Our library books were due yesterday. So we headed back to the library to return them. After our last visit I took a look at the library's website. There were a lot of neat features there, one of which was that you can request a book from another library in the same county.
I can recall my first trip to the library. And I can recall the very first book I ever checked out from the public library. (I cannot remember what I first checked out in my school library--I remember loving the school library when I was in elementary school. I do recall some of the books I checked out from the school library, but not the very first one.) Obviously it's a very old book & is no longer in print today. I have looked for it online before, to try to purchase it, but wasn't successful at finding it. The library we've been visiting is very new & doesn't have this old book BUT another library in the same county had TWO copies!! I put in a transfer request for the book. A few days later I received a text message on my cell phone telling me that it was available & would remain available until a certain date. The final date of availability was after the due date of the first round of books we checked out, so I decided to just pick it up when I returned these books.
So yesterday I asked at the desk how I get a book I requested. I was told there was a bookshelf where requested books were located. They are organized by the first 3 letters of the last name of the person requesting. I quickly found the book!! What a fabulous system!!
I must say that back in the early days of library use things were very different than they are today. Back then there were no computers. There were the drawers of cards listing each book. I have no idea if requesting books from another library was a possibility back then. But there was no internet to do it from home like I did! I must say that I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss the card catalogs at the library. I have actually never learned how to look up books on the computer systems. So I usually just browse at libraries now, rather than looking up anything specific. (I did, back in the 80s I think, learn how to use the computer replacement of the card catalog, BUT it was a weird microfilm type system, which no longer exists today.)
Anyways, I grabbed the requested book, then took a browse in the book store. We grabbed 4 books (for $4!!) & then headed to the children's library section & picked out some more books to check out. Last time we checked out a Franklin book. We already have 3 Franklin books (from kids' meals at Chick-Fil-A) & my son REALLY likes Franklin. He loves turtles in general & really enjoys Franklin books as well. This time we checked out SIX Franklin books & then a Little Bear book (my son loves watching Little Bear & has one Little Bear book).
The 8 books we checked out
The 4 books we purchased
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