The library and I have a very complicated relationship.  I honestly love reading and read so fast that  if I bought every book I ever read, it would cost a billion dollars and my handsome husband would have an excuse to add on another room so the children would have place to lay their heads.  Borrowing books from the library is truly a necessity, not a luxury, for our budget and home.

And yes, our car DID look just like this!

As a child, I was an exemplary library patron, thanks in large part to my model mother.  Yes, she was beautiful, but the "model" term refers more to her citizenry, housewifery, volunteerism, homeschool teaching skills, and well, I think I've made my point.  In any case, her method of keeping up with the library books we borrowed once a week and hauled from town to our home in the middle of the mountains (a good forty-five minute drive) involved a library bag and a number system.  Obviously, the number system was a bit of a challenge for me, being a numbers challenged individual, but model mother kept it simple.  Each of her children were allowed to borrow equal number books to years lived.  This worked fairly well for me, especially if I stocked up on classics. 
You know, the kind that has 450 pages, plus a prologue. 
Thankfully mom made the library trip weekly...


As an adult and mom myself, I would love to pattern our lives after my model mother's marvelous common sense efforts.  Unfortunately, several things stand in my way:

• I can't seem to make it to the library once a week during working hours.  And I'm not about to drop due books off when the library is closed because I would not be able to refill my library bag.

• I can't find my library bag.

• I feel badly about only allowing my oldest child six short books.  The second born would only get four short books.  How would they possibly have enough to read for the next week.  Never mind that even the six year old is barely able to read at all...

• Thirty-two books is a little much for me to carry home for myself, even if it is equal to my age, so I always end up with some other number of books I can't remember.

• The library gives receipts now for books, but I lose them, immediately, on the way out the library door.

 Maybe if I could find my library bag, I could keep the receipts in there...


Thus begins my very complicated relationship with the librarians.  Sadly, I must avoid the kind volunteer folks whenever possible.  They do not have a firm grasp on my issues.  The veteran library employees understand things such as the Annie DVD is never, ever, ever coming back, no matter that a well-meaning volunteer marked it "lost".  Nope, my second child did a marvelous science experiment with that one.  She discovered that three pieces are not better than one.

Reading with Gigi

The regular librarians understand that I cannot pay all my fines at once.  They realize that this is not particularly a financial issue for me.  Rather, it is part of how I claim ownership in my local library.  By paying in installments, I am investing in my librarians' salaries and ensuring the purchase of future titles.  In fact, I would say that I am a very important entity when it comes to ensuring the longevity of lending libraries in our nation.

A fun retro poster from Phil Bradley, British supporter of libraries.  Click on the photo for some more fun images.

I know many would be tempted to encourage me to move to an electronic reader such as an ipad or kindle as a means of simplifying life.  I am pleased to report that I actually have the kindle app on my ipad.  However, I miss the feel of books when I read on the ipad.  I miss knowing how far into a book I am.  I miss the ease of going back a page or two to find an important point.  It's just not the same thing...  Plus, an ipad requires a charger which would require finding mine...