How many books do you leave the library with? - Page 2

[PiePie]

15

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by StormySar

Ok, I dont' feel so bad anymore!

So how many books do you request/hold, on average?

I can put 20 holds on per card so I have up to 120 holds max
typically I have about 10 holds outstanding at any one time - either I go or my DH goes a couple times a week to pick up books etc.
Ones that we don't need for longer terms get recycled back quickly.

[CarenSwan]

I think the "appropriate" amount of books to take out depends on the size of the community and the library. I work at a library in a pretty small town, and while I agree with the pp that said that librarians like to see things circulate, I think I would cringe to see someone checking out more than 75 books at a time! 50 seems reasonable to me, and I've never seen a family go over that. We have a lot of homeschooling families, and it's true that they take out a ton of books, but I don't think I've ever seen numbers over about 50 at a time. We usually don't go over 20, but my dd is only 3.

[ABand3]

We usually leave with 15-20, but take out much more often then we return. I don't think we have a limit, at least it's not less than 138, which is my current count of books out (and highest ever). Two of the kids have their own cards, each with 10-20 out at a time, on top of my 138. We renew like crazy online, and love the email notification for due books otherwise I'd owe a bunch of money. Oh, and there's usually about 5-10 on request at any time too.

[TEAK's Mom]

I'd say we average 40-50 per week give or take. Yes, all of the librarians know us. I'd feel guilty, but they say that we're good for their statistics.

[mraven721]

check out average of 30 per week.
hold request about 15 of those.

[ohiomommy1122]

WOW was thinking that yesterday. I was checking out a TON of books and I know all the tellers I'm constantly odering stuff in from other libraries and always checking out more books than I can carry. We don't always read them all but I love having them for referance

[hipumpkins]

No limit at our library but we usually take out around 20 picture books and maybe one or 2 chapter books for DD. If we are working on a theme we take out around 5 or 6 around that theme. I feel guilty if I return them and we haven't read them. I thought 20 was a lot but now I see I am practically an illiterate Hee hee

[babycarrier]

Rarely fewer than 20 and we alternate libraries. Regularly have around 35+ a couple of dvds, cds and books on tape for the car. We are in the library at least weekly so the crop rotates.

Actually, my son chose no less than 20 dinosaur books this week and I was encouraging him to leave some in case someone else wanted to check out. Our wonderful children's librarian encouraged him to take them all "we want to see the books go out" and pointed out some other interesting items. I always feel like we are robbing the place with our giant bag and this was encouraging!

[lacysmommy]

Right now I have 42 books out right now. And that's just with me, DH, and two pre-reading kids. My sister takes a laundry basket to the library with her every single time because she checks out so many books. She has 6 kids, and several of them them are major readers, plus she is a major reader and gets tons of books for her little ones. I think she usually has about 75 books out at a time.

I love my library.

[moominmamma]

Right now we have three items out. That's fairly average.

Our library is 90 minutes away. The limit per-card is 10 items, and only my kids are entitled to free cards. Only one of them tends to be available to do the big drive and actually get to the library, so we're limited to 10 items with the one card. The loan period is 2 weeks, 1 week on media. While we can now renew books on-line (this is new!) it's still tough to get things returned.

So our library use is pretty minimal.

Miranda

[zeldamomma]

I try not to go over 20, just because I don't want to have so many books that I don't have someplace good to keep them, and they're more likely to get lost or damaged.

We live fairly close to our library, and drive past it a couple times a week, so there's a pretty rapid turnover for the books we use.

ZM

[vicnoe]

I'd love to be able to check out that many books at a time. Our limit is 75 total but the problem is the size of the library system in our county. They don't carry half the books I need or want and their dvd selection is limited to Disney movies and non-PBS tv shows. Still, we walk out of there with 10 to 15 books (and have another 10 or so on reserve).

[1stTimeMummytoLore]

we're in a large library system with no limit per card. we usually- btwn everyone in the family- have 75-125 books/videos/CDs/CD-ROMs out. we go weekly at a minimum and always bring back around 50 or so, so we're not stockpiling and keeping folks from getting them b/c our turnover is pretty good. the librarians never bat an eye at us. we do have a 10 request limit on holds per card so i never have more than that on hold. i practially have the dewey decimal system memorized at this point though so i can usually go straight to what we're looking for pretty efficiently. i want my kiddos to have a passionate love of reading and learning so i rarely ever say no to a book they want to check out. our library system is all computerized so i can get a print out of what we have out and when it's due back and keep track of it all pretty easily. i am very grateful to be in such a great library system!

[LilyGrace]

We usually leave with 3-7 each. But we also have a *very* small library now, and it's within easy walking distance, so if we need more during the week it's a quick pop over.

[2 in August]

We usually have 20-30 out at a time. Mostly they are for dd. I get some for me and if dh wants anything I'll get it for him. When we are doing a theme I'll request all sorts of stuff and just have it on hand in case we need it. Dd is into rainbow magic fairy books right now so we have 4 or so of those every week. Plus whatever random books/dvds that look good when we get there.

We take out books before we buy them too. I've got an amazon order brewing right now of books that I took out renewed and still wish I had. We have a limit of 10 books that we can request at a time so dd and I both have a card and we often have the 20 slots maxed out. We go every Thursday so we turn things over pretty quick.

[quietplease]

1,000,000. We easily leave with every book there. Sad, really.

[theretohere]

Well, I can walk to the library in 5 minutes (one of the only things in this area we don't have a 30 mile car trip for!) and we leave with 20+ books every week.

[koru]

since starting to HS we definitely leave the library with more books than before. it was 10 at a time (5 for each girl) but now it's around 40.

so how do you keep them organized at home? our books end up all over the house & i'm so nervous we'll start losing or destroying them. i've tried designating one spot for library books but that just doesn't happen....

[ChetMC]

Library Limit

I think that DH and I can each sign out 200 items. The kids cards are off of DH's (I think). So my understanding is that we can sign out 400 items in total.

We don't sign out a lot at a time (maybe 10 to 20), but the library is really, REALLY close.

I wouldn't feel bad having well over a hundred items signed out though. I've had massive amounts of stuff signed out of university libraries for myself.