My library isn't homeschool friendly

[Night Elf]

There are no privileges for homeschoolers. No extended check out times. No special holds like by date, or held for longer than standard 7 days. All the resources she pointed me to were just normal library offerings like online resources such as foreign languages or music instruction videos. 

I can have up to 5 ILL books checked out at one time. I can have up to 5 requested titles at a time. Once I take a title from the books being held, I can request a new one. But they only hold the books for 7 days so this seems useless. 

It makes me reconsider purchasing the books. If not that, rework the IG plan to read one or two books at a time by reading daily until it's done, preferably within 2 weeks. I paid $40 for the IG, mostly because I wanted something planned out for me so I wouldn't have to think about it. Looks like that's not going to happen. I have already spent a fair amount of time on it organizing the books by week so I know just when each book is introduced and how long it is read. I also know which books I can get from the library and which ones I'll need to buy. So that's very helpful now that I have it done, but it was time consuming.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Our library isn't big enough for home schoolers, so we pay $75 / year to the neighboring town as a non-resident fee. Their library is linked to a much larger system, so it turns out to be quite a bargain. 

[Night Elf]

4 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

Our library isn't big enough for home schoolers, so we pay $75 / year to the neighboring town as a non-resident fee. Their library is linked to a much larger system, so it turns out to be quite a bargain. 

I don't want to have to drive to a library more than 20 minutes. That's about my limit. My library does have ILL so they are pulling from other systems. As for ebooks and audiobooks, I like the look of Scribd. $9.99/month isn't bad. If they have the books I need, it would be great. Otherwise I'll be buying them.

[Pintosrock]

Yeah, no special privileges here, either. Due dates are for everyone. Why should homeschoolers get special treatment?

However, due to a funk in where the town boundaries are and where the libraries are located within the towns, we are actually geographically closer to the next town's library than ours. While they have a sharing protocol setup, they do limit "out-of-towners" to 10 requests at a time (not total checkout, but requested holds). I get around that by having a card for each member of the family. Might want to try that.

[barnwife]

Most of that is true for our library as well. We used to be limited to 20 holds/card. I made it work, and am very, very grateful that the limit is now...much more. I haven't hit it yet, even with 4 kids officially HS and a toddler. We are limited to 100 checked out at a time. And, yes, they only hold them 7 days when they come in. That seems totally reasonable to me. I mean, others might be waiting for the books too, you know? So why should you get to have them waiting for you indefinitely before checking them out? 

[Arcadia]

No privileges for homeschoolers here. We have library cards to quite a few library systems. My husband and I would reserve one after another if we need a book for more than 3 weeks. We do grocery shopping at least once a week so picking up holds before 7 days are up has not been an issue. 

[Idalou]

I think holding a book for 7 days is very reasonable. I've never heard of giving homeschoolers better deals at a library.

In another thread you wrote about purchasing books. Are you wanting to read them on a Kindle or actually having the book? I looked at the 9th grade books on BYL, and found them at BetterWorldBooks for $4 to $6, always free shipping. I order from them regularly and it never takes longer than a week, and they are always in the condition advertised, or better.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

We also don't have any special privileges. I used to use all my kids' cards so I could request/check out more books at one time. We are able to access any library system in the state and have a really good ILL system but that isn't specific to homeschoolers. I wouldn't say our library is NOT homeschool friendly -- they did give me my own hold shelf for awhile and they obviously like that we're frequent users! 

Do try out Scribd and also take a look at Thriftbooks or BetterWorldBooks - with the latter two, if you're not super picky about condition, they are a  good way to save some money. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Insertcreativenamehere

[Terabith]

But.....you're not homeschooling. Why would the library have special deals for homeschoolers?  I'm worried about you.  

[HomeAgain]

No libraries here have special privileges for homeschoolers. 

Having been a clerk, I can assure you that in the case of special circumstances, computers can be adjusted.  A teacher needing a book for a longer period would get a manual adjustment of a due date, just like if someone was going on vacation.  Our libraries are pretty good about knowing their patrons and their needs.

 

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Night Elf said:

There are no privileges for homeschoolers. No extended check out times. No special holds like by date, or held for longer than standard 7 days. All the resources she pointed me to were just normal library offerings like online resources such as foreign languages or music instruction videos. 

