So just how many library books do you have at a time?

[athena1277]

After reading several threads where people have mentioned the large (at least to me) number of books they get at the library. I average about 20 books out at a time, although currently I have 22. We do go weekly and I only have 2 kids, so maybe that's why I don't have so many. Still, I am curious, how many do you have out at a time?

[Halcyon]

We always have the max allowed out, which is 30. :)

[kmacnchs]

about 50 (though we have 70 checked out right now)

 

We go every 2 weeks. (this is for me and my 2 girls)

 

10+ board books for my 2yo

10+ level 2 books for my reader

5+ books for myself

15+ books for history (all about explorers now)

10+ books about science, art, music, fables, read alouds

I let them choose some books in addition to all of that if they go with me.

 

If we are at home, we read all of them. These past few months have been crazy so we have had to renew many of them and keep them 2 more weeks to finish them up.

[JudoMom]

Currently, about 110. Many of these are picture books, although I'd say about 20 are chapter books. A couple of the books are mine, and there are about 10 on Ancient Egypt. We go every week or two. I just have an awful time telling them "No, you can't get that book". Our limit is 100 books/card, and we currently have 3 cards.

[gaillardia]

At our library in MD, we could check out, well, I don't know how many. We could check them out for 6 weeks with an educator's card. Summer brought restrictions to the limit. Our little library here has a limit of 10 per card, and recently shortened the check-out time to 2 weeks.

I used to get lots of books, but we don't care for most of the selection. Doesn't that seem odd? Some of the books are old but not classic. I can't find in the electronic card catalog most books for which I search. I will have to go to the big city and check the library there. There is a charge for having books brought to our branch from any other library.:angry:

Sounds like a field trip.:auto:

[jenL]

I'm allowed 100 items out at a time at my library, incl. cd's & DVD's. I've yet to come anywhere close; I think 10 has been my max :lol:. I'm a book junkie though and love to have our own books IN our house.

Edited February 17, 2010 by jenL
misspell

[Stacia]

The library's limit is 75, which we have maxed out a few times. We also belong to another (better) library system, which allows a max of 30.

 

Typically, we have anywhere from 0 to 60 books checked out at one time. Some are school-related, many are 'for fun' reading for either of the dc &/or me. Sometimes we'll have 1 or 2 dvds &/or a cd checked out too.

[Quiver0f10]

It depends but I would guess we take 50-75 at our usual visit.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Anywhere between 20 and 50. When the kids were elementary age, we averaged about 50 books at a time. Now that most of my kids are older, they books they get are bigger so we get a few less now;).

[Michelle My Bell]

Usually about:

30 Pictures books (We read several every day)

20-30 Books on crafts, homeschooling and other interestes I have

5 books per child of their choosing

10-20 books for each child related to their schooling

 

Which averages around 100 books. But since I am in the middle of History Night I have out over 200.

 

Michelle

[Daisy]

Hmm, probably the average is about 60. We go to the library once or twice a week. Not all books are returned every time. We just rotate them in and out but the average at my house at any given time is probably 60.

[Pam in MA]

Usually about 50. We go to the library twice a week and always seem to walk out with more books!

[Chris in VA]

Maybe 10-20 at a time. I am terrible about not getting them back in time.

[MelanieM]

Usually between 25-35. That typically includes fiction for the week, history and science books related to whatever we're studying at the moment, and books I want to preview before buying. We usually go to the library every week to return some and get a few new ones, so there's constant rotation.

[LizzyBee]

We usually have around 100 checked out.

[funschooler5]

We just came home from the library, and after checking out our books we are maxed out at 50. :001_smile:

[hsmom3tn]

If the kids and I use all of our cards, we can have out 125 at a time. We usually have at least 25-50 at all times, but sometimes more. We go to the library several times a week. :)

[BikeBookBread]

We have 25 on my card.

[Halcyon]

you know, I've been resisting getting a card for DS, simply because, well, it's another thing to keep track of (and be sure the books are returned on time for).

 

But I now see I could be taking out 60 books instead of 30!!! Duh! :tongue_smilie:

[swellmomma]

Each of our cards holds a total of 40 books, cds, dvds, etc. We ALWAYS fill one card and have another onthe go. We used to fill all 5 but I could not keep up and got lots of late fees. Right now we have around 65 library items we borrowed on Monday, this is a combination of school books, fun books (for the kids and me), movies, a great courses set for me, audio book, and music cd's.

[The Girls' Mom]

Usually around 40 or so. With all of our cards we could go up to 250...but I frankly don't want to carry all of those back to the library! lol.

