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I am on the board of the library for my town. The state made huge budget cuts to the state library agency last session (64% reduction).

The state asked all agencies to produce two budgets for this session, one with a 5% reduction and one with a 10% reduction, and the state library folks are hopping mad. I'm curious as to what extent folks even use Libraries anymore.

The feedback needed is stated in the poll, please answer honestly and from the perspective of your immediate family, not just you.

Footnote; I've posted this poll in numerous sights so if you've already voted on it before, please pass on this one.

Widespread internet access coupled with the explosion of tablets and e-readers has reduced library usage by me and most people I know. The one exception I know is my parents. They can borrow e-books from their local library to read on their Kindle.

When I was in high school (mid 1990s), the only reason for attending the public library was for renting videos and for accessing the reference section. Now, my children don't really even go the the public library. Everything they need is right at their (virtual) fingertips on the internet. If the kids want to read, they check out books from the school library. I attended one public reading at my local library many years ago, but found I enjoyed readings at local Bookstores more because of the ambiance. The last time I stepped foot into the public library was to vote, not to check out books. I download all kinds of free books from Amazon for my iPad, and I am an avid reader. Personally, I just don't find the public library necessary.

On the other hand, our elementary school has a higher average of economically disadvantaged students. A lot of the parents have benefited from many programs offered at/through the library system. For example, there was an ESL class, GED class, etc. And the students are amazed when they see the amount of books contained in one building. If you don't have internet access at home, then the library can be a saving grace.

Just my .02. YMMV

Jennifer

Mrs DocV goes about once every 10 days. She is an avid reader and does genealogical research that is accessible from our library but is not easily accessed from home. It helps to have one branch of the library only a few blocks from home.

DocV wrote:Mrs DocV goes about once every 10 days. She is an avid reader and does genealogical research that is accessible from our library but is not easily accessed from home. It helps to have one branch of the library only a few blocks from home.

Genealogical research is the primary reason I go to the library, and that's the Clayton in Houston. There are limited, sometimes unique, documents that will never be digitized and made available on the Web.

I answered "4 times a year," but it's more like 6-7 times per year.

Gave up on them a while back. We can get whatever we want off the Internet far cheaper than the cost of gas to make the trip. Did you notice gas is back up to $3.45 a gallon?

Disabled buddy of mine on a budget was going at least once a week to get Videos DVDs

As a kid we went weekly and carried home as many books as we could carry.

Our library had guest speakers on various topics every month/maybe an author of Cowboy Humorist book speaks, maybe a person on gardening, all sorts of topics ... I haven't gone to any, mainly because my city Newspaper is one which always announces what happened last week instead of what is going to happen next week (I hate that) but some sound interesting... honestly I go in mostly to use the copy machine as it is cheaper and easier than H.E.B or the office store or to use the WiFi.

When I do go, mostly I enjoy looking at titles of books and noticing "Oh, there's a new FoxFire book out, I read like 7 or 8 of them in the 1960s, I should check that out sometime) but I read real printed books less because ... my 42" TV (as my computer monitor with HDMI cable) and CTRL + making the screen fonts bigger is easier on my eyes and less trifocal/eye strain. I do always enjoy the trip though, as my disabled buddy pointed out once, a couple of the librarians are easy on the eyes, but he went often enough to know their schedule.

If there's a 5th Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy, I only read/ own 4 in that "Trilogy" and FoxFire books (I read 7 or 8, apparently --- there are 12 books in the original series. )... and ,,,, I'd like to find books on edible wild native plants with GOOD photos so I can tell my niece there actually is plenty to eat at my house, just graze outside like Indians did for hundreds of years and they were healthier than she is.
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Reason I seldom went for so many years, I didn't know they had kept up with the times and had VHS and DVDs etc you could just check out for a few days or week or so, while my friend went there instead of throwing away money paying to rent videos or buying them like my brother's family does.

While the guest speaker/ Tea/Coffee at the Library is nice...I like when they have exhibits (I'll go see dinosaur bones found around here a lot quicker than I'll go listen to someone talk at/to me)

Which reminds me, I need to clear out some closets, I have a "How to write for Dennis the Menace" exhibit that was on display at the Houston Library I need to donate to Burnet or Marble Falls library and get it out of my closet, it's about things I said mom wrote down and sold to Hank Ketchum that you may have read in the paper or books if you ever read Dennis the Menace comics like "Mom says Ruff has ticks, but I don't hear 'em"

Until I started using an E reader (Nook) and a Zenstone audio book player, I went every two weeks or so.

Now, maybe twice a year.

As far as the last fifteen years [abbreviated profanity deleted] me, the answer is "Never", so that's what I answered. A main library is no doubt a good idea for those few that actually use it, but branch libraries need to be shut down. They're a waste of tax dollars.

The average library user is probably 110-years-old or homeless, or both.

StevenFromTexas wrote:As far as the last fifteen years [abbreviated profanity deleted] me, the answer is "Never", so that's what I answered. A main library is no doubt a good idea for those few that actually use it, but branch libraries need to be shut down. They're a waste of tax dollars.

The average library user is probably 110-years-old or homeless, or both.

Well, I work for a library system and I'll bet the overall average age of the patrons in the building is closer to 10 than 110. We have three branch libraries and one is used almost as much as the main library and the other two are proportionally to their collection.

Skiprr wrote:

DocV wrote:Mrs DocV goes about once every 10 days. She is an avid reader and does genealogical research that is accessible from our library but is not easily accessed from home. It helps to have one branch of the library only a few blocks from home.

Genealogical research is the primary reason I go to the library, and that's the Clayton in Houston. There are limited, sometimes unique, documents that will never be digitized and made available on the Web.

I answered "4 times a year," but it's more like 6-7 times per year.

+1 Friends of Clayton.
Inter-branch/Inter-library loans for materials that have been out of print for decades and/or never digitized is essential to genealogical as well as many types of scholarly research. Original source material always provides a depth of understanding/discovery that plain text on an electronic page never will. Reading the cramped script of a Federal enumerator from 1880 can transport you back to the cramped parlor of a NYC tenement, a Back Bay brownstone, or a RR shack in Houston's Fifth Ward.