bethben Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 So, I live in a small town. The library is small and it never really bothered me because we have inter-library loan and can get most any book we need. I never minded waiting and just knew I would have to order books weeks ahead of time. I got used to it. We went to visit Grandma in a suburb of Chicago where the space for their extensive DVD collection of kids movies and educational DVDs is bigger than our entire teen and children's section both fiction and non-fiction. In fact, just the kids section of the library is twice as big as our WHOLE library. My kids wanted to check out some comic books because we're on vacation and I told them they probably had a much bigger selection. So, we look up the call numbers and go to find the comic books. They didn't know how to find the books. There were so many shelves and so many numbers on the sides of those shelves, they got confused. We're not talking small children, we're talking a 13 year old! In our library, if you need a book on Egypt, you know where it is on the bookshelf. If you need a comic book, you know where it is on the bookshelf. The non-fiction bookshelf is pretty much the back wall of the children's section - maybe 50 feet or less? It never occurred to me my children didn't know really how to learn how to use a large library. I just figure that in the future, if they go to college and need to figure out where a book is, they'll have enough reasoning skills to actually figure it out on their own. The nearest "bigger" library is 25 miles away and I get up there once a month. Things you learn. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 That sounds nice. I live in a small town but we have a special tax that passed a couple years ago for the library. It's good but nothing like what you described. I still have my card for my old library and use that one on occasion too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonflyer Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Ours is not bad, either. But the longing in my soul for the type of selection you describe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Lol. I can TOTALLY relate. my home library is quite possibly larger than the children's selection at our local library. and if it isnt its rapidly getting there. we do have an amazing interlibrary loan. Amazing! my kids use my phone anytime we are in larger book stores/Walmart to take pictures of books or DVD's they want me to order online through ill. they may not know how to navigate stacks upon stacks, but they will know how to navigate the online libraries ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 My library has antique books on the shelf for checkout. I love that, they also have VHS and cassettes aplenty, not so crazy about that. Their selection is slim, service is great, and I can almost see it from my dining room window. I do like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 We sometimes go to the library at San Jose State University. That one has a nice children's section and has 8 levels plus a mezzanine and a lower level. It is open to the public to borrow books and media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Yes, I understand. Our county's branches are all pretty small, but the nearest one is a tiny adorable place that used to be an old church. It's charming, and the staff is lovely. We have access to three counties' systems, and I use all three, depending on my schedule. I like the tiny one the best, but selection-wise, even with ordering from around the county, they just don't have the selection. So we use the bigger counties' systems a ton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 When we moved from a big city to a very small town when DS was 5, one of our first stops was the local library. I remember how heartbroken I felt when he walked in, looked both directions and asked, "Where is the rest?". The entire thing was a fraction of the size of just the childrens section of our awesome library we'd left behind. Yeah...that town was NOT a good fit for us! Now we are in a different small town in a different state and our library is amazing. We definitely have a new perspective! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 We have a small branch library which we usually go to, but we occasionally go to the main central library or the university library for research, in large part so DD can get practice finding things that she can't just walk to by memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 DUH!!! I just realized that if my ds who will be 14 needs to do research, he can go to 1 of 2 colleges in town. <_< I just don't think he's going to need to do research on any of his upcoming classes. I bet I can get them to organize a library treasure hunt there though with the homeschool group... Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SierraNevada Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 When we moved to a small town a couple of years ago I was so saddened by the tiny library that was a half hour drive away. Even sadder, to find a bigger library I'd have to drive 3.5 hours. In fact I think to find the next closest library I'd have to drive that far:) I'm just grateful that we can buy a lot of books and that Amazon delivers to the front door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I'm near a major city library, but the REALITIES of using it, make me pine for the small town library I used before my divorce. The library was small, but EVERY book was carefully chosen and a perfect mix of books that had been on the shelves for 75 years and carefully chosen new books. And the ILL process was free and streamlined so that books often arrived in less than 48 hours. As long as the ILL requests were educational and not entertainment they were unlimited. There are a LOT of books on the shelves at my library, but there are gaping holes in the selection, and lost and inaccessible books, and