The library system, started by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia two hundred + years ago, is a luxury easily forgotten. However, anyone who has bought a book at Barnes & Nobles lately knows that keeping up with novels you want to read can be a pricey venture, until you decide to pay your ten dollar fine in overdue books and go back to the building of free books.
Did you know that the New York Public Library would deliver a requested book to your branch? I think they have always had this service but now with a few clicks online it’s even easier. You can log online via the barcode on your card, and click on the book you want and tell them which branch you’d like to pick them up at. Then they send you an email (if you sign up for that feature) to tell you when it has arrived. The current bestsellers don’t always take that long since they are more of them in circulation.
You pay taxes, take advantage!