Do you or your kids like to
- read
- watch movies or listen to music
- play with games and toys
- have events for all ages
- take care of office work such as print, fax and scan
- even do any of the preceding in a language other than English?
- or can’t get out of the house and want to do most of the above?
and do it all for FREE?
If so, you may share, or learn to share, our love of the library.
We LOVE the library. We don’t like wasting money, but if we have a fine on a library book, we think of it as a way to payback just a small portion of the benefit we have had from the library. The library has been a great treasure in many ways.
Books, Magazines and More
The library systems in the United States are amazing. All the books you could want are free to use. Having lived in China where the idea of library is quite different and involves membership or rental fees, having the amazing resource of the library has been an amazing discovery. We often have 40+ books checked out at a time and refresh that supply every few weeks.
This is especially great for kids to be able to keep getting new books and not have to buy and store them.
Events
The library also has wonderful free events. We have been to various events for adults, and use it most for the children’s story and educational times. These often involve activities that we can’t do at home that we are able to do along with Elijah and Isaiah.
DVDs & CDs
We don’t have a TV (that is begging for another post), but do have a DVD player and Elyse and I will watch a movie occasionally. The library has just about anything you could want, including the latest releases, for free. We may need to wait a while for the hot new releases, but it’s only a movie and it is a fun surprise when we get the notification that our movie is in.
Games and Toys
I can’t speak for all libraries, but our local system has a wide variety of games and toys that can be checked out. What a great way to keep changing things up for the kids!
Office Work
With free printing (even in color), faxing and scanning and in expensive copies (or scan and print for free), the library makes a great stop for basic office work.
Speak a language other than English?
The Cleveland Public Library system (not Cuyahoga), has an amazing foreign language department. We focus on the Chinese and they have every book we can think of and are always bringing in new kids books. (Again, that is our focus, but we are walking past thousands and thousands of books of all the other languages to the whole room just for Chinese.)
Can’t get out of the house?
Most libraries now offer online books, magazines, music, etc. that can be downloaded right to your mobile device… and automatically return at the end of the check-out time so avoid late fees.
We love the library and find it interesting that it is the foreigners who have really valued this great resource. At most events we are at, there will be a whole variety of languages being spoken between parents and their children (Chinese, Hindi, Ukrainian, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, etc.).
Whether for adults or children, the library is an amazing resource to: Read broadly, Save money, Enjoy events and keep from cluttering up our life with books, etc. that we would have to buy and store.
3rd Culture Living 