I love my library

I am a firm supporter of support your favorite authors by buying their books. I'm also a firm supporter of support your local library.

I go to my library for two reasons. One, to find old favorites to read. Two, to find books I haven't from new authors so I can maybe find new favorites.

Last Thursday I went to the library to pick up two books by Sherrilyn Kenyon. They're both the first books in two of her series. I've heard about her, seen posts by her on Facebook when they were shared by others, but knew nothing about her books. So I looked up book titles and found she had multiple series. I picked the first books in two of her series and ordered them in. They were in different libraries from the branch close to me and in order to get them I needed to put them on hold so they would come in.

Once they came in, I brought them home. I have a new book (as in a brand-new-just-arrived-in-the-library book) that I only have for two weeks, so I'm finishing that one first. It's a non-fiction one about the six spies that helped George Washington during the war. They've managed to identify five of the six, but the sixth – a woman – has as of yet not been identified. It caught my attention and the thought of spies helping our soldiers fascinates me. That's something I might not have found out about except for going to the library.

Don't get me wrong, I've checked out some real duds too. There was one non-fiction book about Elizabeth of York that seemed more interested in sensationalizing things rather than telling me the actual story about her. I turned it in within a week of getting it. Then there's a book I checked out because I saw the third book in the series on the “new” shelf. It was an interesting story, but I couldn't get into it because it just didn't resonate with me. I like the author (David Weber, who co-wrote 1633 in the Ring of Fire series starting with 1632 by Eric Flint), but this particular story of his is not for me.

That reminds me. I should see if the library has 1632 and the other books in the series. I've only read up through 1633 and there are two or three more I think, not to mention the books that have the short story collections.

Another reason I love my library is I can go there and work on writing without any distractions. Granted, I have to have Himself drop me off now since I can't drive the truck (manual transmissions and I don't mix). But he can listen to his music, his anime, his movies, his whatever his background noise of choice is without me telling him to turn it down. I can put my earbuds in and not have to turn them up loud to block out his stuff. It's quiet, I have access to free wifi, and if I need reference materials and I can't find what I want online I can go dig up books on the subject (if the library system has them in its catalog).

My library has also caught up with the digital age. They have ways of borrowing e-books and audiobooks. I've borrowed a couple e-books, though I haven't managed to borrow an audiobook. It's a little more difficult, not to mention I run linux not Windows and that's part of what you need to get the audiobooks.

Libraries are awesome and should be supported. How about you? What's your favorite thing about a library?

Common courtesy

I saw something on Monday at the library. A woman was in there with what looked like her son. He looked to be in his 20s while she was in her 40s or 50s. He was looking for books. She had one of her earbuds in. She had a German Shepherd with her and if you looked at her face you could tell she was blind.

The dog wasn't bothering anyone. It was tucked up beside her, watching things. She had hold of its leash. A woman and her children came into the library. Five is the minimum age for kindergarten here so the two children running around after her had to be younger than that.

The woman took one look at the dog and started yelling about how dangerous it was and how her “babies were in danger”. The blind woman's son came up and told her to shut up, and that the dog was his mother's service animal and had every right to be there.

As soon as he said that, she shut up. And then sent her kids over to meet the dog. Even though the blind woman told the children not to touch him because he was working, they pulled on his ears, shoved their fingers into his face, and pushed up against him. I give him a lot of credit. He didn't snap or bark. But he was clearly uncomfortable, as was the blind woman.

The young man came back and told the children not to touch the dog, that he was a service animal and working. They ran crying back to their mother, who started on a tear again. The library staff forced her out of the library with her getting louder and louder as she went. This did very little to help my anxiety but I was waiting to check out my books and I didn't want to leave them behind.

You know, gods forbid that someone show a little common courtesy. I mean, how difficult her life must be because her children were forbidden from playing with a strange dog who was obviously uncomfortable with the children's ministrations. Getting upset at the young man who was only protecting his mother and her service dog was perfectly rational.

Seriously, where is common courtesy these days?