I can have up to 5 ILL books checked out at one time. I can have up to 5 requested titles at a time. Once I take a title from the books being held, I can request a new one. But they only hold the books for 7 days so this seems useless. 

It makes me reconsider purchasing the books. If not that, rework the IG plan to read one or two books at a time by reading daily until it's done, preferably within 2 weeks. I paid $40 for the IG, mostly because I wanted something planned out for me so I wouldn't have to think about it. Looks like that's not going to happen. I have already spent a fair amount of time on it organizing the books by week so I know just when each book is introduced and how long it is read. I also know which books I can get from the library and which ones I'll need to buy. So that's very helpful now that I have it done, but it was time consuming.

Why don't you just check the books out as you need them?

I don't understand why you would think homeschoolers should get special privileges over regular library patrons -- we are all checking out the same books, no matter what our reasons, so why should they hold books for more than 7 days for you, when others may be waiting for those same books? 

Also, as @Terabith already pointed out, you're not even homeschooling any more -- these books are for your own personal use.

I agree with Terabith -- I am worried about you. First, you seemed to be going through a manic phase of buying way too much curriculum, and now you seem to be in a manic phase of needing all the books from the library in a big hurry, and if you can't get them exactly when you want them and keep them for as long as you want them, you are getting ready to start what sounds to be another buying frenzy. And honestly, you seem to be going way above and beyond what is reasonable in terms of organization and scheduling for someone who is doing some fun self-study for personal enrichment. Are you even enjoying any of this? Everything seems so stressful for you lately. 😞 

I'm not trying to be critical -- you can buy whatever you want, although I know your dh seems to be against that -- but I just wanted to point out that your behavior lately is concerning. You don't seem to be "yourself," if that makes any sense at all, and I'm worried about you.

[Night Elf]

47 minutes ago, barnwife said:

Most of that is true for our library as well. We used to be limited to 20 holds/card. I made it work, and am very, very grateful that the limit is now...much more. I haven't hit it yet, even with 4 kids officially HS and a toddler. We are limited to 100 checked out at a time. And, yes, they only hold them 7 days when they come in. That seems totally reasonable to me. I mean, others might be waiting for the books too, you know? So why should you get to have them waiting for you indefinitely before checking them out? 

Nope, didn't expect indefinitely. But they cannot guarantee when an ILL book will come in. It could be a couple of days or a couple of weeks. Depending on where I am in the 5 books I have checked out, I may need to wait longer than a week to get them. 2 weeks is all I ask for, but oh well.

I need to decide if I'm going to jump around the 36-week plan. If so, I'll just use the books as I get them without worrying so much about the order. But if I decide I really do want to adhere to the 36-week plan, I'll probably be buying a lot of books. The good news is the level I'm starting is popular so there is competition on the Swap group to get books for it. This means I'll probably have no problem selling books when I'm finished with the program. I'll try first to sell them in a full lot, if that doesn't work, I'll sell them separately. I'll just deal with the extra trips to the post office. 

[Night Elf]

38 minutes ago, Terabith said:

But.....you're not homeschooling. Why would the library have special deals for homeschoolers?  I'm worried about you.  

Oh for heaven's sake Terabith. Someone, on this thread suggested I talk to my library about homeschool privileges such as being able to keep a book out longer or having a hold take place on a certain date. I had never heard of either of those but thought I'd follow her suggestion and ask. The answers were no. Simple. It's not the end of the world. And I realize I'm not homeschooling but I am utilizing a program that is planned out to read certain books on certain days and I'd very much like to follow that plan so I don't have to rework anything. I need a schedule when juggling more than 2 books at a time. I spent the money on the instructor's guide to have the plan and list of additional books and video links. I like to follow rabbit trails as much as kids do. If the library wanted proof of homeschooling, I would just be SOL and I'm okay with that. 

