Gas prices, food prices, electricity -- if you ever leave your house you know that prices have gone up dramatically recently. Unfortunately, not everyone's income has increased commensurately.
© Judy Hedding
The Glendale Public Library shared with me 5 very specific ways that you can save money by utilizing their extensive list of services and databases.
1. Save money on buying books for leisure reading. Hardcover books, even at discounted prices, are expensive, and paperback books aren't cheap either. You can check out the latest bestsellers from the library. The normal check out period is three weeks. Bring them back after you have read them and take home another stack.
2. Do you buy books for other than entertainment purposes? You'll find resources for woodworking, car repair, home remodeling, gardening, crafts, history, health concerns and hundreds of other topics. Don't forget that you can just renew a book if you need it a little longer.
3. The library has thousands of DVDs and music CDs for adults, teens and children. Whether you are looking for recent releases or classic titles, the library is the perfect place to borrow media. The price is right - nothing! DVDs can be checked out for a week, while music circulates for three weeks.
4. Why pay money for magazines or newspapers? The library is filled with a variety of topics from newsmagazines to special interests. Are you interested in travel, for instance? You can enjoy sitting in comfortable chairs perusing "Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel," "National Geographic Traveler," and "Conde Nast's Traveler." These magazines can even be checked out. Online users can find about a dozen titles that can be accessed from inside the library, at home or at work. Local and national newspapers can also be read inside the library or from their databases.
5. Are your entertainment dollars limited? Glendale Public Library offers about 250 programs every month for people of all ages, including story times for the youngest family members, video gaming programs for teens and musical entertainment for adults. There are book discussion groups, small business seminars, craft workshops, cultural events, and a myriad of special interest programs for children and teens. The library offers free programs that complement the materials in their collections.
With a Glendale Public Library card, you can save even more money if you have a computer with Internet access by staying home instead of driving around. Library books, music and movies can be accessed online 24 hours a day through various databases. The Digital Media Library has a large selection of ebooks, digital audiobooks, music and videos that can checkout and download to your home computer or MP3 player. When the lending period is up, the digital items are automatically returned. Another database, ebrary, has over 2,000 electronic books which cover topics that include biographies, careers, education, health, history, law, self-help, personal finance, travel and classic fiction. All ebrary titles are full-text and searchable online. For computer-related books, Safari Tech Books database has the latest titles for computer and information technology. Learning Express e-books contain study guides and test-preparation books to help people prepare for high-stakes tests - to advance in school or pass licensing, certification, or competitive entry-level exams.
E-books are for kids, too. TumbleBooks is an online collection of animated, talking picture books, reading comprehension quizzes and educational games specifically geared to children. The database includes teacher resources and is also available in Spanish.
Doing research? The online databases incorporate thousands of journals, magazines and newspapers. Investors can check out Hoovers Online and the Business and Company Resource Center. Want to learn a new language? English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian and Spanish modules are available on Rosetta Stone. Are you searching your family history? Heritage Quest Online is available remotely, while Ancestry Library Edition is searchable in the library. Students and genealogists will enjoy searching the U.S. History and Biography Resource Centers.
Even though Glendale Public Library provided these tips, most of the public libraries in the Greater Phoenix area have services and programs that can save you money. It's time to check out the library!
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