Let me start off by saying I’m a substitute librarian assistant so I spend at least a few days each month on eight hour shifts of the library. I preface my blog with this to say, dude, I am in the know…and is there anything out there more frugal than using the free resources at the library? But do you know of all the resources available to you?

As libraries across the United States and specifically in my state, California, are facing yet more budget cuts, it’s time I think to remind us all of the value of the library. And while the book stacks are a nice visual reminder that, yes, you can check something out and read for free provided you reside in the county the library is in, there is more to the library than the stacks of free reading material in the stacks.

The number one thing that keeps me busy these days as the library sub is checking out videos. Our library, like many, has a two tier video rental system. The county dvds are newer and free for two days and the ones donated to the library (which can help you have an eighties flashback weekend) are free for four days. This seems to be the number one reason why most people visit our library.

As April and tax time is approaching the second most used service is all the income tax forms and instruction booklets, and while we don’t give out tax advice, we do instruct people on where to go in town to talk to someone and give them an idea of which form is probably for them.

Next is the computers. Free wireless without having to purchase coffee to use it. Free computer access for those not bringing their own laptops. Free computer classes for those who don’t know how to use the computers effectively. Most of the librarians I know will help with some instruction regardless of whether or not you are in the computer classes.
I often wind up helping people navigate or learn how to use keywords.

Newspapers and magazines. Why bother with a subscription you don’t read all of anyway? The library has it. And has all those back issues that you accidentally recycled. Being a library employee has cut down on my subscriptions. I now only subscribe to small presses. I read the big guys like Time and Newsweek at the library (and they are available for check out).

Audiobooks and tapes. Probably the most expensive way to buy a book is an audio CD—good reason to check them out instead. Even in a small rural area you can have access to variety because smaller libraries and counties usually have a collective that they pull from. In Northern California, we are part of the “North State Collective” which means if I want to borrow some book on tape from neighboring Butte County, I can.

Speaking of CDs…libraries…the ultimate in legal music sharing. And you are just listening, right? Not copying…no, not you. Never.

Storytime. Where else can your toddlers and preschoolers have someone read to them other than you, do some sort of crafty thing with paste, buttons, and feathers AND get a sip of juice and cookies for free? Affluent neighborhood mommies pay big money for this sort of thing and your kid and get it all for free one day a week at the library. And though we don’t have a jungle gym in the kids section, we’ve got toys from every decade of the last fifty years for the pleasure of the kiddies to play with while they are here. And you don’t even have to buy a happy meal.

Some libraries I know show free movies. Ours is too small for it, but every once in awhile we have some. We also host poetry workshops that you’d pay $200 for elsewhere with the exact same instructors.

The biggest perk for me (other than working here so I’m on top of my due dates and fine potential) is the Friends of the Library booksales. Our town has about five different book clubs and we seem to get all of their books on a regular basis. If it’s on the best seller list, eventually—sometimes even within the same month, I can score a copy of the latest books that still look new for a quarter a piece. We have a free table of older donations and magazines too.

The community bulletin board. I know of everything that could possibly be going down in this town all because of the library community bulletin board. If it ain’t on the board, it’s not happening.

As a regular patron, if you don’t find the book you want that you just read a terrific review of, you can request it. Many counties use patron requests as a guide in their book buying.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your butt back to the library. Meet your neighbors. Find out what’s going on. Check out new things, old things, use the Internet. Use the library before the powers that be decide that it’s something they can cut out of our lives and our communities. It’s the ultimate in our frugal lifestyles…a good gathering place for the coming recession…