I always feel like such a bad reader when I admit that I am not a library goer. I definitely understand the appeal; a whole building full of books that you can just borrow without having to spend a fortune on books you're maybe a little bit interested in. I get it, I just never took advantage of it.
The thing is, there is one thing about libraries I have a problem with. I'm not good with germs. The idea of other people having touched these books and not knowing that they haven't been sneezing all over them makes me nauseous. Have they been washing their hands enough? I work in healthcare, I have infection control procedures drilled into my everyday life and not knowing what germs are on my books freaks me out a little. Yes, I do know how ridiculous this sounds. The same can be said for any books being handled in stores, you don't know who had been touching them before you. For some reason, though, this has always been my issue when it comes to libraries.
However, I recently discovered a new service my local library is now offering. Having heard many bloggers and booktubers mention Overdrive, a service allowing libraries to provide eBooks and audiobooks online, I was disappointed to discover that my library didn't use this service or have anything similar. A couple of months ago I had a look on my libraries website, having decided to try and get over my library issues, to get myself a library membership, and was excited to see a service similar to Overdrive now available. I quickly got my membership and have since been making the most of what my library has to offer.
While I haven't managed to get over my issues with borrowing physical books from the library yet, making the most of what is available online has already changed my reading a lot this year. Over the past two months, I have already listened to two audiobooks for books I would never have picked up otherwise and reread a childhood favourite that, again, I never would have reached for. Basically what I'm saying is that discovering my local library has changed my reading life for the better. Hopefully I'll be borrowing physical books soon but this will do me for now.
Do you take advantage of your local library? Does your library offer an online ebook/audiobook service? How do you get over the idea of your borrowed book being covered in other people's germs? Do you have any tips for me to get over those germ issues? I would love to hear all of your thoughts on libraries and am very much hoping someone can help me out with the whole germ thing.
Sophie :)
No comments:
Post a Comment