[WeeBeaks]

We have 3 cards in use most of the time, max 40 each card. We don't usually use all 3 maxed out, though we have once or twice in the past. We probably have 50-60 average, 100 on heavy weeks when everyone chose books (2yo, 4yo, 7yo and me) plus I was checking out curriculum items. When we get desperate, we use DH's card too. ;)

[Desert Rat]

We usually have between 20-50 books at a time. We go every other week and I have 2 children plus I'm an avid reader. We are allowed 50 books on each card and we currently have 2.

[Mom-ninja.]

We can only have 17 checked out at a time.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Right now we have 54. The library gives homeschoolers more than allowed normally... and we have 5 cards. The only one that doesnt have one is my 4 year old son

[gardening momma]

Sometimes I have 30-40 out at a time, but right now I think I have 12.

[Jen in PA]

We have a 50 item limit per card. It is not unusual for our family to have out over 100 items, and that does not include e-books/other loaned downloads.

[stormy weather]

When I looked yesterday I had 98 things on my card! That's including audio books and DVDs. Our Library here is fantastic! We have unlimited checkouts and for 28 days at a time. We go every week. Returning the things that are due that week at the same time. They will pretty much order anything you ask them to unless they can't find it. I love the Library!

[gardening momma]

you know, I've been resisting getting a card for DS, simply because, well, it's another thing to keep track of (and be sure the books are returned on time for).

I wrote my card #, my teacher card # and dd6's card # (which I only got because at that time there was a limit of 5 DVDs, but now the limit is higher--or no limit, can't remember) on a small piece of paper, trimmed it down, and taped it to my laptop so I can remember to check due dates online and I don't have to go digging up the numbers from my wallet.

[gardening momma]

I can't find in the electronic card catalog most books for which I search.

I have found that my library's electronic card catalog has a lousy search engine, but that doesn't always mean they don't have the item, unless I specifically search by title and it isn't there. Even then, sometimes they have the title listed slightly different and I might still find it. For example, if it was a DVD called "The Hive", featuring the WTM, it might be listed as "WTM The Hive." I like to search on Amazon by age category and then go from there with keywords and such, and then see if my library has the item. My libary's keyword and subject searches aren't very good.

[DarlaS]

You ladies must have amazing libraries! We have 23 right now (but definitely do not average anywhere near that). I won't talk about how many times my kids have checked out the same books. I also won't talk about how many of that 23 are actually quality literature. :D

 

I could never find 100 books in ours that we would actually want to take home.

[gingersmom]

We are at the library probably 3-4 times a week. And I put stuff on reserve probably 5 days a week.

 

Between us we have 3 library cards.

 

We usually have between 20-40 books out at a time.

[Margo out of lurking]

Our limit is 100 books/card,

 

I never knew that!!!! I must have never hit it. LOL

 

My kids aren't as thrilled with our library now. As they've become older, they read fewer books. I'd guess we average 40 or so out at one time. Over the past 2.5 years, we've checked out a total of ~2400.

 

I finally broke down and got a card at the larger library system an hour away. We have a much larger selection, but I have fines to consider too.:glare:

[MamaAkins]

We average between 40-60 per week, but we have 4 children getting books, plus we check out a number of history-related books for our schoolwork.

[dangermom]

60 is about average, but I've gotten over 100 before.

[Dawn in OH]

I think the most we have ever had out at one time so far was 45. Now that the kids are reading better we tend to have less. I was checking out a lot of first readers for them. They are now able to read books from our home collection, and those books also take longer to read.

[MissKNG]

Ok, how on earth do you gals keep track of them all and when they are due????? How terrible are your late fees?

[mrs.m]

Ok, how on earth do you gals keep track of them all and when they are due????? How terrible are your late fees?

 

We don't have late fees! We have an awesome library. But that can be bad if you are waiting for someone to return something.

 

I keep track of them with the library's online system. They send me emails to remind me of upcoming due dates. I renew online unless they are in our return basket.

 

The kids all have a library basket in their room next to their beds for library books.

 

And I currently have 54 items checked out. We check out DVD's, audio books, etc. too. I have 250 items marked for later in the library catalog. :001_huh:

[Dawn in OH]

Ok, how on earth do you gals keep track of them all and when they are due????? How terrible are your late fees?

 

I have a shelf on one of our bookshelves dedicated to library books. With the exception of the books my husband and I are reading, the books are expected to be kept there. The kids have to "check out" a book with me.

 

My library has this great feature called "Library Elf" that emails me and lets me know when I have books coming due. I told it to give me 3 days notice. I can also log into the library website and check due dates whenever I want to.

