|
I think I would be described as a "heavy user."
I visit my branch on average once a week, and some weeks I'm there twice.
I maximize the advantages offered by their web system, which allows me to search, hold, and renew materials. I can hold up to 50 items at a time.
I can "pause" and "release" titles when I want them to come. This is handy if there is a long waiting list for certain items and I want control over when I get it when I'm next in line. The pause feature holds your position indefinitely.
The Toronto system is huge and has a ton of resources, including books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs. They also have a growing digital library of audiobooks and ebooks that you can download at home.
I'm impressed by the selection. They have pretty much anything mainstream, and will often have obscure things I want. In the worst case: it's a reference title only, which means I have to visit the branch. It is quite rare to not be able to find something at all.
The system also has a science fiction and fantasy library, which I haven't visited but will one day. From what I gather, it's huge. It's filled with novels, anthologies, graphic novels, and reference books---new and classic. I see stuff pop up from it on the web system all the time.
Anyway, the library rules. It's much better than spending too much money on books you may or may not read. That the Toronto system has pretty much anything I want means I can read whatever I want, and I can usually get it within a week, often within two days.
Public library, ftmfw!
__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
|