I use to live in walking distance of the town’s library and on top of it, it was next door to the laundromat we used back then. There is something especially nice about having one that close.
I should start using the current town library, it is shiny and new and in a small part of the old Bell Labs building which is something else that use to make me happy. I’m just re-read about a dozen Heinlein books and I am re-reading the Lord of the Rings currently. Next up should be the library.
Another babysitting library.
My town’s library has a sign tacked up just inside the lobby encouraging parents to drop off their kids while they go shopping. IMHO they let them watch too many videos, but at least the kids are around books and they do try to get the kids interested in reading.
Our book selection is woefully inadequate* so I use the inter-library loan system a lot. I sometimes worry about over-using this great service because the cost can’t be insignificant. A couple of weeks ago I got a book from an Amarillo library(six or seven hundred miles away) in two days.
No doubt due to spending too much on videos and babysitters 
Libraries are tiny magical castles filled with books.
I check out the book pile posts on John Scalzi’s *Whatever *blog regularly, then go over to our library’s online catalogue to see how many I can find to borrow.
I love that my library will purchase items they don’t currently have if I request them and they are available for purchase. So far the only thing they couldn’t get for me was the DVD of Bastard Out of Carolina and they apologized profusely…
I love library buildings, except for the one here. As I have talked about here before, they spent millions on the building, but not on the collections. Thankfully, there is a good e-library system in the state, and the local library is very good with inter-library loans.
The worst problem in the building is that someone decided to burn Scentsy in the library for years. They stopped when I told them the perfume was a problem for people with allergies and asthma, but I can still smell it every time I walk in.
Hooray! It won’t be a problem for me much longer. We are finally moving home! After 3 years in this very small town, Mr. CK has been transferred to a city close to where he grew up. Closer to family and friends, more choices of a place to live, more job opportunities, Carnegie Libraries, rivers, lakes, trees, and rain!
I worked for a Library once, in a medium-sized city. It was a wonderful building with a huge collection and many great activities for kids, teens, and adults. It was far better than the library system of the huge city we were in before that, or any other I ever experienced. It will be the pinnacle of library-ness for me unless there’s something better in the city we are moving to.
I don’t object to kids alone in the library as long as they are well-behaved and mature enough to be left alone. A kid who is a reader can be happily occupied exploring the world though books. I was like that, and so was Mr. CK.
I lead a hospital library This place is the best, not to brag on ourselves too much. 
Our county has a fantastic library system, with several branches, clean modern facilities, and lots of good books.
My own town is a strange enclave within the county that does not have county library system privileges because we have our own town public library. It’s a crappy library that makes me feel like I stepped back in time to 1975 whenever I enter. So sad.
The county charges $75 per year for non-residents (or enclave residents) to have a library card, and that is an annoying fee, so I don’t bother.
Last month a friend told my wife that they have special rates for … older individuals. My wife is a few years older than me and has made the cut. She got her library card for $10 and is just tickled pink about it. I’m looking forward to the day when I can get mine for ten bucks too.
Anyway, if I go there, she can check out books for me.
Yeah - eldest dtr is a youth librarian in our town. She LOVES her job. As I go into my job I dislike, working with people who dislike their jobs, I envy her working in such a pleasant place, with such nice people, and actually assisting people.
I go to the library at least a couple times a week - tho at times I use the drive -p window to return or pick up info. Really proud I live in a city that values and funds an excellent public library.
Residents of North Little Rock got out of paying some taxes that the rest of Pulaski County does, so they didn’t pay for and did not receive LR Library services. Our new Director made a deal with the NLR Library that we would give cards to their residents if they would give cards to ours. A neat deal, and one wonders why that wasn’t worked out a long time ago.
A previous Director had begun entering our car holder info in DBase. I programmed in Foxpro to create library cards, and more programs to track overdues. This saw us until we got enough money to automate. BTW, I created mailing labels to send our cardholders information about a state constitutional amendment to increase our revenue and pass it.
We were amazed at the number of bad addresses we had.
Then I found out I could get library books ON MY KINDLE!
I may have squeed. A lot.
Isn’t that great? Alas, a lot of the books I want to get from the library aren’t available thus, but I like hard copy books, and especially if there are illustrations I prefer them to Kindle.
I do, however, find that as my eyes age the hard-copy typefaces seem to be getting smaller and less legible…
Just out of curiosity, do they publicize a minimum age for unaccompanied youngsters?