Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Under Utelized

My sister-in-law posted about the library a couple weeks ago. There are so many resources they offer that I have just not taken advantage of, until now. Silly me.
Our local library is a network of 13 area libraries. All materials can be checked out from any location and they can also be transfered to the location of your choice for pick-up. Which means I have literally thousands of options for books, videos, audio cds and dvds. Add on top of this that it is all FREE! WooHoo! I love free. It used to be that videos and dvds were at a minimal charge but now even these services are free. For a week you can check out any movie(s) of your choice (including new releases) and pay nothing, although small late fees are applied. We are just beginning to take advantage of this.
You can also place holds on books from the internet and have them ready for you when you come. Which makes it nice when you are looking for cirriculm materials. Put in author or subject, pull up what you want and put it on hold. No more searching and searching, only not to find it. Or forgeting the list at home. Or you get there and find out it is at the library 30 miles away, nope the library courier makes many rounds daily so he brings the book to the library closest to ME! Yippee! Homeschooling has never been easier.
Then I found this gem on their site...Great web sites for kids. A list of kid friendly sites recommend by the American Library Association. I have already checked out a few and have not been disappointed.
I love my local library!!!

5 comments:

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I used to love to go to the library, but I don't have a reliable way back and forth now. I do spend a LOT of time on my computer now, so that takes up a lot of my free time.

It's almost 70 degrees now at 1 pm on Wednesday, and tomorrow's high is supposed to be 33 with freezing rain, sleet and snow. Shorts today and snowboots tomorrow. Arkansas weather again, LOL. ;D

Overwhelmed! said...

Since Snuggle Bug was born, we've begun to rely heavily on our local library. Snuggle Bug started going to Baby Story Times at a couple different libraries at the young age of 6 months. He's now almost 2 years old and he continues by going to Toddler Story Times.

I reserve/check out books, DVDs, and music CDs on-line for the very reasons you've mentioned.

Earlier this month, our local library created an Story Town village outside the main library and invited families to come for a day of fun activities. They had people dressed up as book characters (i.e. Berenstein Bears, Madeline, Cat in the Hat, Disney princesses) to greet the kids. There was craft projects, face painting, singing, and stories that were acted out by kids and adults in costumes. We took Snuggle Bug and he had the best time!

We love the library! :)

Butterfly Mama said...

Yes we love our library too...
We've been going to a music and movement class for the kids there also for FREE! And my son loves to take out books and now veggie tales movies too.

Anonymous said...

I agree. TOTALLY under utilized. With the on line catalogues and resrvation system the good just keeps getting better. Mom and I just started really taking advantage of book reservations. Seemed like about half the time you looked on the shelf it was a no go. Now we reserve online and have been amazed at the availability of new releases. We read a lot and could still use this resource more. Good blog.

Anonymous said...

I've been using the library for a while now and it's great that they transfer stuff for you. Love it! Just so you know new releases are only able to be checked out for 3 days not a week.