Online Libraries vs Real Libraries

Here at The Book Corner we love all libraries online or not, and we decided we would put up a list of pros and cons for using either of these library options.

We decided that for the point of the list, we would use our favourite online library, the open library, as the company example.

Pros to using the open library

 1. The open library is online so there doesn’t need to be an opening or closing time. So if you want to borrow a book in the middle of the night, then as long as you have wifi, you can

2.The Open library is completely free, as many real libraries are not. All you have to do is make a free account and you will have hundreds of books at your fingertips.

3.On the open library you can borrow a book for between an hour - fourteen days and you can return it early if you want to. This means that you have plenty of time to read the book and return it with a simple click of a button.

Pros to using a real library.

1. In a real library, you can spend time browsing through the books you like the look of and sometimes you can pick books that you have never heard of before.

2. In a real library you don’t always come just for the books. There are often booths where you can read or study, laptops that you can use if you don’t have any at home and storytime for young children.

3.  There are often art sessions, community gatherings and reading competitions that take place in different libraries

Cons to using The Open Library.

1. On the Open library, it can be really hard to browse through the books that they have for your age group, so you kind of need to know what book you want and then search it up.

2. The Open Library doesn’t have as big of a selection of children's books as most real libraries would, so often if you search up a book it will say that there are no results found.

3.  You can’t borrow a book for any more than fourteen days. In most real libraries, if you haven’t had enough time to read a book that you borrowed, then simply renew it. There is no option to do this on the open library

Cons to using real libraries

1. It isn’t always easy to get down to your local library to borrow a book. If you are using the Open library it is much easier because all you have to do is log into your open library account and you can borrow whatever book you want.

2. In some real libraries, there are late fees if you don’t drop back a book on time. These are not on the Open Library, which makes it a good bit cheaper.

3. In real libraries, you have to be quiet as not to disturb the people who are reading there. If your using the Open Library you can make as much noise as you like in the comfort of your own home

Which one do you prefer? Tell us in the comments!

Happy Reading

The Book Corner