Happy Sunday! How has your weekend been? I’m enjoying the third day of my four day weekend. I had Friday off for working last Sunday and tomorrow is MLK Day and the library is closed so I was lucky enough to get four days off in a row. It always feels like a miracle to have so many days off without using a vacation day. I’ve spent the weekend running errands, cleaning house, reading and knitting. I’ve finished two books since Thursday evening, am well into a third and I am still working on my scarf.
This year I decided that I am going to make use of my library’s Interlibrary Loan system. It is not free – it costs $6 per loan and that is what has kept me from using it in the past. I’ve realized, however, that it’s a perfectly affordable way to gain access to out-of-print books that are either impossible to find or too expensive to buy. For example, after finishing Mrs. Tim of the Regiment I knew I wanted to go on and read Mrs. Tim Carries On. However, when I checked online sources I couldn’t find any copies for less than $50. As much as I want to read the series I am not willing to spend that much on a book. So I turned to the ILL system, put in my request and now have Mrs. Tim Carries On (from the Andalusia, Alabama Public Library) sitting on my nightstand. If I skip going out to lunch one day that will make up the $6 I spent on the ILL – a bargain really. I now have my request in for Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton and hope a copy will be on its way to me soon. Do you use your local ILL system (or its equivalent)?
Have a lovely week!
A Certain Fondness 
I decided not to use my library’s ILL system when I realised that it was just a wee bit cheaper than actually buying the book which I wanted to borrow online, $50 is a lot of money though, so it’s well worth it for you. It’s almost midnight here and I’m blaming that for the fact that it took me a few minutes to work out that MLK stands for Martin Luther King! The first one I came up with was My Lovely Kitten – well it is late.
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This made me laugh so hard! I would love to celebrate a My Lovely Kitten day – I can just imagine the parades.
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When you say interlibrary loan system, do you mean that the book is coming from another library in your metropolitan system? Or is the book coming from some other city or state? Because we have an interlibrary loan system, but it’s absolutely free and I’ve used it many times. But the books always come from another library in the surrounding area. It’s a nice asset to the community and many people use it.
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Hi Michelle – ILL in my library means that the book is not available in our system so the request goes out of our metro area or to another state to be fulfilled. Most of the books I am looking for are not even available in my state so I am glad to have access to the ILL service.
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I’ve become very dependent on the inter-library loan system since I started blogging, and reading about all these wonderful books that we don’t have here in Houston. Unfortunately the city library will only borrow from a small region here in Texas. The county still borrows from across the country, and they don’t charge – for which I am very grateful. But the on-line system (which is easy to use) won’t let me track my requests, and I always forget what I’ve asked for – so by the time they arrive, they are a happy surprise.
Enjoy your extra day! I love a morning without the alarm clock going off, though the cats are just as bad, wanting breakfast.
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Libraries certainly aren’t making it easy to use ILL these days – unless it is an academic library. My on-line system doesn’t let me track requests either so I am glad that a friend of mine supervises the ILL department and can check on my requests for me.
I have really enjoyed these past four days of freedom. I don’t like any alarms, electronic or cat, but at least with cats you can feed them and then go back to bed. 🙂
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That sounds a good price, especially when you equate it to eating out (as long as you bring something from home, of course!) I’ve ordered a few books that way, though only from the same city which is probably why it was free. Hope you are having a nice Monday!
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Yes, I do bring lunch from home (which I should do more often)! I think $6 is a reasonable fee when you really think about it.
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I’m fortunate that my library has free ILL, and I have it from two places — the university and the public library. But I try not to use it too much! I know it’s expensive for the libraries to do, and I don’t want to put an undue strain on their resources just for a reading whim of mine.
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That is very fortunate and very considerate of you to not go crazy! I’m thinking I’ll probably only do about 12-15 ILLs this year and I will be one of the only customers. Since the fee was established we rarely get any requests.
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I am super impressed by Jenny’s civic-mindedness. I take gleeful advantage of my library’s free ILL system, feeling smugly entitled to any and all services they are foolish enough to offer up. We have a well-used and well-funded library system though, so I’m not too worried about straining their resources.
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If my library system still had a free ILL service I think I would take advantage too! If your library felt the strain they’d start charging (which is what happened in my library). I’m glad that there are still libraries that provide it as a free service for their patrons.
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