One of the best things about living in England, at least for a bookworm like me, is the ability to visit a public library and borrow a book for free, to enjoy it, to return it when you're finished, and to start all over again. Since I moved to Hammersmith, I've used this library time and time again. And it's most definitely saved me a lot of money, which would otherwise have gone on new books I have no room to keep.
The staff are always friendly and have helped me on the rare occasions I've been hunting for a specific book. The range of books is pretty good, although there are times when I wish the library was a bit bigger. The thing that makes this much less of a problem than I would have expected, is that Hammersmith Library is part of the network of Hammersmith and Fulham libraries - so if the book isn't here, it may well be somewhere else. It involves a bit of searching, and either an extra walk or an extra wait to get hold of a book that's not in your nearest branch immediately. But the system improves the choice so much that that's never really a problem. read more