I was thinking of joining the Orpington library, not sure if I should though because what if they have loads of books I want to read? Then my ones will never get read lol and my TBR will just get bigger and bigger...

I am a member of my local library. To be honest I never go in there anymore as they never seem to have many of the books I am looking for, and I have far to many books to read to get the library books read in the 3 weeks they give you.

I am a member of my local library but don't hire out books very often as I would rather read the books on my tbr first. I have used to to obtain books for my reading group if I could not get them as swaps.

have you got many books on your tbr that are part of a series, are you missing any books? the library may come in useful there as you could borrow the missing ones in order to start or finish a series.

 I joined my local library and took one book out and stopped using it for the reason below!!

charnterelle:

 my ones will never get read lol and my TBR will just get bigger and bigger...

If you want to stop your TBR growing resist resist resist!

The Bromley library system is really good. Reservations are free if you do them yourself online (or if they've lost the book you went in to get...) but they do charge for audiobooks. 

And going to your local library is like a gateway drug - and Orpington's a "district library" so it's even worse. I know, I live in Beckenham and mine's a district library! Before you know it you're climbing the many steps in Bromley Central up to the halls for the giant library sales and coming down with more books than you can easily carry, having had to buy a carrier bag up there because the two bags you brought with you weren't strong enough. And then you think to yourself "I should stop, but I've got only got ten books out at the moment, I could go in the library on the way down and get two more...but can I really carry 15 books at once?" but then the lift doors open on the library floor and you can't stop yourself going in. 

 Or at least that's how it happened for me.

Thank goodness I don't live anywhere near a large library that has those sales.....but I do live near a house clearance warehouse.  Not only books, but odd bits and pieces which I simply "have to have"!

foreternity:

If you want to stop your TBR growing resist resist resist!

The Bromley library system is really good. Reservations are free if you do them yourself online (or if they've lost the book you went in to get...) but they do charge for audiobooks. 

And going to your local library is like a gateway drug - and Orpington's a "district library" so it's even worse. I know, I live in Beckenham and mine's a district library! Before you know it you're climbing the many steps in Bromley Central up to the halls for the giant library sales and coming down with more books than you can easily carry, having had to buy a carrier bag up there because the two bags you brought with you weren't strong enough. And then you think to yourself "I should stop, but I've got only got ten books out at the moment, I could go in the library on the way down and get two more...but can I really carry 15 books at once?" but then the lift doors open on the library floor and you can't stop yourself going in. 

 Or at least that's how it happened for me.

I actually work in Beckenham is nice to see some ppl dont live too far away

And yes I think I will try and resist and see if I can get my TBR down by at least a hundred books or so.

I went to the library last week and walked in and there facing me was a book I wanted off my wishlist, today I returned that book and as I walked in there were 2 books facing me off my wishlist and I managed to find another I hadn't read. I am hoping that next time I go there isn't 3 off my wishlist facing me. lol.

I think it's your civic duty to join and take at least the occasional book out!!! That way you'll help in the fight to keep libraries open......now if you get tempted and take too many books out and your TBR pile gets bigger and bigger at least you can console yourself that it's for the public good! Lol

I used to live near Orpington, St Pauls Cray actually and then moved to West Wickham and spent many a dissolute evening in Beckenham....used to support David Bowie when he was just starting out, he played at The Three Tuns (and yes, I am that old...)

sparhawk:

I went to the library last week and walked in and there facing me was a book I wanted off my wishlist, today I returned that book and as I walked in there were 2 books facing me off my wishlist and I managed to find another I hadn't read. I am hoping that next time I go there isn't 3 off my wishlist facing me. lol.

I'm finding this more and more at my library lately, increasing my tbr but decreasing my wishlist (a wishlist shd really be classed as part of your tbr anyhow i think).
AND it's free.
AND i'm supporting my library..win, win situation.

I'm a member of my local library.  Its great to get the in betweens of series you've not got...plus you can reserve online for pre-releases so you can read them more or less the first couple of months they're out, which in turn is helping the authors and keeping the libraries opened.  Don't know what I'd do if mine shut.

I agree with Mandy and that it is our civic duty to be a member and take out the occasional book.  I have joined two local authorities, the one where I live and the one where I work so I have about 15 libraries at my disposal if I choose.   As Paula said, I've mostly used them for books for reading group but I have had the odd one or two just for pleasure.

It's also worth going to the library to see if they have a book sale on - you can usually get books for at the most 50p, often less.

I am a member of the library..... I don't take out books as much as I should...but do go to book group there....my OH has 5 out at the moment...may use it more when it opens on a Sunday.....

I know I don't use the library as much as I should. I have excuses; their opening hours are odd and I'm rarely in the village when they are open, I really don't like having books 'on loan' (swapping is different) and though you can order, my library doesn't have a very good selection. I do sometimes go and nose through the ones they have for sale.

I like libraries, I have fond memories of the big one in the Civic Centre in Southampton which I joined age 7, and then the transition to the 'big' library there. Then there was the Boots library which was always selling off treasures.

The bottom line, though, is that I just hate handing them back!

Charntarelle ,I think you should join the library. As Mandy said it is a civic duty and you will help a service that is under threat. I've said on here before that I worried that by joining RISI I would use my local library less and that's turned out to be true to some degree. However, the library is brilliant, I find, when I've a discovered an author and want to read their back list. I can usually do this via the library and then if Ilike the book enough I an try and swap for it, if it is on RISI. As others have also said it's great for filling in the gaps and for tracking down authors who are now longer popular or out of print.  I also find that libraries are pretty good at getting newly published books in and  if they haven't got it they'll often order it for you. So go for it!