LiveDifferent Challenge (20): Patronize!

For those of you just joining our LiveDifferent Challenges, click the LiveDifferent link under featured to see what we’ve done so far.  Basically, we’re just brainstorming on fun ways to live counter-culture, focusing on creative ways go against the grain of materialism, consumerism, and selfish waste.  I always love hearing your ideas, so send ’em in!

Apparently the library bug is in full force, because I was reading Caila’s blog and she had just posted “Library Lover“, then spoke with another friend who said she was loving her local library this summer. So, perhaps ya’ll are already there, but–surprise–this challenge is to patronize, that is, become a patron, of your local library.

Tonight right before dinner Jeff and I took Dutch in to the library.  The fabulous kid’s park is in the same block, so it makes for a fun destination.  As we walked into the library (which is actually very impressive for such a small town), I took a deep breath of the familiar, intoxicating musty smell of books–Ahh!!  I love that smell.  Now that Dutch is such a book fan, trips to the library are even more fun, as he loves to sift through the big picture books, or even pull the “big kid” novels off the shelves and pretend to read.

Besides the traditional use of the library–going and spending lots of time searching and sifting through titles (which is still a sacred experience if you ask me), there is another way that I’m loving now that I’m a busy mom–online requests.  I can go online, search by title or author or subject, and put up to ten titles on hold, from anywhere in our county.  Then I can just walk in, give them my card, get my huge stack of books, and be out in 2 minutes.  This is amazing!  Our other favorite thing is the movies.  Who needs Blockbuster, and paying almost $4 per movie when you can get them for free at your library, and keep them for a week instead of the measly 1 or 2 days that Blockbuster and Hollywood allot.  True, it’s hard sometimes to get recent titles, but again–try out the online request. Early this morning Jeff requested Spiderman 3…and it was sitting there waiting for us when we arrived at 4:30pm.  I looked online and there were no other copies available by that time in the entire county–so consider reserving ahead if you want good titles!

So anyway, libraries are really a no-brain way to save money and enjoy a risk-free way to read and watch wonderful literature and movies.  I’m excited for the days when Dutch will be ready to go to library story times, or when he can go himself and pick out books to read.  Growing up we lived at the library.  We went there every week, and read everything we could get our hands on. Plus, my mom donated so many books that they gave her a no-late-fee status so even if we were bad about getting them back we never had to pay a cent! 🙂

So check it out.  At least go there and take a deep breath, inhale that heavenly scent, and relish the fact that you can walk out with a stack of books and movies without paying a dime. Make it a habit.  Patronize the place. If you really go hog wild you can even pay $1 and get an “I love my library” sign to put in your yard.  Or not…it’s up to you.