Treasure—Free for the Taking
Seriously, there is a place in San Saba that is a house of treasure, and you can go in and get some of this treasure for yourself for free. In fact, once you are set up, you can retrieve your free treasure online without ever going into this building. It is just east of the courthouse, tucked in between that cool old gas station building and the police station—it is the Rylander Memorial Library.
I have always been a major fan of libraries and even spent a few years as a librarian. Back when I was a kid, there were no big bookstore chains and my family would not have been able to afford to buy me all the books I could consume even if there had been a B&N nearby. We mostly lived on military bases, and every one of those had a nice library. During the summers when I was out of school, I would ride my bike to the base library and spend hours looking at books in the air conditioning. I would always bring home a stack of these treasures in my handlebar basket.
Things have changed and now we can find nearly anything we need and want online, but no computer, tablet, or phone can totally take the place of a printed page you can hold in your hands. Besides, more and more I am finding there are bits of information that I cannot find online, particularly if it is more specific to this area or is beyond a few years old. Libraries usually have material of local interest and often have or can help find more historic sources.
If you enjoy the convenience of an e-reader like a Kindle or an e-reader app on your phone or tablet…the library has you covered there, too! A library membership includes access to an extensive collection of electronic sources. I have the Libby app on my phone where I can search for e-books and audio books to check out for FREE. The average e-book or audiobook costs around fourteen dollars these days so if you are an avid reader (or listener), a library membership can save you a ton of money. If the book is really popular, there can be a wait, but I usually fill those waits with older books I have been meaning to read (I am currently working through Agatha Christie’s body of work). Once I have checked out a book, I can read it or listen to it on my phone, or I can send it to my Kindle. Like a physical book, the checkout period is about two weeks.
The Rylander has a great website where you can log in with your library card and search their collections before you go to the library. If you fail to find what you want at the library, you can probably get it through Interlibrary Loan. Call the librarian and she can usually find things at another library, who will then send it here for you to check out. Is that not glorious??
I have only scratched the surface of the treasure that awaits you at the library. They offer much more than books. Go in and check it out for yourself sometime. Get a library card and start enjoying all that has been waiting there for you!