aCountingHouse Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 This is a spinoff from a thread on the general board about how many books you get out of the library each time, how many you have on hold etc. Just curious to see if us afterschoolers are similar? I'll start. We have 5 cards - myself and four kids. We can borrow a maximum of 20 per card for 3 weeks at a time. We can put 10 on hold for each card. We visit the library every week, and tend to get out 60+ books, audiobooks, magazines, dvd's each time. We take forever at checkout, (I feel sorry for those waiting behind us), and we walk out with bags absolutely full. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get more than us. Obviously I have a family of readers. We love our library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slackermom Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We can borrow up to 75 items per card. The staff at our regular branch library didn't know about the limit until we triggered the computer. My daughter and I usually have the max out (150 between us), so we have to bring back books in order to get more. My husband probably has 20 at a time, unless he is at the library with us, and we make him check out more books for us on his card. :blush: There is a scanner we use for self-checkout for everything but audio-visual stuff. I don't know if there is a limit to how many we can have on hold. Most books have a 3 week limit, but we can renew online as long as nobody else has requested the item. We go to a library at least once a week. We have 4 or 5 branches we visit regularly. I typically return a bag or two worth of books in the overnight return bin after I bring my daughter to school (before the library opens), so when we go to the library later after school, the staff has had time to process the returns. Then we don't have to wait before we can get more. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtney.byrum Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We got to one library on Mon. and a different library on Thurs each week. I would say the kids get out 20-40 books at both each week. My daughter reads quickly so we need to get a bunch of books for her - she took out 25 or so books on Thursday and has already read 3 geronimo stilton's, 5 Real Kids Real Places, 1 doll hospital, 2 club penguin, 3 pokemon, 1 allison dare, and 1 Franny K stein. She almost always runs out of books before we go each week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aCountingHouse Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 We can borrow up to 75 items per card. The staff at our regular branch library didn't know about the limit until we triggered the computer. My daughter and I usually have the max out (150 between us), so we have to bring back books in order to get more. My husband probably has 20 at a time, unless he is at the library with us, and we make him check out more books for us on his card. :blush: There is a scanner we use for self-checkout for everything but audio-visual stuff. I don't know if there is a limit to how many we can have on hold. Most books have a 3 week limit, but we can renew online as long as nobody else has requested the item. We go to a library at least once a week. We have 4 or 5 branches we visit regularly. I typically return a bag or two worth of books in the overnight return bin after I bring my daughter to school (before the library opens), so when we go to the library later after school, the staff has had time to process the returns. Then we don't have to wait before we can get more. :) OK, slackermom, you are definately not a slack mom! Very impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 DD and I can both check out 10 on our cards at a time, and usually are at the library a couple of times a week. We can also have 3 digital books out at a time, and usually have three on the iPad on my card and 3 on the iTouch on her card, and those often get renewed daily or close to it (have I mentioned how much I LOVE being able to check out digital books?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slackermom Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 OK, slackermom, you are definately not a slack mom! Very impressed. Well, I let just about everything else slide, since I would almost always rather be reading! :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I usually limit the kids (age 5) to 2 or 3 books (each) at a time. But we have thousands of books at home already, and not a lot of time in the evenings to read meaty stuff. And we live close to the library, so if we get done with our books and are dying for more, it's easy to make that trip. When the girls get a little older, they may want more library books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I am very envious of the amount of books you are allowed to take at your libraries. Where I live the limit is 4 per adult card and 3 per child card with a 2 week limit. I have asked about getting the baby a card to increase the amount of books I can take for my older daughter but they tell me she can only get a card when she is 3 years old! What happened to encouraging early reading? I buy a lot of books from wherever I can get them because of this and still visit the library once a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApronMama Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We usually have about 80 items out at once, sometimes more. We used to be able to check out 80 on our "high volume card" until we had a late fee incident. :001_unsure: We can check out 50 on each of our 3 cards, and I think that is probably enough for us. :) I have about 10 items from around our library district sent over to our library each week. We visit 2 libraries, the tiny one in our area once a week and the bigger beautiful one with lots of new books across the river about every 3 weeks. We can renew up to 5 times (one month each time) as long as no one else has a hold on the material. Love our library! The librarian even started buying SOTW once she saw how often if was being requested from another library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvina Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We have a limit of 50 books at our local library, but it includes all the branches in the county, We usually visit 2, but on ocassion have reached the limit. Only one of my kids (age 6) reads, so so far so good. When my DS 4 starts reading, we will have to get a new card :) To me the limit right now is mostly a question of how many books I can carry to the car... :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I'm not an afterschooler but I just wanted to say WOW at the amount of books you can check out! my library it's six on an adult card, for two weeks. I don't know what it is on a child's as they won't let my son have one until he is six/first grade. I usually don't bother with the library too much. I buy stacks at Goodwill and I get them on my kindle from another library. DS has so many books at home the library really doesn't impress him for the books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 How do you keep up with all the books? We go to the library once a week and I get a book on CD for my commute and usually a couple others. I limit my 5 year old to 10 books a week and we get 3 more for little brother. As the 5 year old is becoming a better reader I am going to need to take out more books. He can read books like Henry and Mudge or Frog and Toad but has preferred for me to read to him or to look at the pictures in nonfiction books. The past two weeks he has started picking up easy readers to read by himself and to his brother. The only problem is the books get scattered through the house. I realized if I place books all around he will pick them up and read a bit on his own. So what system do you all use to keep track of 50+ library books at once? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caedmyn Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I thought ours was bad only allowing 20 books per card! We go maybe three times a month and typically have close to 20 books out at a time. Some are carry-overs from the last trip though. I'd say we usually check out 10-15 at a time...that's about all I can carry while holding a baby, and three times a month is about all the trips to the library I can handle with two very, very active little boys in tow. DD has a card and DS1 can have one but I don't need to check out that many books at a time and it's easier to only have one card to keep track of, so we typically only use one card. Unless I want to get interlibrary loans, because there's a limit of 6 (in-state only otherwise there's a fee) per card per year. We have a rule that library books are not allowed in the playroom, because every time one ends up in there I spend ages looking for it once it gets mixed in with all our books on our wall-to-wall bookshelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aCountingHouse Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 How do you keep up with all the books? We go to the library once a week and I get a book on CD for my commute and usually a couple others. I limit my 5 year old to 10 books a week and we get 3 more for little brother. As the 5 year old is becoming a better reader I am going to need to take out more books. He can read books like Henry and Mudge or Frog and Toad but has preferred for me to read to him or to look at the pictures in nonfiction books. The past two weeks he has started picking up easy readers to read by himself and to his brother. The only problem is the books get scattered through the house. I realized if I place books all around he will pick them up and read a bit on his own. So what system do you all use to keep track of 50+ library books at once? Nart, our system isn't perfect, but we have one area where the library books are kept (shelves) and one area where the dvd's are kept (under tv). When I had fewer and smaller children, I just had a big basket in the loungeroom where they were all kept. As I said, our system isn't perfect as books are taken to all other rooms to read.......but what a problem to have. ;) Every week on library day we have a library book hunt around the house to collect them all and bag them all ready to take back. I too will be happy to hear if anyone has a better system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aCountingHouse Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I thought ours was bad only allowing 20 books per card! We go maybe three times a month and typically have close to 20 books out at a time. Some are carry-overs from the last trip though. I'd say we usually check out 10-15 at a time...that's about all I can carry while holding a baby, and three times a month is about all the trips to the library I can handle with two very, very active little boys in tow. DD has a card and DS1 can have one but I don't need to check out that many books at a time and it's easier to only have one card to keep track of, so we typically only use one card. Unless I want to get interlibrary loans, because there's a limit of 6 (in-state only otherwise there's a fee) per card per year. We have a rule that library books are not allowed in the playroom, because every time one ends up in there I spend ages looking for it once it gets mixed in with all our books on our wall-to-wall bookshelf. Caedmyn, Just think, as your littlies get older, you can get more cards, and then more books (4x20=80!), and because they'll be bigger they can help you carry all of the books! It's quite a sight seeing my bigger kids all lugging around bags to carry their books in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readinmom Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Ours is 15 per card. What hurts are the fees for holding an item or the audio/dvds. We usually go 1-2 times a week, depending on schedules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slackermom Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 So what system do you all use to keep track of 50+ library books at once? We can log on to the library website to check what we have out and when it's due. I can print the list and check them off as they go in the bags. The system also emails me a few days before we have items due. After too many book hunts, I emptied out one of livingroom bookcases and declared that it is just for library books. I try to keep everything there when is not being actively read, but we each have a few books next to our beds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtney.byrum Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 We keep a bin of books near the stairs - we also have 2 library bags. One for each library. As they finish books they go straight into the library bags to be returned. Each kid has a small bin near their beds for their library books - so the only place other than the big bin is their beds. Sometimes I do find them on their desks but they are pretty good about keeping them in safe places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty-two Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) To me the limit right now is mostly a question of how many books I can carry to the car... :001_smile: :lol: That's me :D. When the library bag is stuffed to the brim and the diaper bag can hold no more overflow, it's time to go ;). That works out to 20-30 books per visit, depending on size (books) and determination (me). We have only my card, and I haven't hit the limit yet. We have three branches we go to regularly - the closest and smallest has three week checkout period, and the two larger and farther ones have just two week checkouts. One renewal for all, which we can do online. Wrt keeping track, the library sends a very helpful reminder email three days before books