Last week one of my face to face book groups picked Jincy Willet’s The Writing Class as our next reading assignment. I’ve had the book on my ‘must read’ list since hearing the author on a local radio show last year and was chuffed that I would now have a reason to read the book. I am currently in the middle of a self-imposed, three-month ban on purchasing any more books (refer here for my ‘greed’ post that prompted this) so I headed to the local public library (funded out of my considerable property taxes) and found they may be able to provide me a copy some time next millennium if I am a very good girl. I was bemoaning my fate at some length when a colleague piped up with the gem of information that I am eligible by my very existence to borrow books from the public library that’s near work. As this library is in a completely different government boundary it is entirely funded by other people’s considerable property taxes it never occurred to me that I would be allowed to borrow items from it.
Astonishingly though my colleague was right. The joining process was free and remarkably easy and they had a copy of The Writing Class available. For no additional fee they had it brought to the campus of the library that is a mere stroll from my office rather than have me traipse off to the other end of town to pick it up myself. There were also copies of many other new release books that I have been wanting to read and a whole load of interesting-looking audio books available for my instant gratification.
While I am quite giddy with delight at the unnecessary (because I already have a huge pile of books TBR) but wonderful opportunities I am, not surprisingly to the people who know me well, consumed with guilt. How can I partake of such wonder without contributing a single cent to the institution’s upkeep? Shouldn’t they charge me a nominal fee given that I don’t live in the district and therefore don’t support the institution in the normal way? How on earth can the place stay afloat lending out items to interlopers such as myself? Can I live with myself if I continue to partake of the delights of this institution without contributing anything?
