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why my public library is not much of a money-saver

Many personal finance blogs suggest using the public library to save money. It’s a great idea, and one that I would use frequently if I could. Often the public library is a time-waster and even a money-waster. Why?

  1. My city’s public library is underfunded and seldom has new releases. I spend a lot of time in the main library hunting (in vain) for the latest economic, finance or self-improvement books. I can easily check online if a book is held at any one of the city’s branch libraries, and often I find it simply has never been purchased. That’s understandable if it’s a 2007 release, or a niche product, or something that might not be that useful. “Getting Things Done” is not available, though (except in cassette tape audiobooks). “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is available – in Spanish. Forget about newer books, which are universally unavailable.

  2. The hours are terrible. Although a few of the branches which are nowhere close to my house have evening hours, the branches in my area are only open on weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm. These are not convenient hours for someone who commutes to New York for a 9 to 5 workday. Returning books is a struggle, since the only weekend hours are a few hours mid-afternoon on Saturday, time I would rather be spending with my son. Maybe once he’s older and can read he’ll enjoy an afternoon at the library, but not now. Any place he’ll have to keep quiet will be annoying. I ended up incurring $1.40 in late fees on my latest batch of books.

  3. The “request a library book through amazon” tool, which sounds like one of the coolest things ever, doesn’t work in my city. Despite having a compatible system, the library system won’t let you request books.

  4. The library doesn’t even accept used books. I have a lot of gently-used, recent books that I would be happy to donate once I’ve read them, since I doubt I will read them again – “Smart Couples Finish Rich” for example. It’s a good book but I’d be happy to donate it to the library so someone else who maybe can’t afford their own copy could benefit. Nope.


 I remember using a public library in my youth almost non-stop. It was a highlight of the week, and I must have read dozens if not hundreds of books. The libraries in my current city are not child-friendly and certainly not adult friendly – no reading areas that I see. I consider it one of the great failings of the city I live in and after this experience might even check out the public libraries in the area before I move somewhere in the future.

So what is the answer if your public library is a mess? Many personal finance sites will recommend paperbackswap.com or similar websites. I find the selection is iffy there, as well. Amazon is perfect, but expensive. So here is how I try to cope:

  1. Look for used books online. I usually check first on eBay or amazon.com to see if I can find the books used, first. Often once you figure in the shipping costs it doesn’t make much sense, so make sure that you are saving money by getting a used book rather than ordering books in sufficient quantities to get free shipping.

  2. Settle for less. I still use the public library, but I try not to expect anything. I wander in, look at the new arrivals and just take anything that catches my eye. If I don’t like it after reading a chapter or two, I return it. I make sure to get a lot of books at once and return them all at once, too, to cut down on trips.

  3. Use affiliate links. Make sure that if you order a book, you find a friend, a blog you like (hint!) or a cause that uses affiliate links from amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. At least then someone will get a small amount of money, and maybe they’ll return the favor to you if you have a link on your blog/website. If you don’t have one set up, I recommend that you do.

  4. Share! I find that one of the best ways to get new books is to give them away. If you get in the habit of trading books with friends, you can circulate books around free of cost for a while. Unless it’s a book you are desperate to keep so you can re-read it again and again, giving away a book clears clutter, saves money for your friends and family and makes them feel like giving you books back to clear their own clutter! I don’t see anything but win-win out of sharing books (unless you’re an author waiting for royalties)!

I’d be glad to hear other tips in the comments!

  • http://engineeringmyfinances.blogspot.com EMF

    Your library sucks!! Makes me realize again how lucky I am to have a good public library. And to remember when I lived in a city that doesn’t have one.

    Some good tips. I wonder if the Internet could be used somehow for a book swapping club in your local area. Might be some hurdles to cross, but could be an interesting experiment. Perhaps a shared blog would work. But you’d still have to meet F2F once in awhile to physically trade books.

  • EVAS

    Once your son starts school, go meet the school librarian and suggest a once-a-semester book swap. Our school tried this with kids’ books and it was a great success. In fact, it was such a success that our librarian is considering trying it for the parents this coming year. I know that this isn’t an immediate solution, but file it away for future use.

  • katy

    I used to donate to my library. Hundreds of dollars of books. But I noticed over the years that a core group of volunteers, older, probably retired folks, glean the books for lst editions, sellable books to hawk on websites, etc. ….so, when the library has sales, it’s mostly crap. :(

    Just my sad two cents.

    OTOH, retirement homes and hospitals love book donations. I have been a patient a few times and really appreciated the books and magazines.

  • http://www.freeby50.com/ Jim

    Yeah I think your library isn’t that good.

    By comparison : My county’s library system shares 12 copies of “Getting Things Done” and 38 copies of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” (+6 more in Spanish). The main branch in my city is open until 8pm on weekdays and 6pm on weekends. They accept donations and have a form in the library to make requests.

    If the local library sucks then personally I’d look to local used book stores or thrift stores for books. I can get used books at Goodwill fairly cheap or trade books at the local paper back bookstore. I think eBay is good for buying books in bulk, like a lot of multiple titles from the same author since your cost of shipping is less per item that way.

    Jim

  • dawn @ iowahippiechick

    I feel bad for your kids … a public library can be such a good experience for them. For you & your wife, is there an University library you can get access too? That might be a good option!

    Also – here are a couple of links for donating gently used books:

    *The Half Pint Library will bring your old childrens books to sick children. For more info., call 800-883-2114 or check out http://halfpricebooks.com

    *And if you have adult books, the New York’s Prisoner Reading Encouragement program would love to receive them. For more info., call 212-349-6741 or log on to http://prisonreader.org

  • http://mmsmoney.wordpress.com MM

    This is one of the most embarassing things ever – but here is how a library cost me money – I failed to return a book. Inconvenient locations, had to get it to the branch where I checked it out, forgot about it – yes,my fault. After getting the fifth late notice, I finally chucked the book in the overnight drop and forgot about it. Til I started getting collections notices from a third party creditor! $65 for the late fees & value of replacing the book. I tried unsuccessfully to get the library to find the book I had returned, but it was gone from their system and not on the shelves. So after a few months, I paid the fines to the library itself, only to have the credit line continue to report for 6 mos! So that was a very expensive and long-term ugly trip to the library. But of course my fault! So I would say, if you can't get books returned, just buy cheap/used books at your favorite vendor of such (Half Price Books is mine) – it will be less costly in the long run!

  • Matt @ MyFinancialRecovery.net

    I guess I should be grateful that my small town library has a pretty good selection of recent fiction and a handful of non-fiction that is moderately useful. Plus they are open on Saturdays for most of the day.

    Sorry that your library is in such horrible shape.

  • Jen

    I can relate, I grew up in Portland, Oregon where we had wonderful libraries. Now I live in NW Indiana and the libraries here are okay but leave a lot to be desired. You can only keep movies for 1 day, after which there is a $2 a day fine! This is obviously a huge money maker for the library so they aren't going to change it, but it's ridiculous. People need at least 2-3 days with a movie and in Portland they give you a week! The libraries here usually don't have any books I want either.

  • Jen

    I can relate, I grew up in Portland, Oregon where we had wonderful libraries. Now I live in NW Indiana and the libraries here are okay but leave a lot to be desired. You can only keep movies for 1 day, after which there is a $2 a day fine! This is obviously a huge money maker for the library so they aren't going to change it, but it's ridiculous. People need at least 2-3 days with a movie and in Portland they give you a week! The libraries here usually don't have any books I want either.