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Do you use a library?

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  • 08-10-2011 2:36pm
    #1
    hooplah
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭


    Hi folks,

    I'm a librarian, after a lunchtime conversation here at work today I thought I'd ask posters here if they use a public library?

    If not do you have specific reasons?
    Did you use one previously but have since stopped?
    Where do you get your books?
    Do you ever browse or read based on reccomendations?


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    #2
    SBWife
    Registered Users Posts: 1,287 ✭✭✭SBWife


    Yes, all the time. It's a great service.


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    #3
    Amirani
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,524 Mod ✭✭✭✭Amirani


    I used to use Ballyroan (my local library) a lot but now I just use the one in Trinity.


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    #4
    ger vallely
    Registered Users Posts: 766 ✭✭✭ger vallely


    Absolutely use the library. It's a fantastic service. I use the Westside library in Galway. The staff are fantastic and can hardly do enough for you. I often read book reviews and on the basis of these I order books from the library. My children have been members since they were very little and still love our almost weekly trips there.


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    #5
    coffee_cake
    Registered Users Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    No, I prefer buying the books


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    #6
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    I think they're an absolutely essential service, and I do use my local one, but less than I used to.

    I admit that these days, most public domain books I get I get for free download, rather than buying them or getting them in the library.


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    #7
    OakeyDokey
    Registered Users Posts: 2,605 ✭✭✭OakeyDokey


    I also prefer buying books but I don't always have the money to go out and get some, the library is a great way to get you reading. I have discovered some wonderful books on spontaneous picks.


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    #8
    flyaway.
    Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭flyaway.


    I use it all the time. I get about 6-10 books out of the library every week... it has saved me SO much money and also the librarians are lovely and always up for a chat. :)

    I do buy books as well but I live about 2 hours from my preferred (secondhand) bookshop so I only buy a couple times a year. I also have 3 or 4 series that I buy the books for as they're my favourites and I like to own them.


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    #9
    johnayo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,718 ✭✭✭johnayo


    hooplah wrote: »
    Hi folks,

    I'm a librarian, after a lunchtime conversation here at work today I thought I'd ask posters here if they use a public library?
    If not do you have specific reasons?
    Did you use one previously but have since stopped?
    Where do you get your books?
    Do you ever browse or read based on reccomendations?

    Used to use library when I was going to school.

    Get my books Either in local bookshops or online.

    The last 7 books I,ve read were all reccomended here on Boards.

    I think I will buy a Kindle soon.


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    #10
    johnayo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,718 ✭✭✭johnayo


    flyaway. wrote: »
    I use it all the time. I get about 6-10 books out of the library every week... it has saved me SO much money and also the librarians are lovely and always up for a chat. :)

    I do buy books as well but I live about 2 hours from my preferred (secondhand) bookshop so I only buy a couple times a year. I also have 3 or 4 series that I buy the books for as they're my favourites and I like to own them.

    My God, That is some reading. Well done. I am lucky to get through a book in a week or longer.:)


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    #11
    hooplah
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭hooplah


    Thanks for the answers so far folks.
    bluewolf wrote: »
    No, I prefer buying the books

    What type of books do you read bluewolf? Do you browse before you buy, do you buy based on reviews or reccomendations at all?


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    #12
    coffee_cake
    Registered Users Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    hooplah wrote: »
    What type of books do you read bluewolf? Do you browse before you buy, do you buy based on reviews or reccomendations at all?

    I have been a fantasy fiend for years, and to a lesser degree scifi as well. Branching out lately into general fiction as well. Think the last things I read/am reading have been fantasy, fantasy, woolf, nabokov.
    Usually I am either continuing a series or going by recommendations. I did impulse buy from a random recommendation on amazon when buying another book, and it turned out quite well! :)


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    #13
    meitina
    Registered Users Posts: 96 ✭✭meitina


    Yes ,I used library before.But forgot to return the book on time .Now its a year later.Would really loved to bring it back but scared ,i'll be charged a fortune .
    Is there any way i can get away unpunished???:confused:


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    #14
    Stacey.
    Registered Users Posts: 190 ✭✭Stacey.


    There's one in my local town but I hardly ever use it. I did more when I was younger though.


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    #15
    LimeFruitGum
    Registered Users Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭LimeFruitGum


    Yes indeed. I haven't been in about two months, as I haven't been able to finish all the books I took out within the three weeks, so I've given it a miss for a while.

    One of the first things I do when I move to a new area is register with the library :o


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    #16
    hooplah
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭hooplah


    meitina wrote: »
    Is there any way i can get away unpunished???:confused:


    Well you'll be liable for the fines but you could just drop the books back at the counter and run (some libraries have a returns box so you don't even have to run), at least that way someone else has the chance reading them.

    If you talk to the staff they may or may not write off some of the fine.


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    #17
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,710 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    If they use a public library? - Yes
    Where do you get your books? - Local bookstores, Kindle, Library
    Do you ever browse or read based on reccomendations? - Sometimes. But the great advantage of a library is that there is such a range of chosen books that one gets to explore different genres outside the normal recomendations.