Please don't tell me you think this has something to do with my bipolar disorder or eating disorders. I'm so sick of those being blamed for everything I do. What I'm attempting isn't anything out of the ordinary for homeschoolers. I may not have kids but I am doing what I did when I did homeschool my kids. I'm using curriculum and having a blast doing all the things my kids didn't want to do. It's cheaper and more fun than going to the local trade school, especially because DH and I consider me officially retired. I will never work outside the home again. It's too much trouble especially now that I'm having medical issues with my back and legs. I could go back to college and earn a degree but spending thousands of dollars for a degree I will never use seems like a great waste of money. I do not qualify for any grants or scholarships because my DH makes too much money. I've maxed out the Hope Scholarship which is offered to all students in Georgia of good standing. I have more hours than they pay for. And at this point in our lives, taking loans out or a home equity loan is equally stupid. No, I'll use homeschool materials and am happy to do so. I'm really on a high school level for math and writing. I did a little writing in college but would you believe I never had to write a paper? Nope! And I attended 3 good universities. I just happened to get professors/instructors who didn't feel a need to assign papers. I am a great reader but I do not pick up hidden meanings. I did poorly in school on literary analysis. But I squeaked by in school enough to graduate. I didn't go beyond Algebra 1 in high school and my college algebra class was the same material. I got a C in the class. So that's what I'm studying now, back in Algebra 1. I love math now but it's not easy.

Anyway, I never said I was special. I'm just looking for ways to make this happen easily. I love to read so a literature based program made the most sense. I missed out on a lot of books with Biblioplan because my library didn't have them and I didn't want to buy so many. Now I know about ILL and DH is willing to let me spend money on books I can't get for free at least until I run into a problem where owning the book seems the better choice. 

[Ausmumof3]

10 minutes ago, Night Elf said:

Oh for heaven's sake Terabith. Someone, on this thread suggested I talk to my library about homeschool privileges such as being able to keep a book out longer or having a hold take place on a certain date. I had never heard of either of those but thought I'd follow her suggestion and ask. The answers were no. Simple. It's not the end of the world. And I realize I'm not homeschooling but I am utilizing a program that is planned out to read certain books on certain days and I'd very much like to follow that plan so I don't have to rework anything. I need a schedule when juggling more than 2 books at a time. I spent the money on the instructor's guide to have the plan and list of additional books and video links. I like to follow rabbit trails as much as kids do. If the library wanted proof of homeschooling, I would just be SOL and I'm okay with that. 

Please don't tell me you think this has something to do with my bipolar disorder or eating disorders. I'm so sick of those being blamed for everything I do. What I'm attempting isn't anything out of the ordinary for homeschoolers. I may not have kids but I am doing what I did when I did homeschool my kids. I'm using curriculum and having a blast doing all the things my kids didn't want to do. It's cheaper and more fun than going to the local trade school, especially because DH and I consider me officially retired. I will never work outside the home again. It's too much trouble especially now that I'm having medical issues with my back and legs. I could go back to college and earn a degree but spending thousands of dollars for a degree I will never use seems like a great waste of money. I do not qualify for any grants or scholarships because my DH makes too much money. I've maxed out the Hope Scholarship which is offered to all students in Georgia of good standing. I have more hours than they pay for. And at this point in our lives, taking loans out or a home equity loan is equally stupid. No, I'll use homeschool materials and am happy to do so. I'm really on a high school level for math and writing. I did a little writing in college but would you believe I never had to write a paper? Nope! And I attended 3 good universities. I just happened to get professors/instructors who didn't feel a need to assign papers. I am a great reader but I do not pick up hidden meanings. I did poorly in school on literary analysis. But I squeaked by in school enough to graduate. I didn't go beyond Algebra 1 in high school and my college algebra class was the same material. I got a C in the class. So that's what I'm studying now, back in Algebra 1. I love math now but it's not easy.

Anyway, I never said I was special. I'm just looking for ways to make this happen easily. I love to read so a literature based program made the most sense. I missed out on a lot of books with Biblioplan because my library didn't have them and I didn't want to buy so many. Now I know about ILL and DH is willing to let me spend money on books I can't get for free at least until I run into a problem where owning the book seems the better choice. 

I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all with self educating! It’s a good project. It’s just a bit odd to expect to be treated as a homeschooler when you’re an adult if that makes sense? Society makes special conditions for kids education but not so much for us adults.

I think your idea of just reading one book at a time in order is a good one. 

