Am I the only person who gets nervous just thinking about dragging my gaggle of gigglers out of the house for a trip to the library?

By the time we find a parking space, hurdle the snowdrifts, tromp downstairs to the children’s section, select several books per child, and successfully haul our bounty back to the suburban, I’m undoubtedly sweating like a pig and frazzled to the core.

I know that library trips don’t have to be that way, but in this stage of life that’s how these adventures go.

An Awesome Alternative

I was so excited to discover a couple of years ago that our local library system participates in an e-lending program. I simply log onto the site with my library card number, make selections from the wide variety of titles, and have them instantly delivered to my kindle.

Awesome, no? Here’s the kicker: it’s free! As in, no dollars down, no monthly payments. I thought you’d like that. Chances are that your library participates too!

Here’s how to track down your own e-lending opportunities:

1. If you haven’t already, trot down to your local library and sign up for a lending card.
2. Check Overdrive to see if your library offers online loans.
3. No e-lending libraries near you? Don’t despair, if you use Amazon Prime, you can choose from many different titles in the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library

 

Find the Best Deal With a Sale

Best of all, Kindles are on sale right now. Amazon periodically takes $20 off of their kindle touch and paperwhite models.

Sales occur throughout the year. If you miss this opportunity, look for another deal to arrive in a couple of months. I use my e-lending site to send cookbooks, theology books, and biographies to my kindle touch. My husband prefers his kindle paperwhite (so much so that he’s insisting that I switch).

 

Help Your Kids to Love Reading

One of the quickest ways to stifle a child’s desire for reading is for them to be excited about consuming literature, only to run out of books! To combat this, even my two oldest children (age 6 and 9) have kindles. We bought them the old style when they were still available. You can occasionally find those for a good deal through the refurbished kindle store.

I send chapter books to their devices to that they always have something to read during their nightly wind-down time. These come in particularly handy for homeschooling. If I discover that I need a book or we’re studying a particularly interesting topic I often send them a child’s history or science book that expands on our discussions. How cool is that?

 

The Library is Still a Great Resource

Of course we haven’t given up on the library entirely. We just aren’t dependent on it anymore. A trip to the library is something the children anticipate. Rather than load up on stacks of books (because it’s our only resource other than buying) we can leisurely choose a couple of books for fun and then head for donuts afterward.

That’s much better than sweating like crazy while searching for literature and convincing the toddler that he doesn’t really want to pull all the books off the shelf!

 

How do you use your library? Have you ever tried an e-lending service?

 

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