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    #18
    paddyandy
    Site Banned Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭paddyandy


    Libraries are great places.I wish Rathmines would improve the WI-FI signal.


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    #19
    crotalus667
    Registered Users Posts: 1,900 ✭✭✭crotalus667


    hooplah wrote: »
    I'd ask posters here if they use a public library?
    yes but not for books



    hooplah wrote: »
    If not do you have specific reasons?
    I have too many books in my to be read pile , but if i did want an expensive book i may check it out rather thqn buy it
    hooplah wrote: »
    Where do you get your books?
    online / eason's / hughs and hughs
    hooplah wrote: »
    Do you ever browse or read based on reccomendations?
    yes


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    #20
    Callan57
    Registered Users Posts: 4,160 ✭✭✭Callan57


    I go to the library every month & get my 6/7 books. I use Ennis Library & find it excellent .. I especially love their online site so I can check that the books I want are available before I go in.
    I also buy books & find I'm using my Kindle more & more.
    I get my recommendations from John Kelly's The View, The Irish Times book reviews, friends recommendations & of course various book sites (including Boards)


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    #21
    Permabear
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


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    #22
    paddyandy
    Site Banned Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭paddyandy


    Hav'nt read a book in years i'd go in for a sit down and get news on the wi-fi but rarely open a book.In London when i lived there the Libraries would disinfect books from time to time but here i'd feel contaminated psychically and Mentally from a book.Rarely touch em'.


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    #23
    OakeyDokey
    Registered Users Posts: 2,605 ✭✭✭OakeyDokey


    flyaway. wrote: »
    I use it all the time. I get about 6-10 books out of the library every week... it has saved me SO much money and also the librarians are lovely and always up for a chat. :)

    I do buy books as well but I live about 2 hours from my preferred (secondhand) bookshop so I only buy a couple times a year. I also have 3 or 4 series that I buy the books for as they're my favourites and I like to own them.

    Wow at the most I'd take out about four and even at that I cut it very close to the renewal times if not needing to renew one of them again.

    There's is a great system with my local library, they give me my own pin number and account with borrowbooks.ie and if there's a book they don't have in I can order it and they can borrow it from a different library. I can also renew my books online which is handy if I can't get to them in time to bring them back.


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    #24
    paddyandy
    Site Banned Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭paddyandy


    Staff are great in Libraries and they are still great places to visit.' they help me to avoid mcDs when i only want to sit down for ten minutes.I learned to sleep while i look like i'm reading .....Great recharge and over in a short while.


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    #25
    E.T.
    Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭E.T.


    I love the library, I use my local one all the time. The librarians there are lovely, and they'll always try to order books from other libraries if I'm looking for them. It's a brilliant way of reading outside your comfort zone as you can just return the book if you don't like it! The library has introduced me to a lot of authors that I wouldn't have heard of or noticed otherwise.


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    #26
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    Haven't borrowed a book from a public library since I was child, but I use college libraries all the time, and there is one thing that really bothers me - patrons writing in the books.

    Seriously, I've opened books to find just about every sentence underlined, with different users over the years having variously employed blue pens, red pens, highlighters...and then there are the notes some have written in the margins. Grr. Who are you people? Those books are not your property - stop it!

    Does this happen to public library books too? I guess it's probably less of a problem, as people wouldn't usually be using those books for research.


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    #27
    hatful
    Closed Accounts Posts: 346 ✭✭hatful


    Kinski wrote: »
    Haven't borrowed a book from a public library since I was child, but I use college libraries all the time, and there is one thing that really bothers me - patrons writing in the books.

    I've very rarely come across a public library book that has been written on. Whereas back in college the books I took out would be full of idiotic annotations, ruled and highlighted in a rainbow of colours. Really pissed me off. I suppose after a while it's hard for librarians to flick through and figure out if someone has just damaged the book or if it's historical damage. There are some real morons in higher education.


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    #28
    hooplah
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭hooplah


    Kinski wrote: »
    Haven't borrowed a book from a public library since I was child, but I use college libraries all the time, and there is one thing that really bothers me - patrons writing in the books.

    Do you read outsied of your course at all Kinski, fiction or non-fiction? Where do you get those books?

    Kinski wrote: »
    Does this happen to public library books too? I guess it's probably less of a problem, as people wouldn't usually be using those books for research.

    It does a bit, language learning books and plays would be the worst. It wouldn't be as bad as a college library I don't think though.


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    #29
    SBWife
    Registered Users Posts: 1,287 ✭✭✭SBWife


    I wrote in a library book recently. It was a cookbook and there was an error in the ingredient list for one of the recipes which I neatly corrected. Felt guilty for a week afterwards, my mother obviously raised me a little too well. :o


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    #30
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    hooplah wrote: »
    Do you read outsied of your course at all Kinski, fiction or non-fiction? Where do you get those books?

    Yes. Some I get from college libraries, but I buy a lot of books too.


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    #31
    hooplah
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭hooplah


    Kinski wrote: »
    Yes. Some I get from college libraries, but I buy a lot of books too.

    Where do you normally buy your books?

    Do you browse and then buy based on what looks good or do you go to a shop or website with a clear idea of what you want based on reviews or reccomendations?


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