In this installment of Learn Your Library, we’ll learn the best way to support your favorite authors for free. If you love an author, want a book you can’t afford at the moment, or want to assert your power, you can suggest a purchase at any library where you have a current membership.
Often, they’ll buy it; you can read it, return it, and save the money. Or, if it’s an author you feel evangelical about or owe a debt, you can do this so readers in your community come across their work.
How do you do this?
Google “[your library] + “suggest a purchase””. If you’re in a larger community or one that has a big library, chances are you can do this online. You’ll need the
- title,
- author,
- publisher,
- ISBN,
- the genre of the book,
- and your library card number.
For my book, Rodeo in Reverse, the info would be
- Title: Rodeo in Reverse,
- Author: Lindsey Alexander,
- Publisher: Hub City Press,
- ISBN: 978-1-938235-40-5,
- Genre: Poetry,
- and your library card number.
If you live in a smaller town or a place with a library whose website is not all that fancy, you can do the same thing by calling and asking for the reference librarian, chatting up the reference librarian in person, or yes, fellow Millennials, by emailing the library with that information.
Welcome, non-academics, to a lifetime of free access to the books you want to read.
If your library can’t afford a certain title, don’t despair. For that, there’s inter-library loan. Ask your reference librarian; bring the same info you brought to suggest a purchase.
Happily completed.
Thank you!