At risk of teaching people to suck eggs, and at risk of speaking to people whose regional public library system has been defunded to the point of non-functionality; inter library loans are a beautiful thing.
My local library (in the UK) will fetch me a book from any participating library in the UK or Ireland and loan it to me for a month, for two pounds and fifty pence (a bit under four dollars at current exchange rates). They'll extend the loan if I ask and the owning library doesn't mind.
Over the past year, I've had books from university libraries up and down the country, big chunky tomes from the British Library, and books from regional library systems that happened by chance to hold a copy of whatever I was looking for. Basically, any time I come across a book I want to read, I pitch over to www.worldcat.org and see if any library in the UK holds a copy. If someone does (and sometimes it's just one library), I make an inter library loan request and a week later it's in my hands. I've been shot down twice; once when the book was subsequently found to no longer exist in the single library listed on worldcat, and once when the university library said it was in too high demand and would I mind asking again in July when the demand would have dropped.
I've had technical manuals, obscure novels, expensive books that I wanted to get my hands on for a few weeks to see if I'd use it or enjoy it enough to buy my own copy, some really niche books on the shipping industry, stupidly expensive books of compiled data, all sorts. Two pounds fifty for a month's loan is an absolute bargain.
Also worth noting that many libraries now also have eBooks available through Overdrive or similar - http://www.overdrive.com/ (I have used this in the UK, you can also join many UK libraries for free to gain access to more collections)
Overdrive is amazing. I live in Minneapolis, MN, USA. There are about 4 library systems where I have Overdrive accounts (Minneapolis, St Paul, counties, etc). I can find most books I want. I can also find many in audiobook format, which I listen to on my commute and when walking the dog.
Personally, I would love to see more "philosophical" programming books in audio format such as "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning", or "Dynamics of Software Development".
In the US you can get access to worldcat at a lot of university, community college, and public libraries to get interlibrary loans from many different participating institutions. I have gotten so many obscure technical books on loan using this service, like "Bipartite Graphs and their Applications" (it's a good read).
The only problem is if you forget to renew the book you have to pay the fine at the institution it's on loan from. :(
The only problem is if you forget to renew the book you have to pay the fine at the institution it's on loan from. :(
Isn't that the truth. I had a history book from the British Library and the fine began at a hundred and something pounds for the first day late, and went up from there. I took a picture of the fine warning and stuck it to my monitor so I wouldn't forget.
A nice little book, "Seven Wonders: Everyday Things for a Healthier Planet", counts public libraries as one of the seven "sustainable wonders" (along with bikes, ceiling fans, clotheslines, and other low-intensity means of doing good things).
At least in my local library system, you can specify how much (if anything) you'll pay to initiate a loan from another library. That said, I generally leave it at $0, and I haven't ever had a loan denied. In fact, the lending library typically also gives longer return times than my local, I have one right now for two months. The only shortcoming - you can't borrow titles printed in the calendar year of your request (which becomes more and more of a pain as the year goes on), which I am sure is intended to protect access for their patrons.
You can also rent e-books for you kindle from many Libraries. The SF library is awesome at this, as you can also rent titles that pretty much any library in CA has.
The rights management around it is fascinating though. They can only lend out as many copies at a time as physically exist in the library system (I think).
My local library (in the UK) will fetch me a book from any participating library in the UK or Ireland and loan it to me for a month, for two pounds and fifty pence (a bit under four dollars at current exchange rates). They'll extend the loan if I ask and the owning library doesn't mind.
Over the past year, I've had books from university libraries up and down the country, big chunky tomes from the British Library, and books from regional library systems that happened by chance to hold a copy of whatever I was looking for. Basically, any time I come across a book I want to read, I pitch over to www.worldcat.org and see if any library in the UK holds a copy. If someone does (and sometimes it's just one library), I make an inter library loan request and a week later it's in my hands. I've been shot down twice; once when the book was subsequently found to no longer exist in the single library listed on worldcat, and once when the university library said it was in too high demand and would I mind asking again in July when the demand would have dropped.
I've had technical manuals, obscure novels, expensive books that I wanted to get my hands on for a few weeks to see if I'd use it or enjoy it enough to buy my own copy, some really niche books on the shipping industry, stupidly expensive books of compiled data, all sorts. Two pounds fifty for a month's loan is an absolute bargain.