i am here now!!!! there is a car. will try to find her!!

It's worth our tax money just to keep some of the people who hang-out at the library off the street.

However, the private parking space right in front of the door for B'moon has to stop!!!

zippy- so we better all get there and use our tax money then. I know i help pay for it but it isnt up front out of pocket so it seems free.

they have dvd for free usage too.
Some are badly scratched and cannot watch. Tried to flip over on some to watch different format and that worked once. Hope they got my note on the one that couldnt view.
i sometimes go for the free inrernet on tues too. i dont work tues and dont have internet at home. and for all you people that will complain i am on bosses time i am not i am on my time. we just get to use him computers.

I've been going to the library on a regular basis for a few years now. I can't tell you the last time I paid to rent a movie. They have a great selection & if Janesville doesn't have it another library might. It may take me a little longer to see a new release, but it's well worth the wait. Since all the libraries are linked it takes less time to get an item that is on hold. It's a great service. I just wish everyone would be responsible & return the items they check out. There are many items that show they are lost-missing- or a customer has been billed.

My kids order what they want online at Rockcat. They pick it up after school at the Orfordville library. We are in there at least twice a week. Sarah can find anything we need.

I'm thrilled to see so many who enjoy our library's materials and services. From DVDs, books and music to the use of computers, Internet and FREE subscription research databases. If you haven't been in for a while, stop by and see the wonderful new things we offer!

ktaustin, the same link says about 40% of the revenue comes from other sources. There's some overhead for the Arrowhead Library System, for instance. But there is also some fine revenue, and I'm ... proud to contribute to that. I think.
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I read about a library system once where an unofficial campaign was started for everyone to keep their books one day late so they could help close a budget hole!

janesvillian, thanks for the link; I'd like to followup later, but are you sure that 3% is the only tax money that goes to the library? That's just property taxes, but does any state or federal money contribute indirectly? Perhaps this is a bit off-subject...

I visit our local library about once a week. Typically, I check out movies and books on CD. I rarely ever check out actual books, preferring to buy them when I'm able to do so. We never rent movies as we can either find them at the library within a few weeks of when they come out on DVD or we can often buy them for the same price as renting them.
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Personally, I prefer to own the books as opposed to having them on loan from the library. I don't feel I need to rush through them to get them back to avoid a fine. Most of the books I buy come from ebay, yard sales, library sales, or with good coupons at Borders. I rarely ever pay cover price for a book. Of course, I will admit to buying way too many books. If I never bought another book, I'd still have enough reading material to last me at least a few years at this point. "Hi, my name's Jim and I'm a bookaholic. It has been three days since my last book purchase." ;)
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While I'm certain my library could probably locate a copy somewhere of almost any book I'd want, I hate waiting for it to come in.
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I can't stand trying to read a book online. I'd much rather have a hard copy I can carry around with me. I'm never without a book. Pretty much anywhere I travel, I have a book in the car with me. While the new e-readers make it possible to take digital books on the go, it just isn't for me.

The library budget is about 3% of your property taxes (if you live in Janesville), or $90 on a $3000 bill.
http://www.ci.janesville.wi.us/citysite/...
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I happily make use of the Arrowhead/Rockcat system to watch almost any movie I want to. The only thing you have to watch out for is double fines if you're late -- they add up quickly!
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Of course the Internet makes many things available right at home, but there's rarely a substitute for an entire book on a topic. Most websites have only a fraction of the information that a single book will have. It's useful for getting an overview of a topic, but there's a reason that teachers don't assign "the Internet" readings. Even using Google can be misleadingly specific if you don't understand the context of your keywords.
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That said Google Books now has over 1 million books digitized. But in some ways this actually complements print libraries in that by finding what is INSIDE a book, much more than a card catalog can tell you, you have a better idea which books you would like to check out.
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader...
http://blogs.reseller.co.nz/reseller/cha...

Zippy, that's true. Although if I could calculate what my contribution via taxes is to public libraries, I suspect it would be very small. I have a feeling that said calculation would become cumbersome and so I will leave it for someone else to do. (I previously discovered that figuring out the public funding for WPR was unexpectedly difficult, but suffice it to say that the percentage of public funding is far higher than WPR will tell you.)