 

Typically, a book loan at our library is 3 weeks, and I can renew them up to 2 times providing they are not on hold for someone else.

 

Because of the Library Elf my late fees aren't too bad unless the weather has been bad, we are sick, or been really busy. I sometimes renew books that I really don't need any longer just because I can't get to the library in time. I also try to keep Friday as my "library day", rather than picking up books on scattered days throughout the week.

[kmacnchs]

Ok, how on earth do you gals keep track of them all and when they are due????? How terrible are your late fees?

 

I can check online to see when they are due...

 

oh, and my library stinks too; that's why I go to the library a county over (45 min) away and use my mom's card;)

[duckabell]

We usually have about twenty or so checked out. I have to say reserving books online has been a great help. We could easily check out more than twenty but I already struggle carrying an infant, one bag of books and keeping track of a toddler. I literally couldn't carry more.

[ConnieB]

We have 5 cards at one library that allows 35 books at a time.....all five are typically maxed out or close to it...we check out as many as we return. So that's 175 roughly. We have a separate floor to ceiling bookcase that is exclusively for library books.

 

We also have cards to neighboring libraries in the county and how many we have there depends on a lot of different things....some months we have none....right now I probably have 20 or so because we've been making a regular weekly trip to two of these towns so we've been stopping off.

 

BUT....our history lessons consist mostly of reading books on the subject as opposed to having a central core book and only a few supplements. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Also...the main library we use has an AWESOME selection of movies and tv shows, so we have a lot of those out as well. Because we don't have cable TV and network TV is just not worth watching.

[BridgeTea]

10 or so at a time. I have no idea if our library would limit us.

 

There's only one child in the house and she's past picture book stage, so we don't have the large numbers like in the past. Plus we go pretty often so the stack is fairly small.

[rwjx2khsmj]

I have 174 items out right now. Our library has no limits and no fees.

 

I order what I want on line and it's all checked out and waiting for me when I go and pick it up.

 

The librarians thank me every time I go in because I've boosted their circulation rates so much. Anything I can do to help!:)

[gandpsmommy]

We like to go weekly. The library we used to frequent had a limit of 50 items per card. Dd and I both had cards, so we could get 100 items. Sometimes we had to put back items because we were over our limit. We were so excited when ds got his own card.

 

We don't usually get as many books at a time now, but when dc were 1-6, we went through so many books per week, that we lugged home as many as we possibly could each week. And sometimes we went to two different library systems and had books from both.

[Guest janainaz]

We usually have about 30-40 out.

[lisamarie]

You guys are making me feel a lot better about my library habits. I have been worried that the library was going to kick me off as a user because I am always maxing out the limit of 50 books. I live out of the county, so I have to pay $50/year to use their system, but it is a really big system and they are part of the state library system so I can request just about any book from anywhere in the state. I keep wondering if they'll kick me off because I'm costing them too much money with all my out of district requests.

 

We go every week and between books and DVDs we almost always have 50 books at a time. That's for school stuff, DVDs and my books only--I am a big reader and can go through 5-10 books a week. I don't let the kids pick out any books at our main library because it'd throw us over the limit so we use the tiny local library for fun kids books and go twice a month and check out about 15 at a time. I occasionally pick up a few books for myself from there, but the selection is really poor and the movies are $1/night whereas the big library's movies are free for a week. The kids LOVE picking out a DVD every week.

[sgilli3]

Have I mentioned how jealous I am of you all?

 

We pay 50 dhs ( about $16) a year to help with the renting of a space for our 'library'. It consists of 6 book shelves.

We can borrow 1 book each at a cost of 1 dh (.30 c) each.

 

The library is open for 2 hrs a week.

We really only use the library each week, as more of a social outing for us.

 

I buy all of the books we need/want, and I keep my eye out for 2nd hand book stalls at the markets etc.

 

It appears that the HUGE building being built about 4 blocks from us is going to be the new public library- but, I think we will have left here before it opens.

 

I will have access to a small regional library when we return to Oz, plus 2 or other larger ones within 30 mins or so drive.

[Parrothead]

I have absolutely no library books out. I have no luck finding what I'm looking for in a timely manner from the library. Due to that the home library is growing nicely.

[SilverMoon]

Their website says we have 76 checked out and 5 on hold at the moment. It doesn't seem like we have that much. *shrug* We're there once or twice a week.

 

I'm not really sure what limits our library has to be honest. Well, other than only 4 movies and 5 hold requests at a time. Apparently we've never gone over the maximum amount of books allowed. :001_smile: It's not unusual for a librarian to thank us for upping their circulation numbers.