Opinions: The Public Library
Apr-28,2007 Filed in: OPINIONS
Miscellaneous:
The Public Library
I could have cared less about the library before I had kids. Now I am pretty familiar with it. We have story time at the library that we go to occasionally. This is the time that I sit with my kids and we sing songs like “It’s a Great Day to Make Some New Friends”, “Anna Banna Bo Banna Banana Fanna …” and the rainbow song. This process is definitely a means to an end – the end being keeping the kids occupied until it is time to take them home for a nap.
I always heard that you could rent DVDs from the library so after the story time I would go down and see what movies they had available. The selection was not that good. They always had movies like “Howard’s End” and “Yentl”. If I thought singing the rainbow song was borderline humiliating, renting a Barbara Streisand movie would just put me over the edge. Not long ago, however, my friend Todd told me about making a cue of movies online. You can log in to the library site, search for movies and put them on hold. When they come available, they ship them to your local library and send you an e-mail to let you know that you need to come pick them up. You can keep them for a week. Did I mention that it is free? Holy moly. Who needs Netflix or Blockbuster? (If Mr. Netflix or Blockbuster are reading, I might possibly change my opinion if you gave me a free membership.)
It wasn’t long before I filled up my cue with 50 movies. Some of them, like “The Alamo” (which my older brother is in for .5 seconds), were available immediately. Some of them, like “Hitch”, had 140 holds on it and I was the 141st. If you don’t care when you actually see the movie, it is great. Every week I get an e-mail saying “We have a jillion books on hold for you. Come pick them up.” It might actually say something different but I don’t take the time to read it. I hop in my car and rush over to pick them up. It is becoming quite popular now so they lowered the maximum number of movies in your cue to 25. It is still totally worth it. Oh – and it is good to support your local library.
RATING: 5 Gullys
I could have cared less about the library before I had kids. Now I am pretty familiar with it. We have story time at the library that we go to occasionally. This is the time that I sit with my kids and we sing songs like “It’s a Great Day to Make Some New Friends”, “Anna Banna Bo Banna Banana Fanna …” and the rainbow song. This process is definitely a means to an end – the end being keeping the kids occupied until it is time to take them home for a nap.
I always heard that you could rent DVDs from the library so after the story time I would go down and see what movies they had available. The selection was not that good. They always had movies like “Howard’s End” and “Yentl”. If I thought singing the rainbow song was borderline humiliating, renting a Barbara Streisand movie would just put me over the edge. Not long ago, however, my friend Todd told me about making a cue of movies online. You can log in to the library site, search for movies and put them on hold. When they come available, they ship them to your local library and send you an e-mail to let you know that you need to come pick them up. You can keep them for a week. Did I mention that it is free? Holy moly. Who needs Netflix or Blockbuster? (If Mr. Netflix or Blockbuster are reading, I might possibly change my opinion if you gave me a free membership.)
It wasn’t long before I filled up my cue with 50 movies. Some of them, like “The Alamo” (which my older brother is in for .5 seconds), were available immediately. Some of them, like “Hitch”, had 140 holds on it and I was the 141st. If you don’t care when you actually see the movie, it is great. Every week I get an e-mail saying “We have a jillion books on hold for you. Come pick them up.” It might actually say something different but I don’t take the time to read it. I hop in my car and rush over to pick them up. It is becoming quite popular now so they lowered the maximum number of movies in your cue to 25. It is still totally worth it. Oh – and it is good to support your local library.
RATING: 5 Gullys