My Trip to the Library

 I went to the local library on Wednesday.  The experience wasn't good.  I used to LOVE the library.  It provided me with my means of escape from the world.  What's not to love about that?  

When we first moved here, I stopped by the library to get a library card.  I needed two forms of identification and one of them had to be a utility bill to prove I was an actual resident.  Since I don't generally carry around utility bills, they wouldn't let me have a card.  They wouldn't take my checks as proof or my voter registration card. The first form was already my driver's license, so that didn't help.  After that, every time I went to town, I'd forget the damn bill.  Eventually, I gave up trying to get a library card.  Years past.  Recently, I tried to sign up for a card online, so I could get Hoopla.  

Yay, that worked!  I had Hoopla and I could use it to watch things on Roku.  Yay.  Then it stopped working.  Why?  Because my local library system which covers all but one of the local libraries here, had stopped their Hoopla contract.  Hoopla had raised their rates and were now too expensive.  Or so the librarian said.  

Unfortunately, I have no other use for the library.  I can't check out books because I only get up to that town every 90 days - when Hubs' prescriptions need refilling - which would mean I'd either get slapped with a boatload of late fees or I would need to make a special trip.  Derp.  

Anyway, the two gals at the library acted like I was bothering them.  There was no one else at the place.  I guess that could be understandable.  I was talking about Hoopla and they didn't care about Hoopla.  They tried to convince me to try their other services.  I didn't care about their other services.  It was then that I tried to find common ground.  Books.  

I mentioned that I was a writer and that I actually had books in their library at one point.  I figured they'd try to look me up in their computers, but no.  They looked at me like I was stupid.  (More so the one than the other.  The other was acting like I wasn't there.)  I was tempted to walk back into the stacks to see if my books were still on the shelves, but the girls were giving off a whole 'get the hell out of here, so we can go back to gossiping' vibe.  Finally, I gave up, shrugged, and waved.  "Thanks! Have a great day."

Thinking about it all today, I remembered that for the past 13+ years, they've been trying to raise money for a new building.  There's something somewhere that shows how much money they've raised toward their goal, so I know they have money.  And even though that money is slated for a new building, it burns my butt that they can't keep the Hoopla because it's 'too expensive'.  Who the hell is using the actual physical library?  There's never anybody there when I drive by.  Wouldn't their usage rates go up with Hoopla?  People around here could borrow ebooks and movies, etc.  It boggles the mind.

I don't expect to ever see a new building on the piece of land they already own for the new library.  By the way, the new library will have a whole huge bank of computers for the locals to use.  (That was one of the things they really touted up during a fundraising drive several years ago.)  Computers to use, but not more space for books.  Books are passe.  :shrug:  

Apparently, so are writers of those books.  I mean, I didn't expect fanfare, but a 'hey, cool' and a 'what do you write?' would've been nice.  

Anyway, that's my local library.  I was unimpressed.  Of course, I've been unimpressed with them for years.  The librarian who was there when I donated books wasn't impressive, and she spelled my name wrong when she put my book in her 'new at the library' section of the paper.  Derp.

It's all pretty sad, when you think about it.  I'm a writer.  I'm a reader.  Libraries and I should be like peanut butter and jelly.  Instead, we're like peanut butter and sardines.  Then again, libraries seem to be less about books these days than about the computers and other junk.  I'm an antique, I guess.  And libraries as I knew them are fossils of a forgotten, happier age.  =o(

Thursday This n That

 I remembered again.  Here's hoping I actually post this at a reasonable time.  

In my local paper this week, there was an article about 'social isolation', like that's a bad thing.  I read the article out loud of Hubs, and we laughed and laughed.  Yeah, we show most of the signs of this so-called bad thing called social isolation.  Know what?  We don't care.  ROFL

Speaking of social, I ran errands yesterday.  I spoke to several people - the pharmacy gal, the bank chick, the postmaster, the chick at the library, the gal at the thrift store and the one at the DG.  The day before I did Walmart and the feed store, and I was my chatty self at those places, too.  See?  I'm social.  Unfortunately, my social tank is now empty and I will happily go without seeing another person besides Hubs for at least a week.  Whew.

Speaking of the post office, I actually wasn't there to harangue the postmaster about our shitty service.  I went there to verify my identity so I would be able to access my own damn information on the Social Security website.  The postmaster didn't think I could do that at that location.  He even went to a different location himself, just last week.  Anyway, it turns out I can do it there, but I needed to bring an email code they should've sent me when I signed up for the site.  Except I don't remember getting any damn email code.  Gah.

