Books and Movies and Music, Oh My!

So this morning I went to the library to dump some paper in the recycling bins and to pick up one book.  One book.  This is what I came home with: 

I went to pick up the Susan Eisenhower book; last weekend I saw the re-run of an episode of Booknotes in which she was interviewed about this book and I decided I wanted to read it, so my local library got for me from another library.  I also had requested the Rin Tin Tin book and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it had come in as well.  It's really hard to go to the library and not have a little browse through the stacks and today I found the Larry McMurtry book -- a book about books -- and the Grisham.  I'm not sure whether I've read the Grisham, but if I have, I'll just take it back.  I used to feel kind of guilty about checking out books and not reading them, but I don't any more.  When I check out items from the library, it helps their circulation numbers.  Good circulation numbers helps their funding, and more funding means more things the library can provide for its patrons.  Everybody wins.

I love my library.  Lee posted about libraries last week so my thanks go to her for kind of starting my thoughts in this direction.  I love the fact that I can go to my library and get darn near any book I want; if they don't have it, they can usually get it for me and get it for free.  But the library isn't just about books.  When my computer crashed, I could and did go to the library and use one of the PCs they have there -- for free.  I can get music CDs and books on tape, and I can get all kinds of movies.  I haven't rented a movie in years.  Why should I pay $7 to rent a DVD for a week when I can get it from the library for free?  And then there are the programs.  My library has story times for the little ones, as well as book clubs and programs for teens, adults and seniors.  If I have a question about something or need a word looked up in the unabridged dictionary, all I have to do is call the library.

Our local library has been working for years to get a new facility; their current space is simply no longer large enough.  There is a story -- maybe true, maybe apocryphal -- that during a discussion of the library's future at a township meeting, one of the commissioners made the astonishing statement that "not everybody reads"!

Apparently it's been a while since he's been to the library.