April 12, 2018
Happy National Library Week! My whole family LOVES our local public library. I remember loving my neighborhood library as a kid too. I vividly recall toting my own “library bag” that I would fill with books to check out, read all week, and then return only to fill again! These days, I take my girls to our local library several times a month (sometimes several times a week) to peruse the aisles or participate in one of the amazing library programming activities. Honestly, it still amazes me that we ALL have access to amazing books for free! But, there are many other ways we use our library in addition to checking out regular books that expand our worldview, benefit our community and are totally free! Here are 5 of our favorites:
1. Audiobooks & E-books
We love to check out family-friendly audio books for road trips or e-books for reading on the kindle. Simply go to Overdrive.com to search for your local library. Once you’re set up, you can request the titles you want and they will be delivered to your kindle or phone, or wherever you have the app installed. When it is due, it is simply erased from your device – no returning required. Your library might also be set up with Hoopla which offers the addition of video streaming.
2. Seeds
Our local library has a seed exchange where you can use your library card to borrow vegetable, herb or flower seeds for free! The participating libraries have librarians on staff who are trained to support and coach you. You can use the seeds at your home, school, place of worship or even your community garden (so many community benefits!) Then, once the season is over, you can harvest seeds from your garden and return them to the library – talk to your librarian about protocols for returning seeds.
3. Cookbooks
This year, I’ve started checking out cookbooks regularly from our local library. My goal is to try 2 or 3 recipes in each book before I return it. If I love the recipe, I find it online and save to my Pinterest recipes to use again. It has saved me money in magazine subscriptions and cookbook purchases plus it motivates me to try a few new recipes before the book us overdue! It also introduces me to new food cultures and authors/chefs without committing to purchasing a new book – and if I do love the book and deem it worthy of purchase, I can do that too.
4. Children & Adult Programming
From story time to yoga classes, lego building to origami instruction, author events to computer classes, public libraries have amazing activities that we utilize year round. We love to meet up with neighbors and community members at these events too. There are even several gardening classes that coincide with the above mentioned seed exchange.
5. Museum Passes
Many libraries offer passes to local museums. Depending on your library, you might request free passes for a specific date or be able to check out a Museum Pass for a week or more. This is an amazing way to experience local art, history, and science as a family for free. Here in Nashville, the Community Counts Passport is good for free admission for two to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to all Davidson County residents of any age who have a library card. Passports are picked up in person at the library and can be used within 10 days of checking out. Plus, children under 18 in the county (and surrounding counties) are admitted to the museum for free – an incredible family museum experience awaits!
Bonus: Just this week, I noticed our neighborhood library has an “Art & Nature Adventure Kit” to check out for kids. Each kit has a ton of art and nature activities, tools and resources. We will definitely be checking one out this spring!
I have also heard of libraries loaning out everything from garden tools to musical instruments, parking passes to sports equipment. So hurry up and get to your local library to wander into books but also for other amazing FREE adventures galore!
