Whay do you do? In TX, I was able to get almost every book recommended in MFW through the library. I went to the library here today, and not only do they not have books from the list, they had only ONE book on France and ONE on caves in the Juvenile section. They'd only let me check out two books, so it really didn't matter today. I know inter-library loans are out there, but I've read reviews that say it can take weeks (even months) to get requested books. (I can't figure out the card catalog either. They don't list the call numbers at all, just their library ID number.) My book basket is going to be very empty!
I gave in and got a Kindle. I'm running into the same problem here. Mine won't even let the boys get their own library cards, so my 6 book maximum has to cover 5 of us! I've found a ton on various free-stores sites for Amazon (including Project Gutenberg). It's still not ideal, but it mosty works. And.. I'll be honest... I still have our library cards from our old library, so I check out e-books from the website. ETA: I am not using a literature-based study, so I don't have to be as picky about which specific books we use.
We also have a tiny library... our one big try at literature-based studies fell flat due to lack of books. I did find a good many free e-books online, though they weren't the same ones needed, we did find a few that filled in the gaps. And we read them on the computer, too, as opposed to an e-reader. Hope this helps some.
We have a Kindle Fire, and I love it. Honestly, if I'm going to pay for books, I'd rather have real books. I might not have another option. I do still have my San Antonio cards and I do still own a house there for now. Maybe e-books are an option for now.
I'm surprised at the limits some of you mentioned. Our library has a limit of 300 books per card. yes, it seems ridiculous, and the librarian I asked said the only ones who come anywhere close to that are some teachers. I've discovered Amazon for cheap books, and used book stores and such. Also, in our state, different districts have different library system. The one we live in now has a very dismal system and terrible service and book stock I hear, but fortunately the previous district I lived in let me keep our old cards, so I drive all the way down there to get my books. Its certainly worth it.
If your looking for specific books it might not help, but have you tried thrift stores? I have found a couple in my area that seem to get the replaced library books from the public schools. I use about three different shops and have found everything from brand new LA text books to homeschool curr. to ps workbooks. Debbie
The two book limit is for the first check-out only. I'm not sure how many you can check out after that. The brochure I was given is rather vague, and the librarians weren't very helpful. I had just stood in line listening to them argue with a man, who was right, so I just got my two books and got out of there. I thought I'd save getting the kidscards for another day, too. We only have one Kindle, so I may have to rework our book basket time, if we go that route. Really, the basket is supposed to be full of books on the topics we are studying, so that the kids can choose books to read during the assigned time. I do usually have one or two of the books myself. I'm not familiar with the thrift stores here yet. We've only been here two weeks. I have seen a few though.
Is there another library close by that is better? My local library is terrible but the one 25 minutes away is great. They have a 50 book limit. We try to go every two weeks but if the schedule gets tight I renew on line. Just a thought.
We pay $60 a year to use a wonderful library in a bigger city (in another state, even) because my town doesn't even have a library with which to be dissatisfied. :lol:
My husband's office is in a larger city an hour a way. He only has to go once a week, but if I could put stuff on hold for him to pick up, it might work. The only probelm would be that the tends to forget to take books back. I've had HUGE fines, because he's left a STACK of books that I asked him to take back in his car for a couple of weeks. I think we can get books from any of the county libraries delivered to the one in my city, but they are all small libraries.
Gosh, hearing all these stories of terrible libraries makes me feel thankful for the run down library in my po-dunk town. It does have a decent selection of books (although some are pretty old and they don't get in a great deal of new ones), my son can have his own card, we can pretty much check out as many books as we want...at ONE time...and we get 3 week check-outs instead of the normal 2 weeks. PLUS, we can go online and put books on hold or renew the books we've already checked out. Too bad we have to almost drive to the hood to get to the library.
We have an awesome library for the size of town we are in.. They don't always have the books we want or need but we can usually find something that is on the subject. There is a 30 book limit per card and we can check the books out for a month at a time. since we are homeschoolers We have the same perks as the school teachers have..
I did check on the library that's an hour away. We can get cards there for $45 a year. I just put in a few titles from our book list, and there were several available. Not only does the one here not have any of the 25-30 books on my list, there was only one book on the entire subject.
I don't suppose they have inter-library loan available, do they? Another option is using a university library who might possibly have a loan program.
Thanks for posting this info! It makes me thankful for being blessed by our library. We have a 50 book limit. The first time I heard it, I thought WOW, who in the world would need that many books, now we come close to hitting the limit every month! The women (and men) that work there are awesome! They help us find what we are looking for, suggest books that Matthew might like and take our orders for books we would like them to purchase! This is all on top of them having an outstanding children's section. The children's section of our library is about the size of the entire public library in my home town lol! I would definitely try to join one in a larger town!
In some libraries you can get an educators's card, it lets you get unlimited books with no fines. Sometimes they let homeschoolers have an educator's card. Just ask if they have that.
I'd keep an eye out for cheap books in used bookstores. Some libraries will let you check out ebooks. We do that with our Nook sometimes. You can also buy ebooks for a cheaper price on Nooks/Kindles. Sometimes you can find them for free, especially the classics.
Wow! I can't imagine what I'd do with such a small poorly stocked library! Our cards have a limit of 30 items each. The library here in town is HUGE and it's super easy to request books from the libraries in other towns in our county. And I got cards for each of the three boys and myself. We rarely hit the limit on any one card but we have in the past. Hope you find a solution that will work for you guys! I really don't know how I'd live without a good library.
