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Which do you prefer? Or do you have some other preferred method of acquiring books, like the internet? I personally like to get my books from a bookstore (although it costs a lot of money) because I like to read them and they often get quite careworn. I dogear my pages (yeah, I know it's bad....). I also just like the feeling of holding a book in my hands and knowing it's mine. And bookstores just draw you in. I could spend hours just picking out books.... xd

Well as I work in Library and want to be librarian the answer is pretty obvious - Library! But I buy something from time to time...

i perfer the bookstore cause i like to take my to reading my books and sometimes i just want to re-read it again cause its so good even i could do that from a library but i still would perfer to buy my books.

Not an obvious answer at all! I'm very pro-library. I want to be a public librarian, and I'm currently working towards getting the degrees necessary. (My precise goal is to work in a position that lets me make public libraries more acccessible to people with disabilities.)

I prefer to buy books! There's no doubt in my mind that, whenever financially possible, buying the book is better for me than borrowing is. It has to do with how I use my books. After reading one, I frequently go back to it - days, weeks, months, and years later. Sometimes, it's just for one particular sentence I need to read again. Sometimes, it's the whole book.

Especially with popular fiction, books can have short lifespans at the library. Most copies get chucked soon, to make room for more. This makes getting your hands on something you read years ago sometimes very difficult. Often, paperbacks aren't catelogued, meaning you can't request the one copy there is somewhere in the city.

Having these books in my home is valuable to my reading experience. It's more valuable than I can describe in words.

So, I definitely buy my books! To quote Erasmus, "When I get a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes."

I'm not too happy with my local library... I love going into bookstores and just sitting and reading. For me, libraries seem too busy, too crowded.

*shrugs*I dunno, even in the downtown area I live in, my usual bookstore is always pretty calm and uncrowded (Is that even a word? sweatdrop )

I'm all in for buying books! Though it's pretty hard as I'm still in high school and my mum doesn't like me spending money on books when I can just read them in the library.
My reasons for buying them:
1) The English collection in EVERY library around my hometown sucks
2) I like rereading them and sometimes it's hard to aquire them.
3) I just like my closet filled with books I bought. It's nice to be able to say, 'so, those books are MINE' it's a bit weird.. xD
But as I don't have all that uch money and my mum doesn't allow me I can't buy everything I want. Well, no one can ever buy everything they want...

If it's a long book that's going to take me a while, then I'd probably buy it (I can't borrow from my friends for indefinite periods...they're illiterate). However, I'm a fast reader, so I prefer to borrow and save money for other things I need.
So...library, I guess.