Quote:
Originally Posted by astrangerhere
Funny comic, but serious question. I mostly browse here for amusement here as I am very serious about my budget and don't really have compulsion issues. Childhood poverty tends to make tightwad adults, I suppose. But why the need to buy vs getting from a library? My default position is to get something from a library. There are a very, very few authors that I will purchase without having checked the library first.
I am not trying to be a jerk, I am genuinely curious.
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This is a very good question. I usually do check with my local library before I make a purchase. But sometimes I buy even if the library has the book I'm interested in and here are the reasons why:
1) It's a very long book. I'm not a fast reader and I don't like to feel rushed to finish a book before the lending period is up.
2) There's a long wait-list. Long to me is more than 6 month.
3) It's an older book and my library only has a few copies. Sometimes books I've had on my wish list simply 'disappear'. I don't know if the library purges them or if the last copies get lost or damaged. But when they're gone, they're gone.
4) It's a new release from a favorite author and I don't even want to wait the few days it takes the library to get my reserve prepped and placed on the hold shelf. This is rare, but it happens.
5) It's a very good sale - I'm not sure what it costs to fire up my car and drive to the library to pick up a book and take it back but sometimes that, along with the convenience, tips the scale in favor of buying
I'm an older child of poverty and probably a tightwad at that so I don't make the decision to buy casually. At least not too often.
