# How often do you visit the library?



## machine cat (Feb 4, 2012)

Yesterday I was talking to a colleague about National Library Day and he told me he hadn't visited one in years, despite reading an average of two books a week. This surprised me as I try and go once a week, especially with the boy as he loves it. 

So how often do you visit your local library (would do a poll but can't be arsed)?


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## Mrs Magpie (Feb 4, 2012)

Depends what you mean by library. I use the one at my work (a very good school library) about 3 times a week (books, periodicals etc). I do sometimes use the Tate library in Brixton, but not nearly as often, usually for stuff like photocopying info (Charities Digest, periodicals, old newpapers) but I haven't used it for books for ages mainly because between my own books and school (which I use mostly for paperback fiction but not exclusively) my books needs are amply catered for


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## free spirit (Feb 4, 2012)

something like once a decade


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## Espresso (Feb 4, 2012)

I go to the library something like twice a month. Unless I've not finished my books, in which case I renew them on-line. I get two books out at a time and only ever read in bed, just before I go to sleep. So if I've had a busy week and am shattered by bedtime, I read less. Once I've finished my books, they go in my bag for work the next day and I go to the library for new books on my dinner break.
My library has a lot of exhibitions and evenings where authors come and do readings and special days for this, that and the other and obviously one of the head honcho librarians is pretty keen on local history, because the exhibit about that changes regularly and is always worth a look.


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## quimcunx (Feb 4, 2012)

a couple of times a year to collect recycling binliners.  Although that's stopped now as I have a new bag been delivered to me which I am to empty and reuse. 

I keep thinking I might go down to do studying to reduce procrastination incidences.


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## Greebo (Feb 4, 2012)

Not that often - VP gets the visiting librarian.


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## mentalchik (Feb 4, 2012)

2-3 times a month depending on how 'ready' i'm feeling


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 4, 2012)

I think the last time I went was at uni, so about 6 years ago!


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## tar1984 (Feb 4, 2012)

I have been using libraries regular for years. I have always relied on public libraries to get me out the flat when I was very socially isolated at one point, I could head down, get a few hours on the computers, then when i'd used up the computer time I'd take out books, dvds & cd's too occupy myself until the next day when I could go back. I practically lived in libraries for a couple of years (it's where I always used to post to urban from at the start).

Now I can afford internets at home and am much less socially isolated I don't have the same need, but they were an invaluable resource for me for ages. I actually don't know what I would have done without that outlet. Now I need to use the uni library most days because I can't get any work done at home, so I am _still_ always in libraries.

I like libraries.


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## marty21 (Feb 4, 2012)

haven't been for ages  I have got a hackney library card and should go more


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## boohoo (Feb 4, 2012)

Regularly for DVDs and books.


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## pennimania (Feb 4, 2012)

I went to one even when I was in London for only 48 hours 

excellent place for a nice quiet moment - use my local a lot - even if it only to return dear daughter's monstrous amount of overdue books


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## quimcunx (Feb 4, 2012)

Oh I went to the library back in the old country when the hill was flooded last year because minnie texted me about something. leccy off or summat.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 4, 2012)

I go to the local library at least once a week, often more, but then I do take my laptop there to work (as do a lot of other people, mostly students).

It is however also quite busy with people doing weird things like reading books and newspapers.


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## Mogden (Feb 4, 2012)

About once a week. It's a shame that the more I am using it, the fewer the opening hours and the more appalling the services offered.


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## pennimania (Feb 4, 2012)

Mogden said:


> About once a week. It's a shame that the more I am using it, the fewer the opening hours and the more appalling the services offered.


 I liked this post because I agreed with it - I wish there was a way to show agreement without liking something that obviouslyyou don't really


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## Mogden (Feb 4, 2012)

pennimania said:


> I liked this post because I agreed with it - I wish there was a way to show agreement without liking something that obviouslyyou don't really


Agreed 

Honestly Derby has shortened opening hours, security guards now check your books out, and they've implemented a new online library catalogue that makes Marquee scrolling text look like the latest Facebook update cos it's that backwards.

When visiting the other week a gentleman with limited English language skills had his book checked out by a security guard who I heard barking at him to give him his library card. Slung it through the self service thing only for the poor chap to say he was just wanting to return it.


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## gentlegreen (Feb 4, 2012)

Maybe 20 years ago - certainly not since I got regular access to the proto-Interweb.
Read my last book about 15 years ago.


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## machine cat (Feb 4, 2012)

Our library really needs a better way to search for books. You can do it online but a few computers dotted around the place which don't have access to facebook would really help.


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## toblerone3 (Feb 5, 2012)

About once a fortnight. Whenever I run out of reading material.


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## Puddy_Tat (Feb 5, 2012)

i'm a member of two council's libraries (we seem to be allowed to in a county that split into unitaries) and get to each about once a month on average. 

slightly less than I was doing while I was a part time student when I'd be more frequent at one or both, and every week or two at the college library.


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## imposs1904 (Feb 5, 2012)

Probably about 2/3 times a month at the moment.

