s/o paid libraries

[Matryoshka]

That must be so strange!  In the part of MN I live in, it's not uncommon for there to be twenty or thirty miles of completely undeveloped forest between different towns.  

 

In the western part of the state, there's tons of undeveloped land still, but the towns still all touch each other, like a jigsaw puzzle.  Our town was incorporated in 1729, but even for years before that the land here was part of a town - it split from what had been a larger town, incorporated in 1655.  It's so strange for me to think of "between towns" - there's just no such thing here, even if you're standing in miles of undeveloped forest, it's part of a town.  "Between towns" sounds like some kind of interdimensional limbo. :lol:

 

Is there still "unincorporated" land in any of the original 13 colonies?  I'm pretty sure most of the northeast is set up like my state; not as sure about the south.

[JennyD]

I know most of the country has big wide open "unincorporated" spaces, but here in the densely populated northeast, it is still hard to wrap my mind around this "not in a town, just the county" thing.  Here all the towns touch each other.  The county includes many contiguous towns.  There's no inbetween spaces.  If I leave my town, I'm in a different town.

 

LOL.  I grew up in NJ and once took a friend from Alaska home to visit.  I still remember how utterly floored he was when we drove a few blocks through my parents' town and I remarked, "OK, now we're in Other Town."  The whole concept of contiguous towns was entirely new to him.

 

Our extremely fabulous city library system is free to county residents and residents of one other nearby town (that must have some kind of special arrangement because none of the other nearby muncipalities).  Nonresidents can pay $50/year to get a card.  

[Elfknitter.#]

I live in one of the highest COL parts of the country. It's also one of the most densely populated parts of the country. I'm the one with all the awesome free library services. My town doesn't even charge fines. I'm wondering if it may have something to do that this state had the first free (taxpayer funded) circulating library in the country? We love our books! :D

 

 

Is your library the http://www.freelibrary.org/index.htm?

 

I'm not sure exactly how our library is funded - I know through local taxes, not sure if there's some statewide addition. I think they may because I think I've heard them reference that one reason they love homeschoolers is that they keep their circulation numbers up, so I'm thinking maybe there's some kind of extra funding based on their circulation numbers???

 

I do know most libraries around here have a very healthy volunteer run Friends of the Library group that does a lot of extra fundraising, organizes book sales, etc. I think that adds a lot of extra funds to the library. Do other places have Friends of the Library groups?

Usually libraries post their budgets online or have a copy at the reference desk. As funds vary, you could check the annual report to see how funding goes.

 

FOL groups vary from community to community. Some can generate enough funds for new wings or buildings while others are lucky to raise $40 from a quarterly sale.

[jelbe5]

Yes, but does your town extend free library privileges to people who do NOT live there and do NOT contribute to the property taxes?

We belong to a very large library system which permits reciprocal borrowing privledges. It's great. My dh commutes about 30 miles per day and if I can't get an item at our local libraries I will search one of the libraries on his route home from work and ask him to stop and check out the item for me.

 

Each library may have "rules" regarding circulation. For example, the library one town over allows circulation, but does not allow non-residents to place holds on items. Another library allows circulation but "new" movies are restricted to residents only.

 

I also have access to a library one hour away which secured a grant in order to put together a Homeschool Resource Room which includes curricula, models of the human body, science kits, microscopes and slides and educational games for 6 week check out. It is a fantastic resource.

[Matryoshka]

Is your library the http://www.freelibrary.org/index.htm?

Nope, looking at their "history of the library" page, ours predates theirs by about 50 years.

 

I'm in MA - I'm talking about the Boston Public Library .  I hadn't realized it was the first free public library (I had always heard about Ben Franklin's library in PA as being the "first library" in the US, but apparently his and other earlier ones weren't free, but subscription based or charged a fee).  We were just in Boston for First Night and were freezing cold waiting for the parade, so we popped into the library and took an "Art and Architecture" tour, and this was one of the fun facts they mentioned. :) Looking at the page I linked, the BPL is apparently also the first library in the nation to have separate space for children. 

[boscopup]

I have cards to two different library systems. One is for the one in the city closest to me. As a resident of that county (I'm "out in the county", not part of a town/city), I get a card there free. It's one small building. They're building a new, larger building where there used to be a Kroger, so that will about double its size. They expect to open this summer. That means also getting more books Yay! They have an excellent selection, considering how small they are. I've been impressed by them. But really, they are very small, so for homeschooling...  I purchase a membership to the library system in the next county over. I'm not a resident of that county, so it's $20/year (though the first year, the librarian at the small branch I go to extended my privileges out to 3 years... sadly, she wasn't there the day I renewed a couple weeks ago - I'm cool with $20/year though). The larger system has several branches in different areas, and I can get books for free delivered to the branch I go to. This is not ILL though. ILL is $3.99 per book, iirc. Basically, cheaper to buy the book on Amazon than to do ILL. But getting books from within the system is free. I go online, see a book, put it on hold, tell it to hold it at my branch. It's typically there within a few days. Libraries here are funded by the counties, hence the county resident restrictions.

 

Between the two library systems, I've not had to buy any books for TOG Y4 units 1 and 2, and I don't think I'll have to buy any for units 3 or 4 either. There have only been a small handful of books for the year that they don't have at either library, and I've easily been able to sub something comparable. So it's been worth the $20 to not have to buy books. :)

 

And I love my librarian (the one that extended my initial membership). If I lose a book temporarily the day it's due and I've renewed it too many times already, I can call or e-mail and she'll renew it so I can have more time to look for it without racking up fines. Or the time we had a stomach bug on library day and couldn't renew some books, I e-mailed and explained the situation - she renewed them no problem. She has also overridden card limits when I had more than 30 books to check out (I get a single card, so it's just 30 books... the family card is $35, but usually we don't go over 30 books in one library session, so I've kept the individual card so far).

 

[RootAnn]

. . . And, during a trip to our little local library yesterday, they had a posting up announcing:  "You are now able to check your library account from home!"   :hurray:

Sometimes it takes awhile to come into the present in our little towns in the Central U.S. (I know what you guys are talking about with the interconnected towns because that's what it was like where I grew up.) However, we won't be able to put books on hold through the online system unless they are already checked out.  :lol:  And it is against the rules to put a hold on movies. We'll be spanked if we do that. 

 

They are also changing their subscription to Overdrive. Not sure yet what it means or how it will affect availability.  :confused1:

[threedogfarm]

 

I also have access to a library one hour away which secured a grant in order to put together a Homeschool Resource Room which includes curricula, models of the human body, science kits, microscopes and slides and educational games for 6 week check out. It is a fantastic resource.

 

Thank you so much for posting this!  I would have never thought of something like this.  A Homeschool Resource room funded by a grant. . .now that has possibilities!  I'm definitely going to look into the concept of this further!