[Night Elf]

28 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

First, you seemed to be going through a manic phase of buying way too much curriculum, and now you seem to be in a manic phase of needing all the books from the library in a big hurry, and if you can't get them exactly when you want them and keep them for as long as you want them, you are getting ready to start what sounds to be another buying frenzy. And honestly, you seem to be going way above and beyond what is reasonable in terms of organization and scheduling for someone who is doing some fun self-study for personal enrichment. Are you even enjoying any of this? Everything seems so stressful for you lately. 😞 

 

No, I never said I needed them all right away. If I can find someone selling a "lot", as in a group of the same level books, of the books I need, that would seem to save the most money. I don't mind buying a book when I need it but I have to factor in shipping time if I buy used. Media mail can take 3-4 weeks, or at least my post office seems to take that long. I would like to own the books in 4 week chunks though because of the logistics of the program. But it's never a lot of books. They're fairly spaced out over 36 weeks. However, I'm thinking about new books because I just get squicked out by the idea that a book I'm holding in my hand has been in many households with habits that may be gross. I once checked out a kids book that had a lot of questionable sticky stains in it. When I showed it to the librarian, she was horrified. Yep, so I'm not the only one. Besides, even DH likes new books. We're just book snobs. Beat up books are so ugly and leave me wondering just where they've been and what they've been through.

I am most certainly "myself". I'm not acting any differently than I do any other day of the week of the month. When I was buying curriculum, that was the same behavior I had when buying curriculum for my kids. I just want to have the best that fits my learning style. Sometimes it's hard to know if something will work unless I have it in my hands, and the only way to have it in my hands is to buy it! Surely I cannot be the only person who has ever homeschooled who didn't like every curriculum she bought. And if I am, then I guess I really am special. Or picky. But that doesn't make me mentally unstable.

[Night Elf]

Ok ladies. Some of you are freaking me out. Thank you for the answers and suggestions. This thread is too upsetting for me to continue. I hate being accused of being mentally unstable. I have a support team of doctors that I trust more than strangers on a homeschool board no matter how many years I've "talked" with some of you. Does that make sense? These doctors know me because I've been with them for years. If they don't feel I'm having a mental breakdown, I trust them that I'm not. 

[Spryte]

I haven’t read all the replies, but like I said in another thread — we do BYL and are just short of having done all the grades, between my two kids. Our library doesn’t do anything special, and we do a combo of library, buying used and/or new, kindle, Audible for DS. I find the books in chunks of 4 - 6 weeks. If we can’t find/don’t have a book in the exact order it’s assigned, I just make do and we come back to it. That rarely happens. Unless you’re really a box checker and can’t handle flexibility, it works fine. I’m pretty flexible, and it still kind of grates on my nerves when we get off the schedule a bit, but it’s no biggie to catch back up. I can understand why that make some people’s brains itch, though. 🤣 We have also skipped a few books that didn’t work for us (I have one super sensitive kid and have to handle some subjects with kid gloves). 

I wouldn’t stress out about the books too much! You’ll settle into a flow and find them. And if you don’t find every single book, it’s no big deal. This is between you and the books, you know? It’s fun!

[Night Elf]

The suggestions for longer check out periods and scheduled dates for holds were suggested on the BYL families group. I thought it was this group. Whatever. The thing is I was just following a lead someone suggested I follow up on. I'm sorry some of you got your undies in a bunch. 

[itsheresomewhere]

I think we are seeing what you can’t see.  It is coming off a bit manic to several of us especially those who really understand a manic phase more than you think.  It is the hyper focusing that is really telling to some.  We are not being mean, critical or automatically blaming your illness.  We are just seeing a pattern that is not normally you.   Having someone who is not close to you point it out can be very helpful as loved ones, those close to you and even a therapist don’t see it until it is red light glaring.  

Edited March 25, 2022 by itsheresomewhere

[barnwife]

2 hours ago, Night Elf said:

Nope, didn't expect indefinitely. But they cannot guarantee when an ILL book will come in. It could be a couple of days or a couple of weeks. Depending on where I am in the 5 books I have checked out, I may need to wait longer than a week to get them. 2 weeks is all I ask for, but oh well.

