Library card for nomads?

[VanForNow]

For nomads who live on the road & have no home base, how can you get a library card during your travels? 

I am referring to nomads who do not have an in-state driver's license or proof of a local address. For example, will public libraries in places like Quartzsite and Pahrump, NV, give library cards to nomads?

 

[Sofisintown]

I have a library card here in s+b. Renews every 5 years. But lots of books and magazines are online, and you can download them.

 

[rvwandering]

Yes, both Pahrump and Quartzsite libraries will issue cards to nomads with limitations.
https://www.pahrumplibrary.org/visitor-information
http://ci.quartzsite.az.us/index.php/2013-01-08-06-19-36/library

Another option is to share a friend's or relative's card.

 

[jacqueg]

I'm still using the two library cards (from two different cities) that I had before I went on the road. I can check out ebooks from either of them.

 

[jacqueg]

Also - take a look at this - https://libbyapp.com

With the virus, lots of libraries are expanding their digital services.

 

[maki2]

For nomads who live on the road & have no home base, how can you get a library card during your travels?

You apply online to get a card from the location where you have ID with your home adress on it. That way you have the ability to check out digital books online. You can send them an image of your ID.

 

[VanForNow]

This doesn't work in Rapid City, SD, where many nomads go to acquire state residence. Believe it ir not,  when a nomad shows an SD driver's license at the public library in Rapid City, they refuse to give you a libray card unless you can produce rent receipts for the last 6 months (yes - you read right -  SIX months!)  Talk about being treated like a second class citizen!

 

[jacqueg]

If everyone has to show rental receipts, how are they treating you as a second class citizen? 

I had to show several pieces of mail addressed to me at the address shown on my drivers license. IME, this is usual. It depends on the locality what the requirements are.

 

[beachplease]

I have one from Los Angeles county that i use for downloading books. i'd guess a lot of places are like LA in that they are here to serve, and digital books aren't tough to deal with on either end.

 

[jacqueg]

Yes, library districts in more populous areas don't operate on the shoestrings that many smaller/rural districts do.

Those districts pay digital services directly so they seem "free" to users. But of course, they're not free. Somewhere along the line, money changes hands.

 

[beachplease]

Those districts pay digital services directly so they seem "free" to users. But of course, they're not free. Somewhere along the line, money changes hands.

I've paid LA County taxes for 20+ years so feel good about using the service.

 

[VanForNow]

If everyone has to show rental receipts, how are they treating you as a second class citizen? 

The "six month rule" only applies to legal, taxpaying SD citizens who show ID with a nomad SD address  such as Americas Mailbox and (I assume) Escapees, unless they can show SD rent receipts for the past 6 months. Rapid City folks who are renters and show ID with a "non-discriminatory" address get a free library card right away, no matter how briefly they have lived there. 

And I should clarify by stating that SD nomads are not even 2nd class citizens; we are actually 3d class. As mentioned, SD citizens with a "non-discriminatory" address get a free library card immediately, so they are 1st class. Homeless people, who do not need to be SD citizens or even residents, also get a free card immediately. They are 2nd class. So SD nomads, even though they are legally-recognized taxpaying citizens, are actually 3rd class and have to pay $90 for the alleged privilege of obtaining a temporary library card in their new hometown.

 

[LERCA]

I paid federal income tax and state income tax (California) for 36 years so they can darn well let me borrow some digital books. I paid through the nose unlike my father who put everything in his “corporation” so yeah don’t begrudge me a few books. LOL

Actually I swore I’d never use a Kindle but the lockdown came suddenly and I found myself without books and my elderly mother’s kindle was rediscovered and for Kindle Unlimited $9.99 it’s the best thing in my life.

 

[maki2]

i actually bought two physical books this week. sppecial at the thrift store on books for 25 cents each. M loss of detail vision makes it harder to read small size print but my brain has now shifted the focal point away from the center of my retina so it has become possible to read a full line of text in a paperback once again .

 

[eDJ_]

What I would suggest to a Nomad is to contact someone you know back home and ask if you could use their address to get a Library  Card Account to check out digital books with "Libby" or "Overdrive".   Then contact the main Library back home and inquire about getting a card. (that all you are wanting to do is use the Library Website
online resources & Libby & Overdrive)  You will need a card number and a pin number for this.   You may offer your Cell number & email address.  Then the friends address there in the town.

You may be able to acquire an account this way and have access.

With Overdrive you download a book for a certain length of time.  When your time is up....the book just disappears from your list.....no overdue fines etc.

The online resources are an unbelievable volume of books, manuals, tutorials etc.  If you were having problems with your rig, generator, or A/C you could find a manual with settings and spec's easily in that online collection. (if you can get WIFI for your computer or cell.)  Likewise with camp devices such as lanterns, cook stoves, catalytic heaters etc.

 

[nature lover]

I use a Mail service in Lebanon VA. That gives me a real street address. That’s good for my drivers license, library card, and anything else I need like that. My vision is also so bad that I get digital audio books from the blind And Vision impaired library. That’s why I can’t drive at night or in bad weather. It’s nice to have my home with me because if it starts to rain I can pull over and go to sleep. Police don’t mind Where I’m sleeping when I explain to them I stop because I can’t see well in the rain. God bless the nomads all of us.

 

[rokguy]

In the land Downunder, 
They let you join libraries for free as long as you have an Australian drivers licence. I have about 12 library cards from various places up and down the Eastcoast I like to stay long enough to do some reading.
The only library card I've ever been charged for, was the greedy city of Sydney. 
No where else including our National Library in Canberra (Australia's capital) does that but I'm at least grateful to have the Sydney one.

From memory I think they can cancel your drivers licence if you owe lots of moneys to libraries giving you incentives to return stuff on time.

As others have suggested get a local library card from wherever your licence is addressed at. Other libraries are usually willing to issue a card based on those credentials. They will usually ring that library to check you're a good borrower.

 

[LERCA]

Reading this I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone can’t just borrow ebooks. Here they just disappear off your reader in two weeks so there’s no return issues. I understand libraries purchase the books but where I live they actually have far more print books than digital. It never caught on. They have a lot of large print books. So it wouldn’t break the budget to allow it.