Our library system ran an expedition, the second iteration in a handful of years to promote all of the thirty-six libraries in the system. After the expedition finished, they did a Library Love event to bring the libraries back together, give out some awards, provide recognition for the staff who put the activity together, and allow fellow library lovers a chance to have fun and connect.

At the event, the staff had a station where you could pose with the dollar amount you saved by borrowing from the library using a standard dollar amount per book, but that didn’t include your digital borrowing.

I know I read a lot of books, so to know that I have the public library, in addition to my job as a school librarian, saves me quite a lot of money. In this photo from September, my borrowing totaled over $42,000. That’s a car. It’s a salary. It’s a lot of groceries (well not as much anymore).

I know there are libraries whose digital borrowing receipts include “you saved X dollars by borrowing these items”, which I also love.

We should continue to celebrate what public libraries do from hosting events and community gatherings, to still the thing as old as time– lending books. Thank you to people like Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Carnegie, all the librarians and library staff, and communities that support their libraries!