Buying vs borrowing books from the public library

3587 Views 31 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Vegas_Asian, Feb 28, 2009

ErnestS

Discussion Starter · Feb 26, 2009

At the risk of sounding stupid, I have to ask: Why do people choose to buy books over just checking it out from the library?

I know that some libraries are better than others. But I find myself struggling between buying content for my kindle (which I just got this week) and just borrowing the book from the library. I knew that I would struggle with this before buying my kindle, but I thought that the benefits of reading it on the device would completely erase the notion of getting the books for free from the library.

So far, I've bought one book for my kindle. The book ("Dreams from my Father") currently has a wait list of 300 at my library, so I figured it was worth buying. However, for most titles, I am able to get them either now or within 2 weeks.

Does anyone else have this problem or dilemma? If so, what is your approach to buying and/or borrowing books? I hate to feel buyer's remorse for my kindle, but I am starting to debate whether I made the right decision (especially, since I tended to borrow rather than buy books in the past).

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Gertie Kindle

· #21 · Feb 27, 2009

Another reason I don't like the library is the mixed up jumble of books. When I browse the stacks, I invariably find several books out of place and feel compelled to reshelve them.

Now, I take my mother to the library and read my K in a comfy chair while waiting for her to find what she wants.

I used to love libraries, but now I'm happy I don't have to be dependent on them anymore.

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BambiB

· #22 · Feb 27, 2009

robin.goodfellow said:
lol, if we're long lost sisters, it won't do them any good to take your house: they'd just have to clean it up first. And perhaps pair up the socks. and toss the pizza boxes. But I digress.

Yep! We were separated at birth.

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BambiB

· #23 · Feb 27, 2009

gertiekindle said:
Quite some time ago, long before Little Gertie arrived in my life, I stopped checking books out of the library. That wasn't because I forgot to return them, but because the library forgot to give me credit for returning them.

My mother got a letter that she hadn't returned three books. She always takes out six and returns six. We went back with the letter, they looked through the stacks, and found the books. Big surprise.

It was lack of efficiency on the part of the library staff (no matter which branch I went to) that stopped me from taking out books.

I had this happen to me, too, but at my college library. I HAD to get it cleared up so that I would be able to get my diploma without paying for a book that was sitting of their shelf!

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busy91

· #24 · Feb 27, 2009

gertiekindle said:
Quite some time ago, long before Little Gertie arrived in my life, I stopped checking books out of the library. That wasn't because I forgot to return them, but because the library forgot to give me credit for returning them.

My mother got a letter that she hadn't returned three books. She always takes out six and returns six. We went back with the letter, they looked through the stacks, and found the books. Big surprise.

It was lack of efficiency on the part of the library staff (no matter which branch I went to) that stopped me from taking out books.

Do they not give reciepts in that library. I'm real paranoid about that myself. I get the reciept, and then when I get home/work I check the computer to make sure it registered. I had some slight problems, but luckily they put a trace on it, and they have always found it and gave me the credit. I wouldn't have had to worry about it for a year from the date, and it is always cleared up within 2 weeks.

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ogie287 (est. 1838)

· #25 · Feb 27, 2009

busy91 said:
Do they not give reciepts in that library. I'm real paranoid about that myself. I get the reciept, and then when I get home/work I check the computer to make sure it registered. I had some slight problems, but luckily they put a trace on it, and they have always found it and gave me the credit. I wouldn't have had to worry about it for a year from the date, and it is always cleared up within 2 weeks.

Not if you put the book in the book drop...

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busy91

· #26 · Feb 27, 2009

ogie287 said:
Not if you put the book in the book drop...

Oh yeah, the dreaded book drop!!

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Gertie Kindle

· #27 · Feb 27, 2009

busy91 said:
Do they not give reciepts in that library. I'm real paranoid about that myself. I get the reciept, and then when I get home/work I check the computer to make sure it registered. I had some slight problems, but luckily they put a trace on it, and they have always found it and gave me the credit. I wouldn't have had to worry about it for a year from the date, and it is always cleared up within 2 weeks.

Nope, no receipts. And they only give one printout no matter how many books you check out at the same time. I used to put the due dates on the bookmarks I was using for each book. Otherwise, I'd have to keep searching for that silly slip of paper through all the books.

If you try to give the books to an actual person, they will silently point to the table with the sign "return books here."

You can see why I'm not too thrilled with borrowing books from the library. Once I got over grabbing every K-book in sight, I'm actually getting more books for my money than I did when I bought books at the library and Goodwill.

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KindleGirl

· #28 · Feb 27, 2009

Pawz4me said:
I'm glad I'm not the only sanitation freak. When I bring books home from the library, the first thing I do is take an anti-bacterial wipe and clean the covers. Can't do that on the pages, though . . .

That's funny.....I thought my sister and I were the only ones to do that!! I love our library and have used it many, many times over the last 20 years for myself and the kids, but sometimes it's just too gross to read a book from there. Most are ok, but sometimes I would get one (from inter-library loan that I couldn't pick out myself) that I just couldn't read for fear of catching some disease!

I am loving my Kindle and not having to touch some of the unsanitary books. I know, I am a germ freak, but we all know that if a book is not someone's own property, then some people don't care what they get on the books!

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KindleGirl

· #29 · Feb 27, 2009

Ok, I just posted too much in the quote above. The first line was from Pawz, the rest from me.

Can someone tell me the the correct way to quote someone, without uncluding what I say in it also

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KindleGirl

· #30 · Feb 27, 2009

Nevermind, I figured it out. I tried it on another post and it worked just fine. Not sure what happened the first time, but I've figured it out.

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Gertie Kindle

· #31 · Feb 27, 2009

KindleGirl said:
Ok, I just posted too much in the quote above. The first line was from Pawz, the rest from me.

Can someone tell me the the correct way to quote someone, without uncluding what I say in it also

Hit the "quote" button at the top of the post you want to quote. The end of the quote should be [ / quote ] without the spaces. Then you can type in your response after that.

If you want to multi-quote, after you respond to the initial quote, scroll down and find additional posts and click on "insert quote."

You might like to check out Forum Tips. A lot of good info there.

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Vegas_Asian

· #32 · Feb 28, 2009

Free Wifi (sometimes, depending on which library location)

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