Library Love

I LOVE my local library. I just love it. Except for the occasional indulgence, I don't buy books anymore. The library sends me an email twice a month listing new books they've received in the categories I've specified (books on tape, oui! craft books, oui! cookbooks, non!). I decide what I want and put them on hold via computer, then I get an email when they're in and I pop by to pick them up. It could not be easier.

And you want to hear something really funny? I don't remember anyone's phone numbers (I mean, my daughters are Speed Dial 1 and Speed Dial 2), and I barely remember passwords and PIN codes, but I have my library card number memorized.

I remember going to the library across the street from my elementary school. It was one of those old, musty, dusty places where you checked books out by laboriously writing your name (well, it seemed hard as an 8 year old) in pencil on a little lined checkout card. How on earth did they ever keep track of books? How many were actually returned? Maybe the honor system was such that they actually got most of them back.