As for the library, I went there to prove I was who I said I was because my Hoopla has been out since the end of June, and I figured it was a thing with my local library.  When I signed up with Hoopla, they did kinda hint that I should stop by my local library to finish the process, but I never did.  So, when my Hoopla went tits up, that's what I figured had happened.  Nope.  My local library system is no longer providing Hoopla.  It's too expensive or some such rot.  The gal had some suggestions - like inter-library loan of DVDs of programs.  1) I never did set up my DVD player.  2) I don't get to that town often enough to not incur late fees on borrowed library items.  :shrug:  I'll be trying to connect through another library for my Hoopla fix.

ARGH! Sawyer just filled the litterbox.  Man, can that boy poop.  His new name is StinkyButt.  (Not really, but you know how it goes.)

I did my yearly fall earlier this week.  Don't ask.  Anyway, I have some interesting bruises on my thigh and my upper arm.  I told Hubs he needs to start calling me Gracie Lardass.  (It's French - Lar D'ass.)  Anyway, nothing's broken.  To borrow a phrase from Toy Story... I'm into 'falling with style'.

Okay, that ought to be enough for anyone.  Have a great day wherever you are.  Peace out.

Library Stories and Reading

Okay, I stole the idea for this post from my friend, Silver.  This started out as a comment I was leaving on her post.  She asked for library stories.  Go read her most excellent post and then come back.  

Okay, so here's my comment:  "I don't have a library story.  Libraries haven't been my thing.  We lived far enough out in the country that Dad driving me into town to visit the library wasn't happening.  I went to the school library where we could check out one book a week, as long as we turned in the book from the week before.  Mostly, I read the same books over and over.  Or I read the few books I had at home over and over - Robin Hood and King Arthur were my favorites.  When I got old enough, I started reading Mom's books.  She belonged to that Harlequin subscription service where books would show up in the mail.  And the garage sale finds when Dad would bring home boxes of assorted books for Mom.  I read a lot of things I probably shouldn't have from those boxes, lemme tell ya.  Then there was the year or two when my oldest brother lived next door and he'd let me borrow as many of his books as I wanted, and he had tons of books.  I think it was high school before I started visiting the library regularly.  I'd check out as many as they'd let me and tear through them all.  Fantasy and SF mostly.  And that was the first, last, and only time I was a regular library visitor.  Weird for a writer to say that, I know, but it's true."

And here's what I could've added, but my comment was already too long for someone else's blog...

The truth is that I haven't stepped foot in a library in years.  And that was to talk to the librarian about carrying my books.  I donated a few and never saw them on the shelves, so I stopped.  Oh, wait, I went in one other time to attend their book sale.  I picked up quite a few.

Oh, I did try to get a library card here.  I had the idea that I would regularly check out books there.  The problem was that in order to get a library card here, I had to present not only my driver's license, but also a utility bill.  No, my checks wouldn't be enough to prove I was a resident.  Not my voter registration card either.  Had to be a utility bill.  And I don't carry those around in my purse.  I could never remember to take a bill with me when I was going to town, so I gave up on getting a library card.  

If I want to read a book, I buy it.  If I don't have the money to buy the book I want, I go without.  And I read a lot of free ebooks.  Or I buy books at the thrift store.  I also have a shit-ton of books here in the house that I can read.  

The last time I was in the library, and the years before when I went to the library regularly with Owl, I noticed that the library wasn't so much about books anymore.  They were internet cafes without the coffee.  Or daycare centers where a person could drop their kids off for free for the day and someone else would entertain them.  When I was a kid, libraries were for quiet, peaceful reading.  Maybe some research, which was also quiet.  The last thing I want when I'm reading or trying to find something to read is a bunch of kids running around.  Or people playing video games in the background.  

To me, a library is sacrosanct.  Like a temple to knowledge.  A place for quiet introspection and learning.  Filled with the smell of books, not the smell of sweaty rugrats.  

Anyway, it kind of turned me off of visiting the library.  And now, here anyway, the library is always asking for money.  So they can build a bigger location with even more room for computers and 'activities', but never a word about more room for books.  Feh.  

I'll stick to my personal library, thanks.  It's quiet here.  And there are actual books.  I can read them or pet them or just stand around smelling them.  

What about you?  What's your library story?