Getting My DublinLibrary Card

You all know that the first thing I was going to do when I got to Dublin was get a library card. Well, I did have phone/cell service, a government appointment, a Leap Card, and a few other admin things to sort out first, but by week two, I was on my way to my local library branch to get access to even more amazing books. You all know I love to collect library cards from all the places I've lived to add them to my quiver. 

So what was it like to get a library card in Ireland? Very similar to getting my LA library card, not surprising as this is another quest in a major city. It's a two step process. I got online through the library's outpost of the government services website and registered. This gives you access to a few basic online parts of the library by providing your address, phone number, email, and other details. Then, to use the physical library, you take a confirmation number to a local branch along with some form of proof of address. For me, I used my ultimate proof of address that's worked like a charm for everything, my Trinity Registration letter. Though that's fairly unique. A utility bill will do or something along those lines. The librarian was super helpful at the desk, and I was given a physical card and my profile was updated. I'd also picked out a book while I was there, so the librarian checked it out to my newly minted account as well. That first book, The Wardrobe Department, was a special loan from one of the end-caps. It seems the Dublin City Libraries reserve a copy or two of brand new, in-demand books for special 10 day loans that can't be put on hold to try to circulate those books through the system faster than the typical 3 week loan period. Similar to Libby's Lucky Day loan system, if you're familiar. 

Since then, I've gone about using lots of different library services. They absolutely saved me by being the only place in town with a copy of Tilt when I needed it for a school assignment. I was able to pull it right off the shelf, and the relief was immense. I also learned my card hadn't quite been set up right when I went to use self-checkout and was sent back to the desk, but this was fixed quickly.

I've been availing myself to the online catalog as well. When I want a new book, I've started looking them up at the library and placing various holds. Interestingly, the online system makes it pretty hard to decipher where you are in line or when you might get a book you've put on hold. I'm also wondering when it's going to cut me off from making requests, but you can reserve a book from anywhere in the library system and have it delivered to your home library. You can also drop the book at any library branch when you're done with it. I've already picked up plenty of holds now (I need to grab two more today), and there's a shelf by the desk that just has your last name and first initial with the date it has to be picked up by printed on a receipt and rubber banded to the book. Back home, holds were marked by the last 4 of your library card, which seems much more complicated. When I remarked on this to my mom, she suggested this might have been done in my tiny hometown for privacy, to anonymize what everyone is reading when everyone knows each other. I'd never considered this possibility, but I was momentarily fascinated by it, and this was validated when I got a text from a friend who uses the same branch saying that she saw I had a book on the hold shelf! This was a super easy process as well, though I worry all the random holds I've placed will show up at once. (I wrote this post months ago and never published it. This fear came true. Now I have 2 new books and a week until I get on a plane!)

It's funny, too, thinking about the slightly different ways that the self-checkout machines work. It makes me realized I never actually checked out a physical book while in LA. Their online catalog is so robust (something I still take advantage of today as my library card just keeps getting renewed for the fact that I still use it. Best thing LA ever did for me), and the Downtown branch I lived near was too overwhelming to navigate. My Dublin City branch is cozy, even smaller than my hometown library, so it's pretty approachable. Their machines have the same magic scanners that always excite me so much because I don't get how it can read a whole stack of books at once. But they serve a dual function. You check books both in and out with them. There isn't the same book drop and run away system that always wants to eat your fingers like at home. Instead, you scan them back in at the self-checkout and leave them on a cart tucked into the nook beside the machine or in a hatch underneath where the books wait to be rehomed. This makes a lot of sense when you think about it. You know your book won't somehow evaporate in the system before it's logged, and if you've hit your maximum, you can immediately make a swap. It gets rid of the lag time and removes a step for the libraries that we can all easily do ourselves. 

Needless to say, I'm a fan. I have a feeling that I'm going to have an opposite experience with the Dublin library as I did LA where it will be a largely physical experience for me getting paper books from them and then keeping my US cards through Libby to get the best of all possible worlds for as long as the systems function. I'm really getting the both-sides the US/UK publishing divide with the different pub dates for certain new books (the fact that Brandon Taylor's new book won't be out here for months is wild!)

So, in sum, I'm incredibly grateful for libraries and librarians all over the world.