 

Well, of course they can't guarantee when a book comes in! Anytime a patron checks out a book it's for 2 weeks (or whatever that library's policies are). But sometimes people renew a book, sometimes they take it home and hate it so bring it back after only a day...and that all affects when a book gets to the next person in line. That doesn't even take into account the actual delivery of books from one library to another. Our system only picks up from certain libraries on certain days. Others are on the route more often. If a patron returns a book you want on Tuesday evening, but they only pick up from that library on Tuesday morning, it will be a full week before it's picked up to be taken to your library. Add in the fact that books can be returned to any library in the system, and I am so grateful books get to us as quickly as they do!

And I guess it's about perspective, because our library used to hold holds for only 3 days once they came in! So a week feels super long to me.

[Idalou]

I can understand about wanting clean books. But do check out BetterWorld. I don't have any connection to them, lol, just found them during the pandemic and fell in love with their business methods. I get the Good or Very Good conditions, and they always appear perfectly clean. And they've never taken more than a week for delivery. 

I think it's great you are on a new self education journey, and hope that everything works out well. 

[Clarita]

As someone who likes buying all the things, don't. Try it out with the library, do the curriculum slower if need be or in a different sequence. I think it's good to assume you will not get your money back for old books. Unless it's some sort of special copy from the 1800, it becomes out of print, or it's super hard to get book in your country. It's too easy to get books online with free delivery. In my area people are having a hard time finding places to GIVE their old books away to.  

[KungFuPanda]

You sound like an ideal candidate for kindle unlimited. If these titles are available as ebooks, it would be much cheaper and easier to acquire them that way. Does your library have Hoopla? There’s no waiting I’d they have copies on there. 

[Annie G]

Can you renew books if they come in and you don’t have enough time to read them right away? We can renew twice, so six weeks total. That might be enough time. It’s rare that my renewal is declined due to someone else having a hold on it. 

[elegantlion]

A couple of things you might consider: 

1. if you have a university near you, check out their library. They might have a community card that you can use and their selections might be better. 

2. Not sure what kind of books you're looking for and what level, but maybe consider which ones you need for long term and which one are going to be a quicker read. Also, are there ways you can group the curriculum so you could order books like two to three at a time and read in no particular order. 

I also agree with looking at Better World books. They also list on Amazon and I've ordered from them many times. 

 

[Dianthus]

7 hours ago, Night Elf said:

Oh for heaven's sake

I think that's awesome you are self studying. I enjoy learning and relearning with my kids and would love to have time to read on my own. Would you consider learning an instrument?

My library doesn't have homeschool privileges. I am allowed 10 holds (ILL or in library) per library card, and they will hold for 1 week after they arrive. I max out the holds on 3 cards and have 2 more I would use but always forget the passwords. And I really shouldn't do more than the three because we already max out our library basket and shelves. We also browse when we pick up our holds and we go to the library at least once a week.

I also didn't like being accused of OCD on this forum because I like to be clean. That was pre-covid.

Eta: have you checked ebay for used books?

Edited March 26, 2022 by Spirea

[katilac]

9 hours ago, Pintosrock said:

Yeah, no special privileges here, either. Due dates are for everyone. Why should homeschoolers get special treatment?

Due dates are not for everyone in my library system; school teachers can check out for the semester and don't pay fines regardless. For any books, not things particularly related to the classroom. It drives me a little nuts, bc some books wind up being impossible to get, even though they're listed in the system. 

9 hours ago, Terabith said:

Why would the library have special deals for homeschoolers?   

Many library systems do have different rules for homeschoolers, in addition to school teachers. 

[JustEm]

6 hours ago, katilac said:

Due dates are not for everyone in my library system; school teachers can check out for the semester and don't pay fines regardless. For any books, not things particularly related to the classroom. It drives me a little nuts, bc some books wind up being impossible to get, even though they're listed in the system. 

Many library systems do have different rules for homeschoolers, in addition to school teachers. 

Yeah, our library system lets me check books out for a semester and no fines for me because I am a homeschool educator. It is only for books that I'm using for home schooling though but it is only on an honor system

 

[Danae]

7 hours ago, katilac said:

Due dates are not for everyone in my library system; school teachers can check out for the semester and don't pay fines regardless. For any books, not things particularly related to the classroom. It drives me a little nuts, bc some books wind up being impossible to get, even though they're listed in the system. 

Many library systems do have different rules for homeschoolers, in addition to school teachers. 