If the majority of people started loaning (not renting) from libraries, I wonder if publishers would start charging higher licensing costs for libraries to buy books and so nothing would really change from the publisher's point of view. I know this is the case for movie rentals (the rental stores sometimes pay $100 or more for a single copy of a video to pay for licensing).

"The library has that! We could have watched it for free!".
My property tax bill show me it's not free.

Think of this way, if you wrote a book, wouldn't you want it in libraries? Libraries contribute to an author being read and eventually the purchase of his or her books.

markr: Avid book readers, who have the money, tend to buy copies of favorite books even if they use the library because they will read a good book more than once. I'd also point out that not all of the books at the library are donated. As a result, some books must still be purchased. In the end it's really no different than friends at work trading books.
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Hedberg is a weekly stop for me. I switch between books and magazines. It's is by far one of the better public libraries I've ever been to. My wife reads about three books a week from Hedberg.

I do miss the Janesville Library, its one of the better libraries I've been to.

Moving here a year ago from a city 4 times larger, I found the Hedberg Library very impressive. Drop boxes at city locations seems unique. Staff has been every helpful - even finding a book on Mata Ortiz Pottery in Stevens Point for me to check before buying one.

The DVD's & videos did seem mostly quite outdated but maybe everything current was checked out.

Book buyers may also want to check ABEbooks.com for cheap prices on used books.

I must add that the library is much more than books and DVDs. Hedberg represents children, middle and high
school and adult readers. There are CDs, books on tape and CD, Mp3 books, Spanish-speaking materials, computer classes, guest speakers, a local history room...I can go on. Also, don't forget Hedberg's Friends Ground Floor for used books, snacks, and airports for laptops.

The library has been my hobby for years. If I hear something new is out, I get online and reserve it. You may not get the latest DVD, but if you can wait a month, you can get it. I haven't paid for a rental for ten years. If I can't get a DVD at
Hedberg or other RockCat libraries,
I can request it through Interlibrary Loan. There are many tricks...find them out and try them.

Note to the sales staff: cancel that call to Bookworld.

Usually I don't find what I'm looking for at the library, which is why I don't find myself going there frequently. Although I will admit that the one time I tried submitting a request for a book (Alien Intrusion, a good non-fiction about the UFO/alien culture) the library bought the book. I suppose I should try putting in requests more often.

Also, some books I would rather own because I find myself frequently lending them or giving them away. CS Lewis's "Mere Christianity" is one such title (in fact I think I need to buy another copy of this since I don't see it on my bookshelf).

As for movies, I sometimes go and browse when I'm not looking for anything in particular, but every time I look for a specific movie they either don't have it or it's gone lost/missing. As a result I still go to Family Video for most of my movie watching (it's only $1 or 2 for $1 for most movies).

I have started using the library more as well. There will always be books that "I must own" and I think a lot of book lovers feel the same way. I now do with books what I did with movies. I "rent" the book first and if I like it, I'll buy it.

Of course, the problem with this thinking is that if no one bought books, publishers would be unable to continue publishing, and there would be no new books in the library. If you want to see all of the libraries empty and useless, stop buying books.

The Internet pretty much took me out of the library. I read a lot and own quite a few books. I buy them online at Amazon.com if Book World doesn't have them. I used to use the library for research, but Google and Wikipedia are much more convenient and I'm way past having to have dead tree sources to satisfy teachers. Why waste time and gas money when the Internet is so much more convenient.
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The only time I go there now is to vote, and I by far favored the more convenient location of the old Warming House at Traxler Park we used to vote at. It was also lot less walking for handicapped people.

Apologies to video stores around Rock County, but everytime my husband and kids bring home a rental, I point at it and blurt, "The library has that! We could have watched it for free!"

Excellent point!

When we were growing up, the Aram Public Library in Delavan allowed you to check out framed prints. We had different art on the wall each month thanks to the library.