I know this post is going to be dripping with irony – me, complaining about something not being made available online, when I haven’t made myself available to pen a quick post each morning. What can I say? Between Jeff being sick (wow, once you offload half your household and parenting chores, getting them back is a bit overwhelming!), the girls settling into their new school routines, the never-ending process of moving Jeff and the Xman into the house, and then there’s this big, stressy thing going on at The Place That Shall Not Be Named (a thing that is maybe more time-consuming than stressy, but still). It’s been a week. The posts have been thin; I apologize.
So the thing that dragged me back to my keyboard: my library. There’s a really nice central library in the next city over, the one where the littles and I spend all our time and nearly all our discretionary funds. We go out to eat in this city, shop there, visit parks and parades, and really, I consider that city more of “my” city than the one were we live, just over the city line.
So, naturally, we use the neighboring city’s public library. The central library is very nice, the librarians are awesome, they have a well-stocked new books section, and the fiction stacks are a dream! The kids’ room is just across the hall, with librarians who remember the girls from visit to visit and understand that they’re allowed to roam the stacks on their own. Gracie’s YA section is downstairs, but not so far away that I feel the need to accompany her. There was the little matter of making me pay for a “subscription” to the library since I don’t live in the city, but the fee was reasonable and I told myself I was paying to help keep the library open. Considering the number of books and ebooks that means I’m not buying, I was okay with that. Plus, the girls get to enjoy free library cards since their dad is both a resident of the city (and technically, they split their time at his house, thus in that city) and because he’s a faculty member at the very large university in that city. So it’s just one small fee for our large library needs, when you look at it family-wide.
Except my library card is up for renewal. And the super-fantastic central library building was torn down 18 months ago for renovations (and asbestos removal, meh meh meh). And you can’t renew your library card online!! Like, seriously?!
I called the library to see if I could renew it over the phone – you can’t. I asked if there was some way to make an exception, given that I’m just renewing (as opposed to opening a new account) and could verify important information), and given that their building is gone! They weren’t making exceptions during construction. The bastards. I was told to find the closest branch and apply there.
Which I suppose I’ll do, come Saturday. I’ll have to drag myself even further across the city to find one, and I will probably complain the entire time. Especially since five of my library ebook holds have come up this week and I can’t do anything about them except put myself back at the bottom of the list. I’ve been waiting months! But if you don’t check the title out in 5 days, you lose your place in line. Sigh. A Little Life, Trigger Warning, Ready Player One, …and I can’t remember what the others were – all gone.
Maybe after the construction is completed, and my very nice library is up and running again, I will petition them to make a few more changes. A library that has enough online presence to let me take out enough ebooks over 18 months to satisfy my voracious reading habits, and lets you pay your fines online, should be able to handle online card renewal. Don’t you think?
Can't Get There From Here 