Library vs Buying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no interest in buying $$$ coffee, but I’ve always been a book buyer and don’t have any issue spending money on books. The library never seems to have the book I’m interested in or I can’t finish it in time because there’s a waitlist behind me so I buy most of my books, immediately donate the ones I don’t absolutely love and keep the ones I might read again or loan to a friend. I also feel like buying books helps support authors and publishers—and imo that’s worth it alone. If you are a library mostly person, do you just read whatever the library has available whenever it comes ready? I’m curious to know if people tend to buy books more than take out from the library.

I love books OP and yes I buy them instead of going to the library.
Most of my friends who are avid readers are the opposite they use the library. Many use the library through their kindle and yes have the same issues you do but they don't want to spend monies on the books.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A secret if you like Libby and have an e reader. I've noticed that as long as I stay in the book, even after it's been returned, I can finish the book. If you go to the home screen it yanks it. This is true on both my Paperwhite and early model kindle.

Ma’am, just put your kindle in airplane mode like the rest of us.

I've found airplane mode doesn't always work. Sometimes if you go to the homescreen it will pull the book, even in airplane mode.

That doesn’t make a bit of sense. It would have to connect to WiFi to do that, and airplane mode is not connected.

i’m sure that Amazon will find a way for rented media to expire through some kind of software that works even if not connected to the Internet.

It's the library not Amazon.

A Kindle is Amazon

You can read the ebooks you borrow from the library through libby on a kindle.

I have a kindle and i have never bought a book from Amazon.

Right. But it’s still an Amazon product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read about 3-4 books a week and I get them all from various Little Free Libraries. There are more than 10 of those within a half mile of my home in all directions (NE DC) and while many of them are full of "what to expect when expecting" type and policy wonlk/government analysis books, there are also plenty of good books. I grab whatever appeals to me and put it back in another LFL when I'm done.

I have found bestsellers - a couple years later. That's fine with me. I'm not in a book group and have no deadlines for finishing a book.

So to answer your question - neither. I don;'t buy books and I don't check them out from libraries.

You must be taking ALL the good books because every LFL I've tried to find a good book in has had nothing but garage in them. All of them. I don't even know why there are still LFL anymore. Pointless!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no interest in buying $$$ coffee, but I’ve always been a book buyer and don’t have any issue spending money on books. The library never seems to have the book I’m interested in or I can’t finish it in time because there’s a waitlist behind me so I buy most of my books, immediately donate the ones I don’t absolutely love and keep the ones I might read again or loan to a friend. I also feel like buying books helps support authors and publishers—and imo that’s worth it alone. If you are a library mostly person, do you just read whatever the library has available whenever it comes ready? I’m curious to know if people tend to buy books more than take out from the library.

Buying is waaaay better. It's very difficult letting those leave the home after they have been loved tho to make room for new buys.

We buy a lot of books as a family and we also collect certain books.
I have found the library to be good for binging. For example, I hear about an author on here (thanks guys!) and I can go get all the books which are older so don't have waitlists or rush to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read about 3-4 books a week and I get them all from various Little Free Libraries. There are more than 10 of those within a half mile of my home in all directions (NE DC) and while many of them are full of "what to expect when expecting" type and policy wonlk/government analysis books, there are also plenty of good books. I grab whatever appeals to me and put it back in another LFL when I'm done.

I have found bestsellers - a couple years later. That's fine with me. I'm not in a book group and have no deadlines for finishing a book.

So to answer your question - neither. I don;'t buy books and I don't check them out from libraries.

You must be taking ALL the good books because every LFL I've tried to find a good book in has had nothing but garage in them. All of them. I don't even know why there are still LFL anymore. Pointless!

I have such a hard time finding good books in these too! Although I'm starting to recognize maybe I'm part of the problem - I forget about them and don't stock them when I have good used books. This is a nice reminder to make more of an effort.

[Anonymous]

I mostly read e-books from the library. I'll borrow a physical copy if that's the faster or only way to get it.

I buy books once in a while - mostly to support acquaintances who wrote a book (a surprisingly high number) or when I pop into an independent bookstore and feel like I want to support it.

If my teens show an inkling of interest in reading a book, I'm always happy to buy it for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read about 3-4 books a week and I get them all from various Little Free Libraries. There are more than 10 of those within a half mile of my home in all directions (NE DC) and while many of them are full of "what to expect when expecting" type and policy wonlk/government analysis books, there are also plenty of good books. I grab whatever appeals to me and put it back in another LFL when I'm done.

I have found bestsellers - a couple years later. That's fine with me. I'm not in a book group and have no deadlines for finishing a book.

