Top Ten Tuesdays #92: Library Lovin’

Posted June 7, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 16 Comments

TTTimageTen Reasons I Love the Library

This weeks topic is: Ten Reasons I Love Xcould be a certain book, character, author, your indie bookstore, a fandom, a tv show, reading, a hobby, a genre. Honestly anything you want to gush about.

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review.

As you know, I recently did a Library Love post to share the books I currently had checked out from the library. I wanted to talk today about why I love the library in general! I feel like I’ve done a similar post before but honestly I can’t find it, so whatever. Enjoy the library goodness!


chuber 90s cartoons nerd library

(1) Free books, obviously!

This is the clear reason the library is the best. At mine, the slip prints out and tells you how much money you saved by using the library. I love knowing that I got FREE books to read. I’ve been much better about my book buying habits lately: I generally only buy ebooks on sale, I typically read a book first then buy it, and I don’t aimlessly browse and buy books anymore. I’ve been cutting back on my spending in general so I don’t want to cut corners with books either. Obviously there’s nothing better than buying a book, but there’s something nice about not buying one. More on that in a hot sec…

(2) Risk-free reading

Why spend money on something you’re not sure you’re going to like? There’s literally no better feeling than knowing you didn’t waste your money on a book. There are countless books I THINK I’m going to love and then they end up just okay for me… or worse, they’re terrible. I hate the feeling of regret when you buy a book. I know there are ways to sell or donate books, but I prefer not having to go through that. With the library, you can happily DNF if you need to! No hard feelings at all. Returning a shitty book to the library instead of wasting your personal shelf space is great. I only buy books from favorite authors, within series I’ve started, or if they’re super cheap and I can justify it. Otherwise, the library it is!

workaholics books library whats up

(3) Interlibrary loan

I’m a spoiled, lucky person here in Connecticut when it comes to libraries. We have two library systems in our state (even though it’s super small!) and I access both of them with my library card. I frequent the library in my hometown and another in the town where I work. The entire library system of CT is at my fingertips. I can request books through interlibrary loan through either system, so there’s a huuuuuge chance the book I’m looking for is SOMEWHERE out there. It’s a great feeling! I love being able to request and read books from other libraries; it just completely opens the door to all the books.

(4) Audiobooks and ebooks

I’ve become utterly obsessed with Hoopla. It has so many audiobooks available! My library also recently added ebooks to their Hoopla database as well. I’ve been reading graphic novels through it, listened to The Selection series as audiobooks (which is great because I’d never spend money on those books…), and even could watch movies if I wanted. Our Hoopla selection is amazing and our Overdrive selection is terrible. I certainly gravitate towards Hoopla 99% of the time and I love having that available for me.

(5) Books on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g

I don’t have much of a reason to do research now that I’m out of school, but I love the idea that you can get books out on just about anything. I’ve been hoping to get craftier lately and don’t want to spend money on a book about crocheting when I have no idea how I’ll do with it. It’s nice to have (again) the low-risk reading! If I decide it’s not something to keep up with, I just return the book. No harm, no foul.

(6) Literally lifelong benefits

It doesn’t matter how old you are – there’s a benefit for using the library. When I was a kid, my mom would take me constantly. (To this day, that woman does not buy books. I don’t know the last time she purchased a book and she reads at least one book per week!) I went to my college library constantly to do my homework and study. Now that I’ve graduated, I use it for personal reading and book-checking-out. There are business benefits because a lot of libraries have subscriptions to Hoovers and business journals. I’ve noticed a lot of seniors at my local libraries hanging out, reading newspapers, and looking at books. I just feel like there are SO many ways to use the library during all stages of life!

(7) Quiet place to read

I haven’t sat down and read a book at the library in a long ass time. I used to love going there after school in middle school and just reading until my mom picked me up. It’s great to have that safe, quiet space when you need it. I hope to get back into reading at the library sometime soon. Our apartment complex can get noisy, especially in the summer, so this could be a great escape.

(8) Non-book benefits

During our Marvel rewatch and current X-Men binge, we’ve checked out all of those DVDs from the library. I love having other non-book resources to check out too. They have multiple TV show seasons there too, so I hope to explore that area. I like browsing for movies when we’re not in the mood to spend money, or want an older release that Redbox doesn’t have. Free movie rentals, guys! Come on!

disney book beauty and the beast belle library

(9) Library events and sales

I’ve found so many books in the library basement book sale. I love going down there and seeing what they have! I haven’t really participated in any events but their movie nights are super tempting. They have showings of recent releases on certain nights each month. I’m sure all local libraries are different, but I know that there are countless events for people of all ages, with interests of all kinds.

(10) Smart as hell librarians

I’m going to be straight up honest – some librarians that I’ve recently encountered are so rude and unhelpful. But there are also SO many badass, excellent librarians out there too. At college, they would always help me with my research papers. I loved meeting with them and getting their insights about how to gather information. Most of them are really helpful, smart, and eager to work with you.

16 responses to “Top Ten Tuesdays #92: Library Lovin’

  1. Great list! I love the library too as you know. It’s amazing how much money I save borrowing books from the library. I couldn’t possibly read as much as I do if I had to buy all the books. The interloan is the best! I sometimes feel bad for all the driving I cause with my book requests, but I love having access to multiple counties library systems. It’s wonderful!

  2. My wallet definitely loves the library. The worst feeling in the world is being so excited to buy a new book and then realize you hate it and that you should have just tried it from the library first. I’ve gotten better at using mine but I’m always too lazy when it goes to actually going and picking up my holds that I put it off for forever.

  3. I couldn’t agree more with any of this. Libraries are the most magical place on Earth! I think non-book benefits are often overlooked by libraries, even though that’s a pretty kickass benefit of the library. Wonderful topic and list!

  4. I love that your slip tells you how much you save! That’s so cool! I think I can go on the library website and calculate how much I save a year. Risk free reading is the best, it’s one of the main reasons I use the library! We have a big system too so the selection is usually great even if it’s not at my local branch. Plus they’re great at buying suggested books, which I love. I’ve never checked out DVDs because I always forget they are there but I want to! Love your list this week 🙂 Yay libraries!

  5. I have so much love for this post, particularly because I’ve been falling in love with my library all over again this year! I, too, have been trying to be really good about spending (particularly on books), so it’s been really helpful. I like that I can “try” out books and don’t have to feel bad about spending money on them if I don’t like them; I like that I can get all sorts of titles from my library too, and usually with a short wait time (unless they’re super popular titles). It’s just such a great resource, and it definitely leaves me guilt-free 😉

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.