We are a family of readers. Our books have finally arrived, and we couldn't be happier! We were missing them sorely these last few months. And we have always loved spending time at our local libraries. One of the only initiatives I was able to oversee from start to finish during my short time as preschool co-op president was the establishment of a lending library for the preschoolers. And our town library down the street in Shaker Heights was one of the finest community libraries I have ever seen, with a huge collection and lots of programming for all ages. We visited at least once a week, often more, and checked out 15-20 books per visit. Even then, we often blew through those before we had planned to go back and had to make an emergency library run. J's favorite day of the week was library day in Kindergarten and the book fair that took place before we left was a family affair. My personal favorite activity of all time is visiting a used book store or sale and our libraries in Ohio, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania always put on great sales at which I could spend hours and hours and only a few dollars, since the prices were so good. All in all, we have been lucky to have all sorts of book resources everywhere we have lived.
Naturally, when we learned we were moving here, one of the first things I did was research the library situation. What I found was disheartening, to say the least. Sadly, Qatar is not a very reader-friendly place. First, there are few libraries. The Qatar National Library exists only virtually at the moment, though it's supposed to open soon (which means absolutely nothing). Supposedly, there will be a large children's section and robust programming for kids when the library is completed, but I will believe all that when I see it. The enterprising group of expat mothers, DohaMums, has worked hard to create its own lending library, which you can join for a fee after you pay another fee to join DohaMums. The fees aren't much, about $70 a year in total, but for that you can only check out 5 books per child per visit and you need to RSVP at least 36 hours in advance to one of the three or four weekly two-hour blocks when the library is staffed by volunteers. The kids do have a school library they visit once a week, but the collection isn't very large.
If you want to supplement the lack of libraries by buying books, you are also out of luck. There are quite a few "bookstores" here, but every single one I have visited (and I have seen a few of the big names so far) is either an electronics store that happens to stock a few books or a glorified stationary store. And the children's books they do stock are all licensed Disney character books that cost a gazillion dollars and barely count as books in my opinion. We have picked up a few secondhand books at some craft bazaars, but the secondhand market is just beginning here and, of course, folks don't have many books to begin with. (When we leave and sell off all our outgrown books, I am going to make a killing!) You can order from Amazon if you have a courier service that forwards the mail on from the US, but you get charged by the kilo for those orders so you want to be very sure you need every book you order. Another company, Bookdepository.com, is actually owned by Amazon and based in the UK, and they will ship books anywhere in the world for free, but their offerings are quite expensive in comparison with Amazon's prices, so you have to balance reduced prices and shipping costs with higher prices and free shipping...and the costs end up being almost the same. Besides, I hate to pay anywhere near retail for books anyway!
To review, I am so, so grateful our own books have arrived! They have been gone so long they are all new to the boys while at the same time having shelves filled with books they recognize makes the villa seem even more familiar to them. The boys haven't actually read all the books we own (I was visiting a library book sale just one week before we packed up the shipping container, actually!) so we have still got surprises and new favorites for them to discover. But one of my big goals when we go to the States (or anywhere else for that matter) is going to be buying up a suitcase full of books to bring back with us, at least until the national library opens. In fact, I have been looking into getting hired at the library, even just as a circulation clerk, so I can maximize our involvement in the library's offerings. Extreme? Perhaps. But totally justified, trust me!
Naturally, when we learned we were moving here, one of the first things I did was research the library situation. What I found was disheartening, to say the least. Sadly, Qatar is not a very reader-friendly place. First, there are few libraries. The Qatar National Library exists only virtually at the moment, though it's supposed to open soon (which means absolutely nothing). Supposedly, there will be a large children's section and robust programming for kids when the library is completed, but I will believe all that when I see it. The enterprising group of expat mothers, DohaMums, has worked hard to create its own lending library, which you can join for a fee after you pay another fee to join DohaMums. The fees aren't much, about $70 a year in total, but for that you can only check out 5 books per child per visit and you need to RSVP at least 36 hours in advance to one of the three or four weekly two-hour blocks when the library is staffed by volunteers. The kids do have a school library they visit once a week, but the collection isn't very large.
If you want to supplement the lack of libraries by buying books, you are also out of luck. There are quite a few "bookstores" here, but every single one I have visited (and I have seen a few of the big names so far) is either an electronics store that happens to stock a few books or a glorified stationary store. And the children's books they do stock are all licensed Disney character books that cost a gazillion dollars and barely count as books in my opinion. We have picked up a few secondhand books at some craft bazaars, but the secondhand market is just beginning here and, of course, folks don't have many books to begin with. (When we leave and sell off all our outgrown books, I am going to make a killing!) You can order from Amazon if you have a courier service that forwards the mail on from the US, but you get charged by the kilo for those orders so you want to be very sure you need every book you order. Another company, Bookdepository.com, is actually owned by Amazon and based in the UK, and they will ship books anywhere in the world for free, but their offerings are quite expensive in comparison with Amazon's prices, so you have to balance reduced prices and shipping costs with higher prices and free shipping...and the costs end up being almost the same. Besides, I hate to pay anywhere near retail for books anyway!
To review, I am so, so grateful our own books have arrived! They have been gone so long they are all new to the boys while at the same time having shelves filled with books they recognize makes the villa seem even more familiar to them. The boys haven't actually read all the books we own (I was visiting a library book sale just one week before we packed up the shipping container, actually!) so we have still got surprises and new favorites for them to discover. But one of my big goals when we go to the States (or anywhere else for that matter) is going to be buying up a suitcase full of books to bring back with us, at least until the national library opens. In fact, I have been looking into getting hired at the library, even just as a circulation clerk, so I can maximize our involvement in the library's offerings. Extreme? Perhaps. But totally justified, trust me!
When I was studying abroad in Spain I learned what a peculiarly American institution public libraries are. When I needed to check some books out from the University library, I handed a piece of paper to a person at a desk and he fetched the book for me --- ALL of the books, were behind that desk. No strolling through the stacks, no browsing. It was like the entire library was special collections. And that library was just for Univ. students. I don't think there was any library per se for the garden variety citizen. And all the books in the bookstores had the cheapest bindings ever. When in Colombia looking for children's books in Spanish I found out that only America believes in publishing decent children's books. I think that's changing a little, but the rest of the world has a long way to go to catch up to the American market.
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