Save Money: Use Your Library

Guess what: the local branch library is apparently being reinstated as part of the family. Like family hikes and picnics, it’s available free of charge.

Beth Weingarner of the SF Examiner staff reported recently that San Francisco Public Library says use is up 12 per cent over last year at this time. The surprising thing in the library’s statistical breakdown is that it’s primarily books that are being used. Magazines comprise 2 percent of the total, audio 8 percent, video 26 percent, and books a whopping 64 percent.

A number of branches are open an extra day of the week over last year, which may have something to do with the increase. Also the system has been reaching out with extras to interest people who read. One of the innovations is the One Book One City program, which names a book a month as the center of interest and holds events to foster discussion of the book.

For the real homebody there is, on the library’s website www.sfpl.org, a page called eBooks and eAudio. If you establish a free account with NetLibrary, you can download and listen to popular and classic audiobooks on computers or portable listening devices that support Windows Media Player 9.0 or higher. You can access over 5,000 titles on technological, business, and legal information and either read them online or download them to a desktop or portable device for seven days. You can read full-text Safari Techbooks online; and you have free access to the Gale Virtual Reference Library, a collection of specialized reference sources and encyclopedias.

You can’t beat the price, so go for it!