tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53902804201549526722011-10-11T04:56:17.824-07:00Life in general baffles me. And everyone I normally talk to has asked me to please. stop. complaining. So, now I can talk to one vast unlistening audience.Cecilianoreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390280420154952672.post-13624445560414708032011-01-03T11:32:00.000-08:002011-01-03T11:56:50.592-08:00After last winter's calculation of what I've saved through regular use of the library, I made a spreadsheet of everything I borrowed during the year 2010. I noted different media, and also noted all inter-library loans and all fines paid.<br /><br />(To view spreadsheet in its entirety, visit <a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AghwXR3ked-vdFhVTkdWbERmNmFmdWcxMEpTTnROWWc&hl=en&authkey=CPO07O8E">the spreadsheet</a> )<br /><br />What was rented - <br />DVDs and VHS: 135<br />Books: 124<br />CDs and audiobooks: 32<br />e-Books: 8<br />ILLs: 3<br /><br />I used last year's forumlas - $5 for a movie (higher than Netflix, Redbox, or Blockbuster [do they even exist anymore?], but rounded up for borrowed sets of television series, which often are four or five discs), $10 for a book (I rarely borrow paperbacks, so this is pretty fair), and $10 for a disc (much the same reasoning as DVD sets). ILLs, regardless of format, are $10, since these are usually difficult items to find and would require at least as much if not more than $10 to purchase. I threw e-books in, with $5 for each. However, this is probably unrealistic, as some e-books are priced higher than their price counterparts. Since I didn't really borrow many during the year I'll leave the price at $5, but may adjust if I get an e-reader this year and use this feature of the library more.<br /><br />Factor in $0.60 of fines levied on my account (somewhat unfairly, but not worth arguing over), and my total savings: $2,304.40.<br /><br />I tried again this year to figure out how much of my tax money is actually set aside for libraries (both metropolitan and county), but after a couple of hours searching I decided it didn't matter. I saved a bunch, and explored several books and movies that I might not have otherwise tried (Scott Pilgrim? Awesome! Burn Notice? So much fun!).<br /><br />I broke things down by month, but nothing in those results surprised me. I've already signed up for Netflix this year, mostly for the streaming stuff (including some television shows and movies that the library doesn't have [sorry, library!]). I predict this will change next year's results, although now that I work in a library, I've found myself trying lots and lots (and lots) of new things, so who knows. Next year might include many more books and CDs (I spend two hours on a bus each day, and read over 80 books in 2010). <br /><br />One thing that doesn't show up in this chart, though, is that I actually spent more on books, CDs, and movies this year than I have the previous couple of years. Part of it was having a real job (thanks, money!), but another part was that even if I could get something for free from the library, it was nice to support those artists/authors that I really liked. I ended up buying some of the CDs I borrowed and loved, and several of the books I've read I recommended or bought for others (Sookie Stackhouse series - which I got interested in after borrowing True Blood season 1 from the library). Libraries work.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5390280420154952672-1362444556041470803?l=wineno.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Cecilianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5390280420154952672.post-60303572227178226352009-12-17T20:47:00.000-08:002009-12-17T21:26:58.571-08:00I thought it would be fun to break down how much the library saves us in a year. Once I started I realized that I didn't have the best memory about what we had gotten, and the library doesn't keep any digital record of what we borrow. We combined brains, and the following is at least 80% complete.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />A basic list of the items and Nate and I borrowed from our public libraries this year, broken down into rough estimates of cost:</span><br /><br />DVDs - Rental Fee - ($5) - <span style="font-weight: bold;">104 DVDs = $520</span><br />A Christmas Carol (F)<br />The Village<br />Wonderfalls<br />Road to Perdition<br />Count of Monte Cristo (F)<br />Flower Drum Song<br />Twin Peaks Season 1<br />Who Killed the Electric Car<br />Across the Universe (F)<br />Twin Peaks Season 2<br />Dexter Season 1<br />Citizen Kane<br />The Happening<br />Hancock<br />Be Kind Rewind<br />Shadow of a Doubt<br />Lady Vanishes (F)<br />Metropolis (F)<br />Die Hard<br />Fifth Element<br />Mad Men Season One<br />The Straight Story<br />Hamlet 2<br />Dexter the Second Season<br />Forgetting Sarah Marshall<br />In Bruges<br />The Incredible Hulk<br />Die Hard<br />Die Hard Collection<br />Angel Season 5<br />Angel Season 4<br />Bones Season 1<br />Iron Giant<br />How I Met Your Mother Season 3<br />Jacob's Ladder<br />Shawshank Redemption<br />Ravenous<br />Toy Story<br />Monster's Inc<br />Flying down to Rio<br />Gay Divorcee<br />Roberta<br />Identity<br />Supernatural Complete First Season<br />Happy, Texas<br />Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day<br />House, M.D. Season Four<br />How I Met Your Mother Season One<br />Fish Called Wanda<br />Follow the Fleet<br />Shall We Dance<br />Swingtime<br />Philadelphia Story<br />Carefree<br />Story of Vernon and Irene Castle<br />How I met your mother season 2<br />Truly Madly Deeply<br />The faculty<br />The golden voyage of Sinbad<br />Blue Velvet<br />Pride and Prejudice<br />True Blood first season<br />Little Shop of Horrors<br />Wicker man<br />Charade<br />Toy Story 2<br />Top Hat<br />Bones season 2<br />Inland Empire<br />Tristram Shandy: Cock and bull story<br />Jeeves and Wooster complete first season<br />Bones Season 3<br />Inkheart<br />Star Wars Episode 4<br />Mad men Season 2<br />Memento<br />Rashomon<br />Raging Bull<br />Bull Durham<br />Dial M for Murder<br />Star Wars Episode 5<br />Finding Nemo<br />Rebecca<br />Prestige<br />Slumdog Millionaire<br />Professional<br />Sneakers<br />Life of Brian<br />Manchurian Candidate<br />Ghostbusters<br />North by Northwest<br />Star Wars Episode 6<br />I Love You, Man<br />Sunshine Cleaning<br />Rear Window<br />Three Kings<br />Gossip Girl Complete First Season<br />Fanboys<br />Deer Hunter (F)<br />Jeeves and Wooster second season<br />Ghostbusters 2<br />Dexter Season 3<br />Evil Dead<br />Choke<br /><br /><br />ILL - Price - $10 (rarer titles) -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> 3 DVDs + 1 book = $40,</span><br />Fire Walk with Me - Twin Peaks<br />X-Files: Fight the Future<br />Truth or Consequences, N. M.<br />Ron Carlson<br /><br /><br />Digital Books - Price - $5 - <span style="font-weight: bold;">13 books = $65</span><br />At least 13 - too embarrassing to list<br /><br /><br />Books - Price - $10 - <span style="font-weight: bold;">74 books = $740</span><br />The Man Who Invented Christmas<br />In the Beginning---Was the Command Line (F)<br />Agnes Grey (2008)<br />Pamela or Virtue Rewarded<br />147 Things to do in San Antonio<br />Understanding Comics<br />Wired Style (S)<br />Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style (S)<br />Halliwells Film and Video Guide (S)<br />Merriam-Webster Dictionary (S)<br />Darkly dreaming Dexter<br />Dearly Devoted Dexter<br />Dexter in the Dark<br />Gothic! Ten original dark tales<br />Mysteries of Udolpho (F)<br />The Monk (F)<br />Javascript the Missing Manual (F)<br />One for the Money<br />Devil in the White City<br />Eyre Affair<br />True History of Chocolate<br />Persuasion<br />Everything Bad is Good for You<br />Salt<br />Two for the Dough<br />Coraline<br />Pride and Prejudice and Zombies<br />Candy Freak<br />Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters<br />Compleat Cockroach<br />Are you there vodka? It's me, Chelsea<br />Rose in Bloom<br />Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet?<br />That's Not in My American History Book<br />Inkheart<br />Naked Economics Undressing the Dismal Science<br />High Wind in Jamaica<br />Three to get Deadly<br />Panati's extraordinary origins of everyday things (F)<br />The host<br />Lies my teacher told me (F)<br />Inkspell<br />Hatter M<br />Guns Germs and Steel (F)<br />Sams teach yourself Ajax Javascript and PHP all in one<br />Ajax Bible (F)<br />Javascript programming language (F)<br />BITCHfest (F)<br />Seductress (F)<br />Hunger Games (F)<br />Javascript the Good Parts (F)<br />Bro Code<br />The call of Cthulhu and other weird stories<br />Four to Score<br />How to Dunk a Doughnut science of everyday life<br />New Moon<br />Sex with Kings<br />Mind Wide Open<br />History of the World in 6 glasses<br />Lost in a Good Book<br />Vindication of Live<br />Issac's Storm<br />Ray Bradbury book<br />Sam the Cat<br />Fitzwilliam Darcy 1<br />Fitzwilliam Darcy 2<br />Fitzwilliam Darcy 3<br />Short stories from LaPorte Library<br />Carrie<br />Like for Chocolate<br />Frankenstein<br />Eight Cousins<br />Meaning of Everything<br />Seeing Redd<br /><br /><br /><br />CDs - Price - $10 - <span style="font-weight: bold;">11 CDs = $110</span><br />Circus<br />M is for Magic<br />Life of Pi (F)<br />Twilight<br />Sherlock Holmes Three Tales of Avarice<br />Down to Earth<br />Lenka<br />The Stripes<br />The Fame<br />Drive by Comedy<br />Wicked soundtrack<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Total = $1475<br /></span><br /><br />Now I know not all libraries are equal, and not everyone could pull this off, but it's kind of amazing to think of how much money we saved (even though we've gone on to purchase some of these items or place them on our Christmas lists). I want to compare this figure with how much of our tax dollars go to the library, but I'm guessing we get our money's worth.<br /><br />(F) = Failed to finish<br />(S) = Got for school assignment<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5390280420154952672-6030357222717822635?l=wineno.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Cecilianoreply@blogger.com2