Library Lovers Book Tag

Found this prompt via Angel's Guilty Pleasures. I am an academic librarian, so I work in an academic library. However, I do make time and enjoy visiting my local public library. Questions are as provided.

How often to you visit your local library?

Before the coronavirus hit, I used to visit every Sunday, usually before I went to work my Sunday shift. I have not visited since the virus shut it down, along with most of everything else.

Are you the type of person who checks out more books than you know you can read or are you someone who only checks out the exact amount of books you intend on reading before they are due?

I check out more than I can read. I like to have a little extra just in case. I can always renew them (unless the book gets recalled but that is very rare), and if not, I just return them and try again later. I do not mind giving the public library a little extra boost in their circulation stats.

How old were you when you got your first library card?

I was an adult when I got one to be honest. While my parents had books in the house, and they did encourage reading, they never took us to the public library like other parents might with their kids. My schools had small school libraries, but those were just the places you went to do homework, get some encyclopedia to do that one research paper, or the quiet place to hang out during recess if you were an introvert. To be honest I had no idea what the heck my school librarians did all day since they did not promote reading per se, or do any form of reader's advisory, or all those things school librarians today brag about doing.

As for public libraries, yea, I knew they existed but since my parents never took me to one really, except one time I recall for some school work, and we never went back, I have no idea what happened in there until later in life. If memory serves me right, I got my first public library card when I was around 18 or so at the college town I was in at the time.

When I think about it, it is a bit of a miracle I became a librarian because unlike most librarians I do not have one of those "a librarian read to me when I was a kid" or other such sweet memory. What I do have is that an academic librarian encouraged me to go to library school when I was in graduate school after my first masters. All I can say is she probably saved my life at that time, and I owe her for it.

Do you go to your library looking for a particular book or do you check out anything that peaks your interest? 

I usually go in to browse and see what catches my eye. Once in a while I may have something specific in mind, but most of the time I just go in, browse, and see what I can find.

Do you use your library to check out just books or do you also check out dvds, audiobooks etc.? 

Yes, I do use my library to check out DVDs and audiobooks. However, the selection of physical audiobooks is pretty poor and out of date at my local branch, so lately I have been trying out Overdrive and Hoopla for that. 

From what section of your library do you check out a majority of your books? ( YA, middle grade, adult, nonfiction.)

From that big shelf of returns by the entrance to my library branch. When you walk in, you have the new books shelf, which I look over but rarely check anything from it mainly because new books get a two weeks due time; I can't read that fast. Next to that is the returns shelf, the staging area where books returned are place before they get reshelved.  I often find something good to read there, and they are usually older books (i.e. no longer "new") so they get a four weeks due date. I do browse other parts of the library, but I always start in the returns shelf.


What is your favorite part of using your local library? 

 Well, it is free. In my case, the local branch may be small but it is nice. Plus they can always bring materials over from the main branch if I want something not at my branch.