:D

That sounds absolutely great and I'm envious. My library is rubbish, unfortunately. Hardly ever open, no parking, the book selection seems to be Wilbur Smith, Catherine Cookson and 50 Shades of Crap. There is apparently some e-book option but I can't work out how to use it, it's so complicated. But as I have about 1500 ebooks on my hard drive, I don't think I'll need my local library any time soon.

Senyar, it might just be your county that sucks. I know my county can be a bit subpar in some of its branches, so I just go across the line to other counties and use theirs because it's so much nicer. (While also writing letters to my local politicians telling them the differences and hoping they'll support legislation to make my home county ones nicer.)

think it has a lot to do with the wealth of the locality

on preview: what sperose said

I am in a different Orange County and we don't have the streaming stuff here but have a lot of the rest of the things. The UK has been hit really hard lately with library cuts. They went a different way than US libraries and sort of split off the computing aspect of public information services so there are separate Computer Centres that do some of the public computing stuff that libraries in the US still do (and that bring peopel in the door) It's been interesting watching the two different-but-similar systems evolve over the past two decades.

Also, I loved the Outlander books, though none was as good as the first.

It's not possible to use a library in another borough because you can only get a library card if you live or work in the borough. And you need the card to get through the barrier at the entrance. Booo!! But as Jessamyn says, library services in the UK have been decimated. In some areas the only library services are run by volunteers. It's utterly shameful. There are still some old Carnegie Library buildings in east London, beautiful Art Nouveau buildings. Only one is still a library.

My county is very poor and the library system is likewise poor.

My Mom lives one county over and has a fabulous system, but has to renew her card every year to make sure she's qualified as a local taxpayer / resident.

I don't usually read romance or romancey historical fiction, but HOO BOY have I fallen for the Outlander books. I also think that the first one has been the best, but I learn something from every book, and they are real page-turners. I've also read some of the spinoff titles, but they vary in quality IMO.

My library has a 'print from anywhere' service that I think is cool; I haven't used it before, but since I don't have a printer (office has lenient personal use policy), I could see maybe needing it sometime.

Ask if they have a pass program, too. Many libraries around here subscribe to museums, zoos, aquariums and other tourist things and will loan you a day pass that gets you in free or at a discount. Awesome program.

Ours also offers free access to genealogy databases like Ancestry.com and some of the others that charge a bundle for home access.

While checking them out online I just now discovered they have a Wiki called "Links & Lore" with cool references and articles about our town.

Yay, libraries. We were bitching about how our new-town library isn't as good as our old-town library, grumble grumble, and then realized "Hmm, maybe we should be donating to it." I grew up as a broke kid, then a broke young adult, always deeply grateful for the free-ness of a library card. It has taken me a long time to realize that libraries' goodness reflects their funding structure, which may be a lot of things like taxes in some places, and earmarks, but is also "Friends of the Library" types of funds which we need to start anteing up to. It's on the list.

Oh, hey, I didn't mean to disrespect other libraries. I was just so surprised about how libraries here were different than the ones in Brooklyn where I grew up. Actually Brooklyn, NY seems to be a place that libraries go to die. But the new mayor is talking about increasing funding so we will see. Respect to all libraries everywhere. And why not donate cash instead of books to one you know and like?