living in the states is easy: American Library

What is American public library like? How to utilize the great resources of American public library?

Free services offered by U.S. public library.

How to find a library close-by.

Seattle Public Library on the outside and on the inside: Seattle Central Library and Ballard Branch.

How to get a library card.

How to order books, magazines and dvds from home.

me holding my library card

American public library is all that and a bag of chips. You may get in the library, take any book off any bookshelf, sit down in the comfortable arm-chair and read until closing time. Or you may come to the library, claim a big desk, plug in your laptop and use free wi-fi until you're done. if you're still in school, check out the library after classes - you'll find volunteers who can help you with homework. If you're a not a native english speaker, try taking free ESL (English as Second Language) course held in the public library. If you feel like going somewhere, go to the library, look through one of the local magazines that post article about coming city events (such as seattle magazine or seattle metropolitan to name a few), waste your time there reading free tabloids. If you would like to be trendy but can't afford subscription to numerous periodicals that cover fashion and beauty, try public library; here in Seattle they carry Vogue, Elle, Cosmo, Instyle and many others.

Central Public LIbraries of the big cities are truly multifunctional. For instance, Seattle Central Library offer complimentary citizenship test preparation on weekends, costless ESL classes on weekdays (including accent reduction course), free computer classes are also available. SCL is a multi-language speaking establishment, so you have a good chance to find spanish, russian, chinese or korean - speaking librarian here.

Finding a public library close-by is fairly easy:

1) Go to http://maps.google.com - the website supports several languages. i've used the google maps in russian and can certify it works fine.

2) Print your current location in line A(you can probably use your native language).

3) Print "public library" or the equivalent of this expression in whatever language you speak in line B.

4) You will see few public libraries in the area. Pick the one closest to you.

5) You will be offered three ways to get there by car, by bus, by bike or on foot Pick the easiest route. Go.

that's what it look like in russian

Seattle Public Library on the outside and on the inside

Seattle Central Library on the inside

Seattle Central Library
via faculty.washington.edu

Let's take a look at environment-frendly project of Ballard Branch of the SPL. Instead of wasting rain water, they use it to feed 18.000 low-water-use plants on the "green roof"; there are seventeen solar panels on the roof to produce electricity; the furniture is cut from a single sheet of laminated wood to reduce waste.

Ballard branch on the outside

Solar batteries on the roof of
the Ballard branch via spl.org

Once you come in inside you will find a reference desk, circulation desk (where you want to go to get a library card or to pay off your balance), quiet rooms, children's section, computer room, holds pick-up, reading area. There are bookshelves with volumes in english and foreign languages; there are numerous magazine racks; there are music and dvd stands which are always crowded.

General Reading Area at Ballard Library

Children's Section at Ballard Library

ballard library map via spl.org

How to get a library card?

You don't need to own a library card to read stuff at the library or use their wi-fi. However, if you want to take library material home, order things, reserve rooms for private study(you can get a quiet room no one but your party may visit for 2 or 3 hours), you need a library card. You can see what library card looks like on the very first photo of this post.

Fill out an application on-line (if you live in seattle go there) or on site, then bring passport or state id to your local branch. One usually qualifies for a free library card if he or she lives in the area. In case you do, bring a utility bill/bank statement/whatever to prove the residency (given that the address on your id is different from the one you claim). Imagine, you are an out of state visitor or a non-resident, just pay a small fee(in seattle it's $25 and $85 respectively) and the card is yours for eternity.

How to place hold on books, disks, magazines from home?

Again, as I live in Seattle, I'm going to use spl.org to illustrate how things are done.
1) Go to library website - it's spl.org in my case, chose "Log in to Your Account".

2) Log in using your borrower number and PIN number which you can find on your library card.

3) Pick "Search" and print the name of whatever item you want. I use this russian title to show that if you're looking for something in foreign language you have to type it in latin letters.

4) Press on the title, then press "Place Hold", then press "request".

5) When an item you requested is ready you'll get notified by email. Also, you can always find current status of your holds on "My Account" page.

Imagine your order is ready. You need to pick it up from Holds Pick Up section of your library. Orders there are organized by first three letters of your last name. When it says on line that your dvd is ready, but it's not on shelf, it's either has just arrived or the dvd is too valuable, so librarians keep it by themselves and you need to show your card to get it.

Alright, you got the dvd. Now put it down on scanner by check-out area. scan you library card or type your borrower's number manually on touch screen, type your PIN number. Follow instructions on monitor, when you're done you'll get a receipt with dates when your items are due.