Discussion: Local Library Love

Today is a Discussion Day here at Cover2CoverBlog. I am trying to start these a little more since they seem fun :) I hope you enjoy and if you have any topic suggestions let me know in the comments.

Today's Topic

I love my local library, I don't go often, and they are pretty small but I love everything about a library, so today I wanted to talk about it a little.

When I lived in Northern Virginia I had a library card and went almost every weekend - my husband was working and I had days to myself to search the never ending shelves for great reads, and I had the whole giant NoVA library system at my finger tips... there were a lot of books! 

But when I first moved to Vermont, I didn't think to seek out my local library, we were still getting settled and deciding on where we wanted to buy a house. Once we did we were unpacking, fixing things, settling, and you know - the snow. So the idea of library time fell to the sidelines for a bit and I work for a college and they have a pretty good selection (more on that later) and it just didn't occur to me to see out a more local library.

I live in VT but work in NH, so I on my way to and from work I pass about 3 NH libraries. "My" library is actually in the opposite direction from just about everything and it is in a tiny town next to mine, so I don't get over there too much. So it took a while before I realized where it was, and that while not near anything on my to-do list it was within driving distance and I needed to be a part of it...

This is it...

(Image borrowed from the Library's website)
 

Isn't it wonderfully cute and quaint? 

It is pretty much an older home and the various rooms are different sections of books. The main floor when you walk in has a foyer of informational stuff about the town and a place to buy used books to help out. There is an office area for the librarians and the main room is mostly Adult Fiction/ Non-Fiction and a few computers for public use. Then the basement is the best place - it is all Young Adult, Middle Grade, and youth books! They have the whole basement. There are toys for young kids and a table for activities and some beanbags to relax and read in. It is rare that I hang out, but if I was a teen I would be there A LOT! There is also an upstairs and there is some more Fiction overflow and then a room for genealogy research, mostly files from what I can tell, I have only walked up there once.

SO MUCH love for this place. Along with the books here and the online catalog that Vermont has, the library also rents out DVDs, so occasionally I grab something I have seen before but that isn't available on Netflix. I really like this aspect too.

Aside from this library, like I mentioned, I have the college library. While mostly books used for academia, there are actually a lot of fiction classics, graphic novels, and books that I never thought they would have - so if you have access to a college library it is a great thing to check online. When your local library doesn't have what you are looking for, see if the college one does AND many colleges operate on a consortium, so they link to OTHER college libraries and will ship books to your institution for you to check out.

Do you use your local library? 

What do you love about it?