Visit your local library for lending

As part of becoming more eco-friendly and on a mission to lower our carbon footprint we should be taking advantage more of our local community and all it has to offer. One way in which to do this is to utilize your local library. Personally I’ve been a member of libraries my whole life. My passion for reading starting in early childhood which led to my love of libraries. When we moved countries, visiting the local library was one of the first stops on my quest to learn more about the local area and to join so I could continue my love of reading/learning whilst reducing my impact on the environment.

Photo credit: thalesrock from flickr

Libraries generally don’t charge a fee to join, fees are usually only incurred when you are late returning items or for lost membership card replacements. Most libraries these days offer CDs, DVDs, magazines, periodicals and of course books of all genres and for all age groups. Using your library is a great way to reduce your impact on the environment as fewer books are published using less resources, and more people utilize the same copy of the book reducing further impact on the environment. However libraries are not without some drawbacks. Not all newly published books are available, you may have to wait a while before a particular title becomes available at your local library and most do accept requests.

Times have changed since I visited my first library, technology has come a long way since the days of library index cards and thankfully library systems have changed too! These days most libraries  have embraced computer sysems and the internet and my libraries full catalogue of books, CDs and DVDs are available to browse online. Instead of just browsing items available in my city library though I can view the whole Counties selection and from my account I can request books from other local libraries to be transferred to my library for me to borrow. This does take a little longer but having a broader selection is so worth it! I read the whole Charlain Harris series of books this way, and have DVDs scheduled for the upcoming months. On my libraries website I have my own “lending list” where I can view books I plan on loaning, and I can see the current books I have on load, books I have in transit from other libraries and even renew my currently loaned books online!

Next time you think about buying a new book, first check out your local library!

dalgal | My Bio & Articles