just bizarre incidents with staff. ILL is basically outgoing only. The rest of the state enjoys this library's books, but the ILL staff is incapable of bringing books in for their own patrons. or logging them in as returned. Some of the libraries that LOOK so good, may not be all they seem. I never would have guess how bad my library is until I started USING it. I sometimes take a train to a smaller city to use their ILL, when I really want a book I cannot afford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 One you hit high school, try to find an excuse to go into a college library. For kids who are used to the Dewey Decimal System, the Library of Congress system can throw them for a loop. I know it did me, at the beginning. The local college library has charts they hand out that show where different categories of books are: this building, that building, across the street, in the mezzanine, in the stacks, etc. You could get lost in there. They do a tour for incoming freshmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 We have charts for our library, too. Not only are some of the books in a different place, but because of staff incompetence some whole sections were mistakenly placed in storage and red tape is preventing them from being taken back out. It's all just so sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 When we moved to a small town a couple of years ago I was so saddened by the tiny library that was a half hour drive away. Even sadder, to find a bigger library I'd have to drive 3.5 hours. In fact I think to find the next closest library I'd have to drive that far:) I'm just grateful that we can buy a lot of books and that Amazon delivers to the front door. I'd ask if you are my neighbor, but we don't have any :-). to get to a library of any real size, we'd be looking at a 3.5-4 hour drive easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Our library is small but we use ILL all the time. We can also go to larger libraries in the system. They are 30+ minutes away. I also have a card for an area university library, but to get there is a 30-40 min drive, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SierraNevada Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I'd ask if you are my neighbor, but we don't have any :-). to get to a library of any real size, we'd be looking at a 3.5-4 hour drive easy Yeah, we might be in the same state, which for our locations might make us close enough to be neighbors. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Our library is what I consider medium sized. I've been trying for years to teach my kids how to use it independently, but the librarians REFUSE to leave us be. And I'm not just talking about my 3 and 7yos, but my tweens and teen. "What do you need help with?" "Actually, we know what we're looking for." "Great! Let me show you." "We're really trying to practice library skills. They brought call numbers from the website." "Oh, terrific. Come with me. I'll grab that for you." Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 One place I lived had the library arranged in "living rooms" . The books were shelved to do with general topic - sewing costumes might be with drama but sewing quilts might be with home decorating even though both sewing books would have similar Dewey numbers but the drama and decorating completely different numbers. Drove me nuts. Our library is OK but reserving, holding, and ILL are somewhat expensive. I miss the library in Wellington. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Our local library is so small that except for some very general light reading, it's not usable for homeschool at all. I pay $50 a year to use the St. Louis Country library system, which is heaven. The closest branch is about an hour away. I can place books on hold, renew, etc. right from my computer. Plus, they have an ever-expanding digital collection, which we use a lot. We literally check out hundreds of books a month. I don't know what I would do without it. Saves me thousands of dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallingjan Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 We can use 3 small local libraries. All about 20 minutes away. These together don't make up one big one. The non fiction books are non existent. We use them often for leisure reading, but they are useless for school. And by the time we pay for interlibrary loan shipping, it's less expensive to just buy from Amazon. Sadly, Amazon Prime is more valuable than our local libraries :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 I love my small two room library! It's divided into two rooms: children and adult. The children's section has all the great picture and easy reading books.....and what the library doesn't have as the kids got older or needed research books, we can order from interlibrary loan (free of charge) from the surrounding towns and usually get anything we need within two days. But what I like best about the library is the personal intereaction with the librarian. For example, one day as my son was checking out a knight book for the upteenth time, the librarian just handed the book to him and told him, "This book and you belong together. It's yours to to keep!" My other son loved the old Hardy Boys books so during the annual book sale (donated books and clearing out the shelves for new books) the librarian told him she asked a friend if he'd want to sell all 50 of his old Hardy Boys books to my son and told my son he could buy them for his weekly allowance - that was a grand total of 5 cents a book! One of the retired front desk volunteers (former elementary teacher) admitted to mbe last year that she rechecks out our units of study when we return the books as she is fascinated about learning along with us! WHere else could we get such devoted service but in a small town library! Gotta love it! Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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