Posting this helpful advice from Lindsay: (and bolding the reason I thought it should be bumped up from the comments) :
Just responding to something (the other?) Melissa wrote. If you can’t get Melissa Wiley books at your local library, do ask them to get them for you through Inter Library Loan. I used to hesitate about this, thinking ILL was something reserved for scholarly work, but I’ve heard librarians from various libraries enthusiastically encourage its use. I think it’s one of those things that the more it’s used, the more “the authorities” will see that it is needed, and consequently keep up funding for it. Also, one can hope that the more specific titles are requested, the more likely word will filter back to publishers to keep them in print! (We’ve also gotten Shakespeare and opera DVDs and CDs through ILL. It’s a great resource.)
The Mighty Yet Tiny Crozet Library has outstanding ILL support–you can order straight from the catalog search page online, which in and of itself is the most awesome feature. Turn around time is great.
That IS a great idea! I always forget about it. I am not fond of many of the restrictions involved with ILL–like having to return books on time! haha But, I should use it more often. I think my kids w/really enjoy your books (from what I’ve heard!) Thanks for reminding me.
I use this facility at my local library loads, it is much cheaper than Amazon and so I don’t worry about whether I will like a book, I just order away!
The latest book I have reserved is The Giant Jam Sandwich which I loved as a kid and had totally forgotten, but Kathy at Resoration Place mentioned it in a post. When I let her know she’d inspired me to remember it, she said it was you that had inspired her! My best memories are of reading it with my brother and I can’t wait for the library to let me know it’s in so I can share it with my kids!
I use ILL all the time. Love it. I was so disappointed when we moved and I found out the local library charged for ILL. Luckily I found another library close by that does not charge a fee for the service.
As a librarian I can tell you usage statistics often rule the day. “Use it or lose it” didn’t become a cliche for nothing! Use your Interlibrary Loan!!
At our library you can also request that they buy books, so often I request that they buy something then ask them to get it for me through ILL if they will not/cannot buy it. I’ve been surprised the number of times they have bought the book I was interested in! This might not be as possible with out-of-print books, but it is still worth a shot and lets them know what people want to read.
Thanks for pointing this out Lindsay and for bringing it to our attention Melissa. I have shied away from using our ILL because of the fees our library charges, but now I’m inspired to use for some very expensive textbooky books I’ve been wanting to read.
My local library formed a group with all the libraries in this county and the next. When you request a certain title, they will bring it from whichever library gets it in first. I used to feel a bit guilty about how much I use this service, thinking about the gas involved, until my mom pointed out that if the library van is driving back and forth for one or two books it might as well be full!
I love this service and use it all the time. I can also renew books online and check their due dates! Which helps me not be late. The latest service that the library offers is email reminders about books that are almost due!
(A roundup post with links to my notes and reviews)
Hey, what happened to all those booklists you used to have in your sidebars at the old blog?
They're still accessible at melissawiley.typepad.com, where this blog lived from January 2005-March 2008. You can also find all my Lilting House posts there, or try the search bar here. All my previous Bonny Glen and Lilting House posts have been imported to this site.
Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words.
(Excerpt from this post about Real Life, quoted here because I don't want anyone to be under the impression that things are always perfect around here! Heaven knows we are anything but. Perfect, frictionless, orderly? Nope. Happy? Most of the time!)
Be like the bird
Who, pausing in flight
On limb too slight,
Feels it give way beneath her,
Yet sings,
Knowing she has wings.
—Victor Hugo
Twitter Updates
“Exploration,” says John Stilgoe, author of Outside Lies Magic, “is a liberal art, because it is an art that liberates, that frees, that opens away from narrowness. And it is fun.”
Yes: it is so, so much fun, and that is why I write these posts all chattery with excitement over this or that connection the kids made today. (Or that I made myself!) I know I get carried away, but that’s the point, isn’t it, that way leading on to way has carried me away?
And yet—and yet—I think we are at once ‘carried away’ and made more fully present in the now, more rooted, by these relationships between ideas about things past and future. The joy of connection makes me want to celebrate this moment, this brief encounter with wild-haired child and broad-trunked tree, bus going by, sign on church wall, Scottish warlord creeping over the tower wall and startling the English soldier’s wife who has just put her babe in arms to sleep by crooning that the Black Douglas won’t get him. Child, laughing, shouting “Dinna ye be sae sure aboot that!” across the courtyard outside the library. How can I not celebrate this freedom?
The Mighty Yet Tiny Crozet Library has outstanding ILL support–you can order straight from the catalog search page online, which in and of itself is the most awesome feature. Turn around time is great.
Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 7:18 amThat IS a great idea! I always forget about it. I am not fond of many of the restrictions involved with ILL–like having to return books on time! haha
But, I should use it more often. I think my kids w/really enjoy your books (from what I’ve heard!) Thanks for reminding me.
Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 8:56 amI use this facility at my local library loads, it is much cheaper than Amazon and so I don’t worry about whether I will like a book, I just order away!
Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 10:17 amThe latest book I have reserved is The Giant Jam Sandwich which I loved as a kid and had totally forgotten, but Kathy at Resoration Place mentioned it in a post. When I let her know she’d inspired me to remember it, she said it was you that had inspired her! My best memories are of reading it with my brother and I can’t wait for the library to let me know it’s in so I can share it with my kids!
I use ILL all the time. Love it. I was so disappointed when we moved and I found out the local library charged for ILL. Luckily I found another library close by that does not charge a fee for the service.
Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 10:53 amAs a librarian I can tell you usage statistics often rule the day. “Use it or lose it” didn’t become a cliche for nothing! Use your Interlibrary Loan!!
Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 10:57 amAt our library you can also request that they buy books, so often I request that they buy something then ask them to get it for me through ILL if they will not/cannot buy it. I’ve been surprised the number of times they have bought the book I was interested in! This might not be as possible with out-of-print books, but it is still worth a shot and lets them know what people want to read.
Posted on September 29th, 2008 at 11:12 amThanks for pointing this out Lindsay and for bringing it to our attention Melissa. I have shied away from using our ILL because of the fees our library charges, but now I’m inspired to use for some very expensive textbooky books I’ve been wanting to read.
Posted on September 30th, 2008 at 2:32 amMy local library formed a group with all the libraries in this county and the next. When you request a certain title, they will bring it from whichever library gets it in first. I used to feel a bit guilty about how much I use this service, thinking about the gas involved, until my mom pointed out that if the library van is driving back and forth for one or two books it might as well be full!
I love this service and use it all the time. I can also renew books online and check their due dates! Which helps me not be late. The latest service that the library offers is email reminders about books that are almost due!
Posted on September 30th, 2008 at 6:48 pm