are due, with the ones due all listed out. That plus a good memory for where I saw books last :tongue_smilie: is generally sufficient. eta: We can return books to any branch, and the nearest branch is just a few minutes away - so if I don't want to drat us all out for a library trip, I just have dh return them on his way home. eta2: Also, wrt keeping track of books, I do limit how many my dc can get - 5 for the 5yo, 3 for the 3yo ;) - so there aren't too many to search out. All the rest are mine, and I'm good at keeping all the ones I'm not actively reading in one spot plus remembering where I left the rest, so my having anywhere from 20-70 out isn't a big deal except for needing more bags to return them. Edited February 28, 2012 by forty-two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 We have never hit a limit. In regards to library books, I wanted to remind people about Jessie Wise's library list idea. I keep mine laminated and in my purse at all times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aCountingHouse Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 We have never hit a limit. In regards to library books, I wanted to remind people about Jessie Wise's library list idea. I keep mine laminated and in my purse at all times. Jen, thanks for the reminder. I will do that! The kids can typically borrow the same type of books so this will really stretch them, and make them more well rounded! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotAVampireLvr Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 For people wanting to know how to keep track of books: I have all our books on one shelf, broken into categories... picture books, chapter book/early readers, then non-fiction organized by category. Within those categories I try and keep them alphabatized by author. My younger kids don't have free access to the books, and my oldest can reach the shelf and is trained to just take one down at a time. He brings it back to me to put back on the shelf. We have 100+ items checked out a time between homeschooling and pleasure. I really need to be vigilant about keeping track of them. We have a large tote by the front door where books/materials to go back go. We do multiple returns/pickups throughtout the week because of holds, but only one set "library day". I hate holding on to items we're done using since we generally have a lot we hold on to. I reserve many books early to make sure they get to us in time for lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyleettu Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Our local library stinks so we don't go very often. Most of our books I end up ordering. The most that we have checked out recently is 6 when we were starting to learn about maps and geography and I was waiting on our books to get in. I really wish we had a better library here!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akalori Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Wow. My limit is about 15 books at a time because the book bag starts getting too heavy. Also it feels like more than enough work keeping track of that amount of books. I've dreamed of having a bookcase shelf just for library books. Usually we stack them on the floor near the fireplace. However sometimes my kids use them as building blocks and ramps. Then I get angry and put them back in the book bag. However out of sight my kids forget about them and read less. I wish I was more organized. How does everyone carry out so many books? Laundry baskets? Carts? Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 We usually have about 50+ books out at a time. We could have many more than that, but we can't carry that many books. We go once a week on Thursday. The break down of what kind of books usually looks something like: 20 picture books, for reading at bedtime 10 non fiction juvenile books, various stuff from biographies to castles to science, mostly for ds7 10 kid chapter books, for ds 11 and ds7 to read 10+ adult non fiction or adult fiction, whatever my dd13 picks out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aCountingHouse Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Wow. My limit is about 15 books at a time because the book bag starts getting too heavy. Also it feels like more than enough work keeping track of that amount of books. I've dreamed of having a bookcase shelf just for library books. Usually we stack them on the floor near the fireplace. However sometimes my kids use them as building blocks and ramps. Then I get angry and put them back in the book bag. However out of sight my kids forget about them and read less. I wish I was more organized. How does everyone carry out so many books? Laundry baskets? Carts? Lori As I mentioned previously, my kids are old enough to carry their own books, so that increases our borrowing capacity hugely. Even then, I still find myself laden with a bag that is filled to the brim. I have honestly thought about getting one of those bag-trolleys on wheels that I can drag behind me. I am sure I could fit 50 books just for me in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slackermom Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 As I mentioned previously, my kids are old enough to carry their own books, so that increases our borrowing capacity hugely. Even then, I still find myself laden with a bag that is filled to the brim. I have honestly thought about getting one of those bag-trolleys on wheels that I can drag behind me. I am sure I could fit 50 books just for me in there! My daughter has one of these for her library books. Her school backpack has wheels too, so the backpack straps tuck into a pocket on the back, and she recently figured out that she can fit several books in that pocket too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotAVampireLvr Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Wow. My limit is about 15 books at a time because the book bag starts getting too heavy. Also it feels like more than enough work keeping track of that amount of books. I've dreamed of having a bookcase shelf just for library books. Usually we stack them on the floor near the fireplace. However sometimes my kids use them as building blocks and ramps. Then I get angry and put them back in the book bag. However out of sight my kids forget about them and read less. I wish I was more organized. How does everyone carry out so many books? Laundry baskets? Carts? Lori I've accumulated so many from frequent trips to pick up holds. I usually have a sackful to drop off at the same time. The largest LL Bean tote seems to be sufficient for that. We make multiple trips a week since its not really out of our way to do so. On the days we visit a different library for their kids selection (but within our system) I sometimes wish I had a rolling crate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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