QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
Or at least - one question to start with. For one of my classes I have to respond to an article on the death of libraries. So I am doing some VERY unscientific research on my own to see what people think. I also need to come up with a more legitimate survey and I want to see if I am headed in the right direction.
So - here is the question. You can comment here or on my Facebook page - whichever is easiest. And I know I could create a poll but I need more information than a close-ended question allows.
Do you use your public library? If yes - how? And if no - why not?
Thanks!
I don't use it as much as I used to when I was younger. When I was younger - by younger, I mean starting college- I used to go all the time, to use the computer and check out fiction books. I also used it to have practices with a creative arts group I started. Now, we get online books from the library every so often. I would probably go more if I lived in a smaller area and my daughter was older.
ReplyDeleteSigh, no, I don't use it near as much as I used to. Less stuff to browse. They seem to only have top sellers, not any new quirky books, only mainstream, like bookstores, and they have eliminated alot of the older books due to space which I understand..but I hit the used book store and amazon a lot more. My son is also noting that he misses the adventure of discovering things at the library.
ReplyDeleteOh and movies and TV shows, I Used to check out a lot of those too. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I use my library but, no, not as much as I used to.
ReplyDeleteI used to love going to the library when I was a kid, partly because my hometown had a gorgeous Carnegie library, which they tore down to make room for a modern one. It had a fun amphitheater with wide stair-like seating in the children's department that was great for storytime, but lacked any of the awesome character of the old facility. Fortunately, I live near two architecturally stunning, older libraries now. As for my hometown library, I used it for fun reading as a young child and for research as a student in the 1970's.
In the 1990's, when my daughter was a preschooler, I used the library for story hour a couple of times. She learned to read too quickly (age 3), got bored, and was too active in class. At that point, I introduced her to every notable, prize winning picture book known to man, titles that were hard to find at my library. There seemed to be many copies of junk books and fewer (or no) copies of classics, like Come Again, Pelican by Don Freeman. As my daughter grew older, we really didn't use the library much for reading. Occasionally, our homeschool group would use the conference rooms for chess club or business meetings.
Now that my daughter has finished school, I use the library for some types of research. For example, recently I wanted to know more about the distinguishing characteristics of Craftsman style homes, so I checked out some books on the subject. That way, I would know whether my Internet-based information was correct. I did the same with the history of Christmas a few years back, too. Before our local library took away/greatly reduced the book and music selections in favor of what I call the "teenager aquarium" (a glassed-in sound proofed area for teen gaming), I used to check out music or movies that I couldn't find on Netflix. Now, not so much. I will occasionally check out a Teaching Company course, but it is tough to do that since the entire class cannot be loaned at the same time and, depending on the borrowing behavior of other patrons, I can have long breaks in the course if one part is checked out by someone else for a long time.
No - too many books at home
ReplyDelete