Lights Out

Today, my electricity went out. Whereby I mean my library card expired.

I couldn't log in to my library account, and it was like I was suddenly left without power, water, or some other equally crucial utility. Like my DVR.

This had happened a few years ago, and I just had to go to the library, show proof of residency, and my card was reactivated. Before this, I hadn't known that library cards actually expired.

Here are a few other things you might not know about libraries.

With a San Diego city library card, you can go to ANY branch library and check out books. I got this question a lot during my thirty-six-in-sixty-six. "Doesn't your hand get tired from filling out all those card applications?"

And once you check out a book from any branch, you can likewise return the book to any branch.

I'd always admired the Del Mar library from afar, lamenting the fact that it wasn't part of the city of San Diego. But then I got an email one day from Chula Vista's head librarian, who told me that, with proof of California Residency, I can get a Chula Vista library card for free (out of staters can check out books, too, they just have to fork over a mere twenty bucks). So I checked, and with San Diego residency, you can get a SD County library card that's good for Del Mar and the thirty-three county branches. The Del Mar and Chula Vista libraries are now both on my list of places to be visited.

So I did visit all thirty-six libraries in thirty-six days. But if all I wanted were the books, I didn't have to venture past my local branch. You can request a book from any other branch and have it transferred to a branch of your choice for pick-up.