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Our County Library offers preloaded Kindles that you can check out for a month. Each one has a different genre on it.
Libraries are also where people who can’t afford air conditioning like to hang out, where classes for everything from yoga to crochet are offered, kids can hear stories and participate in craft groups, and where I found out from a visiting ACA rep that I could save $600 a month on my health insurance.
the main branch in Vancouver used to(might still, but don’t live there now) have a full on recording studio you could book sessions and rent almost any kinda instrument and/or equipment you wanted. did a few recordings there and it was awesome. sound isolation booths and all sorts of studio monitors and headphones. really cool stuff
“Provide services to poor people” is really valuable and kinda covers this but it’s worth mentioning on its own anyway: a lot of libraries have tools and stuff you can borrow when you need something occasionally but not often enough to waste money and storage space on having it. Need a food dehydrator for the occasional camping trip? Waffle maker? Laser cutter? Amazing service for anyone imo, poor or not
My library has a seed library where I can go get seed packets ☺️
They also have a really cool little maker space, but I’ve never used it before (I wanna use the 3d printers some time but have to take the classes before I can use them)
Laser cutting? I need this back in my life. I used to dabble with the one at my last job. They’re fun.
This will vary a lot of course, but in a lot of cases your local library may not be just your local library.
The library in my town isn’t anything too special, it’s a little small and doesn’t really have a lot of the cool things people talk about libraries having these days (though I am occasionally surprised, they have mobile hotspots you can borrow for example)
But it’s part of a network of libraries from around my county, so I can go check things out of around 30 different libraries and some of those other branches have a lot more cool stuff than mine does
My library even has original art you can borrow
You can use your library card with apps like Libby, OverDrive, and Hoopla to read, listen to, and watch all sorts of stuff for free.
Our library offers access to Kanopy, which is a streaming service!!
Is overdrive still usable? I thought it got replaced by libby? I still use libby but I much preferred overdrive.
My Kobo Libre still calls it OverDrive but maybe they just never updated the app.
Yeah, pretty sure if you follow an overdrive link now it will take you to Libby.
Not my library card though. Only the capital city library has it in my country.
One day I’ll do it but right now I’m too lazy to drive there.
Do they accept volunteers on average? I should check. I need to build solidarity with my community, figured something like that might be nice.
Many libraries in the US have a Friends of the Library volunteer group, or something similar. I volunteer at two of our local branches.
Just a FYI that you might have to be fingerprinted or do a background check. That was required for our county, as we are sometimes in close proximity to children.
Luckily I have a clean background. I’ll check it out.
Usually I just use the library online. Recently they made me come in to renew my card. While I was there I looked at the movies and saw one that I had just rented on Amazon. Face Palm.
Plus library cards can be used to access ebooks and audiobooks. They really are a fantastic resource
I have 3 library cards and I use them as frequently as I can. I’ve been building my video collection by borrowing blu-rays and ripping them to my pc. I have all of Star Trek Lower Decks and working on getting The X-Files.
I also walk the stacks to grab random books off the shelf. Sometimes I’ll flip through them, sometimes they will just sit at home before I return them a week or two later. Either way, the use numbers for library books go up and that’s a good thing!
The events are great, lots of art and music access. And one branch has a gardening swap meet to take in extra gardening scraps like cuttings, and extra fruits and veggies. I dropped off a bunch of extra spider plant babies and walked away with some new succulents like my new agave plant 🥰
Everyone should use their library card if you have access to one!
A buddy rents all his video games there. He hasn’t bought a game in several years. As he has two younger children it’s nice to save the money I’m sure.
So if you’re a budget gamer this is smart! You don’t even need to be a patient gamer it seems. He’s been renting games that have come out just weeks before.
His library (and mine) only offer console games. Not helpful for us PC gamers.
I know of several libraries that will rent you an entire Nintendo switch or PS4
how would they offer to “lend” a game on PC?
I used to check out CD-ROM games from my library all the time as a kid. Most of them were designed to only be run while the disk was in the tray and I was 6 and hadn’t learned piracy yet lol
Most modern PCs lack an optical drive and even considering externals exist, I don’t think there are many PC game publishers that do physical releases these days :( so it’s kind of a big ask for a library to maintain a stock of retro computing disks, many of which are now really valuable
that being said, book publishers have been granting lendable ebook licenses for years. if they figured it out, game publishers could. but there’s no profit motive for it like there is for selling licenses to libraries since PC gaming doesn’t have a hundreds of years old lending model culture :(
Yup, but I don’t know the knowledge of all PC gamers so just trying to be helpful to everyone who reads the comment.
This game will self destruct in two weeks
This goes for voting, too, btw.
Eh, voting is free, library cards are not (over here).
I listen to so many books through Libby. Libraries are sacred
More people should be using Libby I’ve been trying so hard to get everybody I know on Libby
I’m currently streaming a show on Kanopy.com for free through my library card.
Books, e-books, library of things, games, reading clubs, meeting spaces, computer access, community; libraries are an amazing resource and pillar of healthy communities.
I use Hoopla to read comic books on the train. Just download before you hit a tunnel.