Books are so bloody expensive these days, so I was grateful of the opportunity to take advantage of a late book amnesty that my local library offered in the spring of last year, returning ten library books that had been in the back of my closet for the previous five years.


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## Mrs Magpie (Feb 5, 2012)

imposs1904 said:


> Books are so bloody expensive these days


Only the new ones.
www.abebooks.co.uk


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## Mrs Magpie (Feb 5, 2012)

imposs1904 said:


> in the back of my closet


Oh, are you in the US? www.abebooks.com instead, then.


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## imposs1904 (Feb 5, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Only the new ones.
> www.abebooks.co.uk


 
True, but occasionally I do want to read a newish book. My library - Brooklyn library -  is excellent for new books if they're published in the US but occasionally I want to read newly published British books, and that's just out of my price range.

I do use abebooks. Thriftbooks is also very good for finding cheapish secondhand books in the States.


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## Mrs Magpie (Feb 5, 2012)

I love abebooks. We don't have Thriftbooks in Brixton but we do have Book Mongers (run by an ex-pat West Virginian) and just up the road in Streatham there is the wondrous British Heart Foundation bookshop.


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## DaveCinzano (Feb 5, 2012)

marty21 said:


> haven't been for ages  I have got a hackney library card and should go more


 
TBF it's probably been turned into flats. Or a library-themed cocktail bar.


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## imposs1904 (Feb 5, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I love abebooks. We don't have Thriftbooks in Brixton but we do have Book Mongers (run by an ex-pat West Virginian) and just up the road in Streatham there is the wondrous British Heart Foundation bookshop.


 
One of the things I definitely miss about Britain is the charity shops. Some of my best ever book purchases were in charity shops. They don't really exist in New York.

On the other hand, NYC does have the culture of the stoop sale which has turned up some good book finds.


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## joustmaster (Feb 5, 2012)

I went and printed something there about two years a go. it was terrible quality. 

before that.. Erm.. over twenty years a go.

I read a lot too.


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## Pickman's model (Feb 5, 2012)

My local library? Twice a week


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## Pickman's model (Feb 5, 2012)

gentlegreen said:


> Maybe 20 years ago - certainly not since I got regular access to the proto-Interweb.
> Read my last book about 15 years ago.


It's nothing to boast about


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## gentlegreen (Feb 5, 2012)

Pickman's model said:


> It's nothing to boast about


It's just an observation - I find nothing I want in books - fiction especially.

Which isn't to say I don't read a fair bit, but it's in a convenient electronic form.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Feb 5, 2012)

Don't think I've been to one for about 15 years

If i want to read a book I buy it, if i need to look something up I use the internet.


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## Maurice Picarda (Feb 5, 2012)

It's something to take children to, so that they learn the value of public services. Books that one actually wants to read oneself are Amazon's job.


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## marty21 (Feb 5, 2012)

DaveCinzano said:


> TBF it's probably been turned into flats. Or a library-themed cocktail bar.


 they have a relatively new one on Mare St, plus there are 2 closer to me in Clapton and Stoke Newington.


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## Geri (Feb 5, 2012)

I never go to the library - probably haven't been for about 25 years. I don't see the point of them for people like me.


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## moochedit (Feb 5, 2012)

not been to one since i was a kid, so probably about 25 years or so.


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## gentlegreen (Feb 5, 2012)

I have access to an academic library, and in the early days of computers when I was still soldering bits together, I used to plunder it for electronic schematics and the like - but the Dewey Decimal system dictates that those books are up several flights of stairs, and the Interweb is a much better for that sort of thing.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Feb 5, 2012)

Once a week.  I used to go more with my daughter before she started school. It's a great place to go with kids and we sit and read for about half an hour.  There used to be exhibitions and a cool cinema but government cuts have out a stop to that. 
I love the library but fear that it won't be around for much longer.


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## May Kasahara (Feb 5, 2012)

Geri said:


> I never go to the library - probably haven't been for about 25 years. I don't see the point of them for people like me.


 
I am curious - what are people like you like?

I visit our library at least once a week, although this is a visit with small children so it doesn't involve any actual checking out of books for me , more just sitting in the cafe eating biscuits before hanging around the children's library watching my son play the Pingu computer game.


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## _angel_ (Feb 5, 2012)

Really not often and then usually for internet (if something happened to home connection) and colour photocopy services. Last times it was picture/ photobooks.
Am too worried I'd lose the book/ forget to renew it/ it would get chunks taken out of it etc.


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## Boppity (Feb 5, 2012)

At least once a week, often more. I like to do my uni work in there.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 5, 2012)

never. libraries are not for me as i'm an undisplined, disorganised reader and i can get books for free off the internet. it's a shame though - libraries need support and patronage more than ever.


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## Cloo (Feb 5, 2012)

Couple of times a month, mainly 'cos of the kids these days. I do borrow for myself now and then - it seems to go in phases when I'll borrow a few in a row, and then not borrow any for ages.


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## Geri (Feb 5, 2012)

May Kasahara said:


> I am curious - what are people like you like?


 
At work all day when libraries are open, have access to the internet and able to buy a book if it takes my fancy.