The libraries I’ve used that have this kind of policy have a recall if someone else requests the book.  So I could check out books for a full year, but if someone else requested it I got a notification and had the normal check out period (three weeks) from the date of the request to return it.  

[QueenCat]

On 3/25/2022 at 6:08 PM, Night Elf said:

The suggestions for longer check out periods and scheduled dates for holds were suggested on the BYL families group. I thought it was this group. Whatever. The thing is I was just following a lead someone suggested I follow up on. I'm sorry some of you got your undies in a bunch. 

I don't think anyone who has responded to you has their "undies in a bunch." Many of us don't understand your reaction to how public libraries work. We've also seen other posts recently that added to this, are concerning. Why? Because many care about you and remember what you've shared in the past. For me personally, when my mother would enter a manic phase, she would have very similar reactions to what you are having. And she didn't think she was going into a manic phase. People just care. 

[Tanaqui]

Night Elf, I certainly don't know enough about it or about your not-posted-here life to know if you're going through a manic phase or anything else.

But people really are concerned. If nothing else, it really *is* strange that you're so fixated on getting all these books RIGHT NOW, and upset that your library doesn't have special privileges for homeschoolers when you are not, currently, homeschooling.

Could you maybe agree to a compromise? Print out these posts, all the threads where people have suggested you might be unwell just now, and manic. Highlight the relevant comments and also all of yours. Then show them to your mental health team and see what they say. If, after seeing all these posts, they agree that we're all full of it and don't know what we're talking about - well, that'd certainly set *my* mind at ease, and probably yours as well.

[LuvToRead]

It make me sad that a library is labeled "not homeschool friendly" just because it doesn't extend special privileges to homeschoolers.  Mine doesn't have extra privileges for homeschoolers yet they are so homeschool friendly!  They have been so helpful to me over the years. 

[teachermom2834]

I can see having privileges that allow homeschoolers and teachers to keep books out for an extended period as long as if someone else requests the book it can be recalled. Some of those books get so little circulation it is awesome if they can be put to use in that way. But if it keeps the rest of the community from having access that defeats the purpose of the library, IMO. 
 

We had some years that it seemed we had lots of local homeschool competition for SOTW books or Sonlight or MP cores. It would become obvious pretty quickly someone else was following the same plan we were. It wouldn’t have been fair for someone to be able to check out the readers for a core for months at a time. 
 

I don’t believe out libraries anywhere we have lived had this privilege but it never occurred to me to ask. I always thought they were homeschool friendly, though, because they did carry so many books used in popular curriculum and they were open to purchase requests. 

[LuvToRead]

1 minute ago, teachermom2834 said:

I can see having privileges that allow homeschoolers and teachers to keep books out for an extended period as long as if someone else requests the book it can be recalled. Some of those books get so little circulation it is awesome if they can be put to use in that way. But if it keeps the rest of the community from having access that defeats the purpose of the library, IMO. 
 

We had some years that it seemed we had lots of local homeschool competition for SOTW books or Sonlight or MP cores. It would become obvious pretty quickly someone else was following the same plan we were. It wouldn’t have been fair for someone to be able to check out the readers for a core for months at a time. 
 

I don’t believe out libraries anywhere we have lived had this privilege but it never occurred to me to ask. I always thought they were homeschool friendly, though, because they did carry so many books used in popular curriculum and they were open to purchase requests. 

This is the reason why I am glad my library doesn't have homeschooler privileges.  My library is really small so I either just bought what I needed or I used ILL.  If homechoolers were able to keep books for months I would have had to buy all the books we used because waiting months for a certain book wouldn't have worked.  Plus I pay the same fee a everyone else so why should I get to do something special just because I homeschool.

[Zinnia2]

We have three library cards, and I like them all for different things.  The Atlanta library card is $40/year, as is the Dekalb county library.  My mom is part of the PINES library system, which is much of Georgia, but not Atlanta.  I don't know the cost on their cards or where your closest one is, but they can also be useful, because PINES pulls from all over the state.  

[theelfqueen]

I consider my local library very homeschool friendly - they have great materials, an awesome maker space, a science lab, a homeschool science fair, a variety of programs and more for homeschoolers and they eliminated late fees (for everyone) .... but they don't do any of those things.