Tuesday, February 10, 2009

What I love about the US - Public Libraries

I suppose there are a lot of things, so maybe this will be a series of posts.

The first thing to go here has to be the public libraries!

- They're the best!

- They have all the books I would ever want to read...in good condition!

- If my branch doesn't have what I want, I can place a request to get it from another branch within the same system...online!

- I can renew my books online

- I can place hold on books online

- If I have a book on hold, they do not allow others to renew them. They respect my spot in the queue!

- Most of them have an excellent environment for kids: story times, lots and lots of books, and other fun programs

- They have a very good environment for studying...books, couches, coffee, peace!

- Cell phones are mostly not allowed

- They have free internet access. This was very handy when I moved to this city and had no internet at home, and had not started work yet!

-They help people with their taxes too (I think some libraries have some informational sessions)

- They have a lot of classes for free. One which I found very good was teaching English to elderly immigrants!

- They have reference books for EVERYTHING (I got stuff on crocheting, hubby got to learn about some electrical codes in our county!)

- They also have DVD and videos

- The one I go to has HINDI ones too!!!

- They are the very best!

They are an AWESOME service to the community! I am glad my tax dollars support my excellent library system.

Here's my little nieces in my library. (Yes, it is MY library :-)

13 comments:

Vetirmagal said...

Hi,

There is no second opinion on the libraries in USA. Even small towns have such good ones.. I too enjoyed it when Iw as there, but my daughter got tired of ferrying me in and out( also help to carry books 35 at a time!).

That is one thing I miss at home. Sad ,,,

Do enjoy and write about the books you read.

--xh-- said...

wow - just wow... whn wil India have libraries like that???

aneri_masi said...

@vetrimagal, welcome to my blog :) How'd you find me?

Oh yes...I should add that to the list, there's endless number of books I can check out at a time!

@xh, sadly...I don't think it will happen any time soon :(

Anonymous said...

Well another thing we must adopt from US, being systematic. We have some good libraries but most of the time books are in shabby condition and lot of visiting cards in them.

Rià said...

Hmm those were quite a few reasons babe! i m sure a lot of ppl wud love to stay there. But i somehow love Europe and UK more. :)

aneri_masi said...

@chirag, and I suppose the problem of books not being returned and stuff too?

@ria, why so? I think Europe and UK are very beautiful, but the lifestyle in the US definitely wins.

Mysterious Mia said...

am not so much into reading s i wudnt be able to appreciate this as much as others....

but hmmm....am looking forward for yur other posts

aneri_masi said...

@mia, point is that its just not about "book lovers". Its for anyone who wants to do anything and needs a starting point. Or wants to get movies. Or browse the internet. Or get some other kind of help.

And I do hope write more such posts :) Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

much more than a library..a community centre of sorts... its good.. free net access has been started in many civilian libraries here... but its a long way for india to reach there...

P said...

Oh I too loooove the library system here. Apart from the public libraries, I get to use the university libraries too, which are just beyond amazing!

ceedy said...

So agree with you....I love the library system here...specially the interlibrary loan...

helped so much during studies...

Vikas Gupta said...

This is YOUR library! Amazing! It looks like a public library in some developed nation!

You must be a great book lover (and a rich woman too)!

I am subscribing to your RSS feeds.

Aathira Nair said...

Inter-library linkage is awesome~

Something which is missing in India. :(