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## nagapie (Feb 5, 2012)

Couple of times a month, for my son. I can't  read on a library time scale, especially now I'm a parent but it's great to take my son there. I hope we save our library despite it being pretty threadbare due to underfunding.


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## Shirl (Feb 5, 2012)

I don't go very often, maybe 4 times a year. I don't borrow books anymore as it's just too easy to download on to my kindle but I borrow films. I have just joined a book club that is being set up in our village and it seems that we can get 12 or so copies of lots of  books so long as we give them some notice. They have a very long list of books to choose from so maybe I'll be reading more library books too.


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## _angel_ (Feb 5, 2012)

Tbh there isn't an awful lot at the local library that's not really for the very young or very old. Leeds city library is better but I can't say I've been recently.


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## ViolentPanda (Feb 5, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Depends what you mean by library. I use the one at my work (a very good school library) about 3 times a week (books, periodicals etc). I do sometimes use the Tate library in Brixton, but not nearly as often, usually for stuff like photocopying info (Charities Digest, periodicals, old newpapers)...


 
...and occasionally for other "capers".


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## stavros (Feb 5, 2012)

I pop in there about once a month to read papers or magazines, and only ever get reference books out. I've never really been into literature.


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## trashpony (Feb 5, 2012)

I go every week or so - take out about 4-5 books for me (3 week loan period) and a big stack for the foal. We usually get a couple of DVDs too. I love the library 

Everything can be renewed online so I don't get much in the way of late fines


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## QueenOfGoths (Feb 6, 2012)

Once every three or four months I suppose. Tend to buy books from charity shops or Amazon. Mr.QofG's, however, goes at least twice a week and uses the various library services a lot.


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## Hulot (Feb 6, 2012)

Probably averages about once a month. I travel a lot for work, and it's really useful to get guidebooks when I need them without having to buy them and have them taking up shelf space at home.


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## Kanda (Feb 6, 2012)

Last time was about 20 odd years ago.


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## blossie33 (Feb 6, 2012)

I've always used libraries since I was at school and I go into a library once or twice a month to have a look to see if they have any interesting new books and sometimes buy one from the discarded table - in Hackney they are very cheap, 20p - 50p.

I don't tend to borrow as many as I used to as I buy books in charity shops and I've loads I've not read yet.

Hackney is great as the libraries in my area of the borough open on a Sunday too.


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## Roadkill (Feb 6, 2012)

At work, frequently - although tbh not as frequently as I might because a) it's not as well stocked with relevant stuff as some others I also use and b) I buy a lot of books.  As for public libraries, very rarely.  I'm probably still on Hull City Libraries' books (and a couple of other places I've lived, for that matter), but I haven't joined a library since moving to London.


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## Pickman's model (Feb 6, 2012)

seems to me what you're all saying is that you see a library largely as a repository for books and not a lot else.


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## blueplume (Feb 6, 2012)

a long time ago


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## danny la rouge (Feb 7, 2012)

I'm going this afternoon, to get out the Children's Book, by AS Byatt.  My book group is known to the local library, and very helpfully gets in multiple copies of books if it can, when we ask.  The Children's Book is our next book.  I fully expect it to annoy the Hell out of me.


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## Ceej (Feb 11, 2012)

When I was younger, I lived in them - 2-3 times a week at least, to read, get homework done, get away from a noisy houseful. I used to go to Keats Grove in Hampstead, gorgeous place, the whole road always smelled of the eucalyptus trees, the dust motes floated under the domed ceiling and a hatchet-faced old biddy who always winked at me and kept me books she thought I might like. Used to have a wander around Keats House a lot too.
In later years I could afford books, but still went once a month or so, just to read random stuff I might not necesarily have bought.

I work near to a library now, so go 2-3 times a month, use it or lose it. Libraries are the last bastion of civilisation and still a haven for people who can't afford books, don't have internet access, who want a bit of peace and quiet, or live in noisy, overcrowded spaces, or just want to leave the house for free and read a paper. I love them.

And they do ebooks too, now!


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## machine cat (Feb 11, 2012)

Today i returned some books and dvds, played a game on the computer, read to my son, watched him play and colour with other kids and chatted with staff.

Edit: that was a reply to pickmans


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## Sweet Meiga (Feb 11, 2012)

I go to the university library once or twice a week to work and pick up some books, and to the city library for dvd-s maybe once a month. I also like visiting libraries when travelling abroad, especially those in old and beautiful buildings.


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## redsquirrel (Feb 12, 2012)

Local library once or twice a month, university library more often.

The local libraries out are are pretty crap, a very limited selection of books and opening hours.
When I was in Canada I used to go to the libraries all the time, they were fantastic. Excellent selection of books, (and DVDs & CDs), free wireless access and they were generally nice buildings, big lots of light and space and they had good opening hours too.

I wondered if the libraries had to be good as there were so few bookshops around and if it was a general Canadian thing. Any other Canadian/US posters had a similar experience?


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## Perroquet (Feb 12, 2012)

never. 
my wife is a librarian and brings me all the books i could possibly want. i usually don't even have to say which books as she knows exactly what my tastes and interests are. it's pretty fantastic actually.


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