I am a voracious reader. If I find a book I like, and have the time to spend reading it, I can knock out a rather long book in one afternoon. I used to buy a lot of books. I spent tons and tons of money on the latest and greatest from all my favorite authors. But lots of books quickly take up lots of valuable real estate in our home. Books are heavy and expensive to move (something we’ve done A LOT). When we moved to North Carolina, I started taking advantage of the local library system in my county. I was amazed at all the great things they had to offer! Here are four of my favorite services offered by my local library system.
1. Tons of Titles
My local library has just about every title you could ever want. And if they don’t have it, they’ll borrow it from another county’s library. The inter-library loan system takes a little longer, but is well worth it for hard to find titles.
2. Free E-Book and Audiobook Loans
If you’re anything like me, you read almost everything on your smartphone or your tablet. Our library system offers an extensive list of extensive list of ebook titles on the Overdrive App and the MeetLibby App. I also love to listen to audiobooks while I drive and work around the house. These are also available on Overdrive.
3. Free Kids Activities
When my kids were little, we regularly attend the free Storytime, where they often have puppet shows and crafts for the kids. The one we liked to visit was located in the same building as the local cultural center, where they host tons of great free family events, like concerts, puppet shows, and movies for mom’s with small children (AKA: it’s ok to bring your noisy, wiggly preschooler to this showing of these movies). For a very reasonable price, they have all sorts other events like comedy shows and plays. They also offer classes for all ages on topics like cooking and dance and pottery. Seriously, it’s awesome.
4. Tons of Adult Activities
Our library system offers lots of book clubs, interest clubs, classes, and instructional lectures. They have computers available for public use for anyone. The wifi is always readily available and they offer quiet rooms to work or study in. It’s a fantastic place to be part of a community.
(originally posted in 2012, updated in 2018)