So to answer your question - neither. I don;'t buy books and I don't check them out from libraries.

You must be taking ALL the good books because every LFL I've tried to find a good book in has had nothing but garage in them. All of them. I don't even know why there are still LFL anymore. Pointless!

I have such a hard time finding good books in these too! Although I'm starting to recognize maybe I'm part of the problem - I forget about them and don't stock them when I have good used books. This is a nice reminder to make more of an effort.

You have to know which LFL have the best stock. I scored Paper Palace and Lovelight Farms this week - thank you to whomever left them!

[Anonymous]

I’m the same. If I want to read a book, I dislike having to wait for it to be in, or to be rushed to read it by a certain date to take it back to the library. I want to be able to toss it in my tote bag and dogear the pages and not worry about keeping it in a certain condition. When I tie reading to the constraints of the library I enjoy it less, so I often buy the books. Some I keep, some I pass on to friends, some I sell back to thriftbooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the same. If I want to read a book, I dislike having to wait for it to be in, or to be rushed to read it by a certain date to take it back to the library. I want to be able to toss it in my tote bag and dogear the pages and not worry about keeping it in a certain condition. When I tie reading to the constraints of the library I enjoy it less, so I often buy the books. Some I keep, some I pass on to friends, some I sell back to thriftbooks.

You must be a really slow reader. I know it can take up to a week to get a book at the library, so I am planning my next two books before I finish my current one. You have three weeks to keep a book through MCPL, and it auto renews unless there’s a wait or it’s a lucky day shelf book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the same. If I want to read a book, I dislike having to wait for it to be in, or to be rushed to read it by a certain date to take it back to the library. I want to be able to toss it in my tote bag and dogear the pages and not worry about keeping it in a certain condition. When I tie reading to the constraints of the library I enjoy it less, so I often buy the books. Some I keep, some I pass on to friends, some I sell back to thriftbooks.

You must be a really slow reader. I know it can take up to a week to get a book at the library, so I am planning my next two books before I finish my current one. You have three weeks to keep a book through MCPL, and it auto renews unless there’s a wait or it’s a lucky day shelf book.

I s ok end a lot of mentally energy on family schedules and logistics so I don’t have the bandwidth to apply that type of time to managing library lends and holds. If I’m interested in reading a book, I look to see if it’s available within my library system, but if there’s a significant weight and I really want to read the book now, I buy it. Books I absolutely love, I keep but I recycle a lot to neighborhood free libraries or donate to our branch. For me, spending $20 for a book (average) is totally worth it—especially when I compare the cost of books to streaming services or Starbucks or similar.

[Anonymous]

Pp here—autocorrect had its way with my post. It was supposed to say “I spend a lot of mentally energy…” And “significant wait” oy

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I pick out things off the shelves, but more often than not I'm at the library picking up something I've put on hold. I love to read but do not have space (or money) to buy a copy of every book I read, so I try to save it for favorite authors knowing I will likely re-read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the same. If I want to read a book, I dislike having to wait for it to be in, or to be rushed to read it by a certain date to take it back to the library. I want to be able to toss it in my tote bag and dogear the pages and not worry about keeping it in a certain condition. When I tie reading to the constraints of the library I enjoy it less, so I often buy the books. Some I keep, some I pass on to friends, some I sell back to thriftbooks.

You must be a really slow reader. I know it can take up to a week to get a book at the library, so I am planning my next two books before I finish my current one. You have three weeks to keep a book through MCPL, and it auto renews unless there’s a wait or it’s a lucky day shelf book.

NP here. I'm a very fast reader and still have a tough time finishing library books sometimes because I'm usually reading several books at once (often with multiple from the library). I have found that I read a lot more if I have different styles of book going at any given time - sometimes I want something light, something challenging, something nonfiction, something genre - and so I'm often juggling several. This means sometimes I run up against the due date and if I really liked it and there was a long wait I'll buy it at that point to finish it. Also, I travel a lot for work, mostly internationally, and since I don't take library books with me when I travel sometimes that eats up a lot of the check out time too.

Just saying, there are a lot of reasons why someone might not finish a library book in time besides being a slow reader.

[Anonymous]

I do a mix of buying and using the library. I am friends with several authors and I buy to support authors. The f I have discovered a new author, I will usually buy a few of their books and read the rest from the library.

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't have space for any more books even after donating many of them.

I also love my ereader/Libby for vacations. I'll download a variety of books and then always have something to read where it wouldn't be possible to take ten books on vacation.

I also love the library for cookbooks. I'll borrow and flip through a bunch of them and if I find a recipe I really like, I'll take a picture or write it down.