Lauren Ducommun

This is a reminder not to overlook all of the incredible resources your local public library has to offer! While it can be disconcerting to see the lack of older books and classics on the shelves of your local library, there are several options to borrow titles not available at your local library! The following resources are so helpful for homeschooling families and avid readers on a budget.

TexShare Card

We live in a small rural town, so our public library is actually probably around 800 sq ft. It’s full of old books, but they are sadly giving many of them away. They also have limited services, as their main focus is preserving local county and city history.

But, we were able to get a free library card at a library about 45 minutes away that also gave us a TexShare card. The TexShare card is “a statewide library card that lets you borrow books and other physical materials from more than 500 libraries across the state!” This means we can access the majority of libraries in our area without having to pay an out of city limits fee (these can often be over $50 a year!)

We chose a local library that doesn’t charge fines for late books and is also a member of a library consortium — meaning they share books with 9 other libraries.

Libby and Hoopla

Our family loves listening to audiobooks, and our son listens to several a week! There’s no way we could afford to keep up with the amount of books he reads with an Audible subscription, or by purchasing Yoto cards.

Thankfully, we are able to use our library card to access their collection of audiobooks (and eBooks) on Libby as well as Hoopla. And because they’re a member of the library consortium, there are more options!

You can download both apps to your phone or tablet, and either borrow right away or put them on hold. The audiobooks download to your device, so that you don’t need wifi or data to listen to them while you are in the car.

Books on Hold

If our local library doesn’t have a school book we are look for, or a newly released book, then we can check the library system for books available at the other libraries in the consortium and request them to be put on hold.

We are able to borrow many new DVDs, books on CD, and harder to find books in this way.

Interlibrary Loans

But, if you are having a really hard time finding a book, or even a CD, then you can request an Interlibrary Loan. You can search the database to see if they have the title within your state, and then put in your request. It can take from two to six weeks to receive the title — as it has to be available at the sending library and then sent to your local library. Some libraries also have a policy for new books — that they can’t be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan (or ILL) for the first six months.

The book set in the picture above goes for around $107 on Amazon, and I get to borrow it through the Interlibrary Loan program for FREE! It travelled over 200 miles to my home, and I get to borrow it for almost two months (with an option to request a renewal).

What other resources have you enjoyed from your local library?