Are libraries hard to access where you live?

**hmcart** · 01-12-2012, 08:50 PM

Ours is pretty good. We used to live in a bigger city with several branches including a massive branch downtown but now we are in a small town. I take the kids often during the summer but not as much during the school year.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 01-13-2012, 01:36 AM

We have a GREAT library! You can check anything out for free. There are lots of open spaces, study tables, places to plug in...and there's also wifi for free. It's really bright and open. It's usually fairly busy.

**frugalnana** · 01-13-2012, 02:15 AM

It used to be until we moved out of town to what some would consider country. Now if I want to go and get a book or whatever it is I'm searching for, I go to the web site to see if a book is in before I go and its usually when I have bills to pay, etc. We do have a building that is being remodeled for a smaller branch of the library. Its suppose to be ready by March, that means 5 minutes from my house. Yippie!

**leighcat** · 01-13-2012, 06:02 AM

We have several local libraries. One has terrible parking. They all open rather late and close earlier than they used to. Its a pain in the butt trying to remember the hours because they are different each day. They are closed Sundays AND Mondays. I wish they had more convenient hours. I do like that I can reserve books online though. That is a nice perk.

**Trishagirl** · 01-13-2012, 07:34 AM

Our town library is pretty easy to access but it's a small one. Our county just built a new up to date library & it's beautiful,but we don't get there much since it's
15 min. from our home. We go to the other town west of us when are in the area since they are on the same system.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 01-13-2012, 10:47 AM

We live in a large city, so there are libraries throughout that people can access via public transportation.

Growing up, our town had one library and it was located downtown. So, you could easily walk there or take the bus from the other side of the river if you didn't live within walking distance. Ironically, it was located right near the main hub of the public transportation station in our town.

As far as getting to it, you can walk there from where I live to the closest one. It takes about a half of an hour walk, but the walking does people a lot of good. If people are having trouble walking there, they can take the bus from where I live and catch a transfer. One of the other buses has a stop near the library and you would just have to walk across the field to it.

**imagine** · 01-13-2012, 04:24 PM

Sounds like many people have good libraries with decent access.

**bunnys** · 01-13-2012, 08:49 PM

Our library was never open on Sundays. Last year due to the economy tanking and reduced tax revenues they also started closing on Thursdays.

But it does have a lot of good services.

Being more frugal, I have started using the library more and I'm not incurring the fines I used to regularly have--which meant I stayed away from the library.

Now I pay attention that I have books out and when they're due and no more fines.

**valerian** · 01-14-2012, 10:32 AM

Our library is in a nice area with historical houses all around it, but I don't use it very often. For one thing you can request a book and maybe get it a year later or never! They also are slack in keeping up with late dues, etc. They scr*wed us over too many times saying that we didn't turn books in on time when we always turned them in on time so I got sick of going there. We homeschooled at the time and checked out dozens of books a week, but I got tired of their issues. Also I hear of so many people that get movies for free at their libraries...not so at ours. As homeschoolers, the other problem was they didn't have many of the books that we would need.

**LuvMyHubby** · 01-14-2012, 11:45 AM

Our library is good for a smaller town however, my purposes for libraries are usually for genealogy so we usually access the University Library's special collections which is a five minute walk from our apartment or drive to the next city over which has a larger library also with a special collections department. So, I guess I am fortunate to have several libraries relatively easy to access.

**Cedar** · 01-15-2012, 09:15 AM

I love my library. We have about 8 branches for the county area, including one about 5 miles down the road from my neighborhood. They are open 7 days a week with fairly good hours. They have tons of digital media, ebook download stations, giant shelves of books, magazines and newspapers, a big childrens area, and a lovely courtyard with fountain and benches and tables. They also do a twice yearly book sale that I always go to. Fill a cardboard box with as many books as you can for $15. I will say that I don't get there as often as I'd like, but it is very easy access.