How do libraries work where you live?

[Crothian]

We have a county system, but I've gotten library cards from other counties before. As long as I have Ohio ID they didn't really seem to care.

 

[bento]

It's different depending on the county you live in here in Texas.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth area most towns have their own municipal libraries, and several have generous lending agreements. This allows folks in some of the smaller towns to use the larger town's collections. Only Dallas is sticky on this and won't let any others outside the city borrow books.

Just to the north is Denton County (home to the University of North Texas) and they have a county system set up, because there are fewer towns of size.

If you're not sure about who you can use, I'd suggest going to your state library web site. They probably have better information about your area and who serves it. http://www.sos.mo.gov/library/
Here's the directory to all the public libraries in your state: http://www.sos.mo.gov/library/ld_public.pdf

 

[EricNoah]

I believe the libraries in my area are municipal but fortunately they cooperate as part of one South Central Library System. These libraries have a union catalog and provide inter-library loaning throughout the system. It's pretty remarkable. I can have any material from any branch/member library delivered to any other branch for pickup.

Here's a map that shows the scope of SCLS -- it covers seven counties (note that Madison alone has about 9 branches):

http://www.scls.info/about/sysmap.html

 

[Jeysie]

I live in Erie County in PA. I can borrow a book from any library that is either a) a part of the Erie County Library system or b) a library that has put their catalog listing into the Erie County Library catalog system. Frex, I live in Girard, but Girard's library is not a County library. However, their catalog is in the County's system, so its one card.

Also, there's a system called AccessPA, which is basically a PA-wide inter-library loan system. If my libraries don't have a book, I can request to borrow from a library in PA that does have it.

The libraries in Central/Western Massachusetts work pretty much the same way.

1. You get a free card from a C/W Mars-connected library.

2. You can use said card at any library in the C/W Mars system, which covers from the New York border out to around Worcester, I believe. I still have my old Berkshire Athenaeum card though I've moved away from Pittsfield.

3. You can arrange to have any book in a C/W Mars library/branch shipped to a library/branch closer to you.

I love our library system, although the quirks of adult life mean I can't spend as much time hanging out in the library as I did when I was a kid. Some of the stories here have my eyes popping out of my head. $60/year for a library card? Yikes! Even my heavily learning-encouraging parents would have been rather reluctant to pay that for me when I was a kid, and I probably wouldn't bother now, since it'd be easier just to buy books/magazines. (That's about 8 paperbacks a year at current prices, after all.)

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[jonesy]

I can go online and search the Finnish library database for the books they have and then, if they are not available at my local library, I can order them to be sent to the local library on my name (this even includes books that haven't actually been released yet, so the moment they do get them and they have been processed they get sent to my library). They arrive within 1-3 days (if they aren't there already), I pick them up, read them, and then I can return them to any library close to me.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

The Orlando library system sucks. I buy books, or check out books from where I work...the University.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

In Northeast Massachusetts we have the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. You get a free card from your local library and it works at any of the 34 other libraries in the consortium. Interlibrary loans are a click away from your home computer, and they will e-mail you when the book arrives at your local branch.

I love my library. We visit it with the kids weekly.

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

Where I live, it's on a county system - but there are a ton in the county, and a ton of books, plus a wonderful internet access system that you can log onto to browse and reserve books.

Unfortunately, I moved to a different county..... and their online system sucks, which means that now I actually have to go into the library and hope they have something good in, or wait in line for one of the computers so I can browse other branches...

 

[Pbartender]

I believe the libraries in my area are municipal but fortunately they cooperate as part of one South Central Library System. These libraries have a union catalog and provide inter-library loaning throughout the system. It's pretty remarkable. I can have any material from any branch/member library delivered to any other branch for pickup.

Here's a map that shows the scope of SCLS -- it covers seven counties (note that Madison alone has about 9 branches):

Our local library works the same way... It's a part of the "Library Integrated Network Consortium", which includes 9 different nearby libraries. A library card at any one of them is valid at any of them, and you can request inter-library loan books... Request a book from a different library through the on-line catalogue, and they ship it to your local library for you to check out.

 

[Ferret]

I don't know if anyone from England has posted (reading how foreign libraries work didn't hold my attention), but I have a card for all Devonshire libraries, and I don't even need that card to hand stuff back!