Is there a library in or near Virginia beach that doesn't insist on charging it's non-resident patrons?

What? They never charged anyone I know. My son was in the Navy. Maybe you can ask for a waiver.

Sadly, I anticipate that memberships to the library are going to become more and more common. Here in Holland, all libraries charge a membership fee. $10 for four months actually seems like a huge bargain for what you get, and an incredible savings over buying books personally.

My advice is to think of it as a private buying club for books.

You are griping about ten bucks to use the entire library for 120 days? That’s 8.3 cents a day. Would it be fair to say that you give new meaning to the word cheap? The fee should be $100 just to walk in the door, just to keep out people who want to use others property without paying for it. Somebody, not you though, had to pay money (taxes) to build that library and fill it with books, so you can get a free ride for ten bucks. You spend more than that in one trip to McDonalds.

I cannot wait to hear more responses to this one.

Here is a list of all the public libraries in Virginia Beach

There is a phone number at the bottom, and an email address so you can contact them and ask but I suspect that all the libraries in the Virginia Beach system have the same policy regarding the charge for the library card.

and

Here is a list of all the libraries in Virginia

along with their phone numbers. I don’t know which ones are closest to Virginia Beach but you can call any that are and ask about their policies.

Libraries are an tremendous and incredibly under-appreciated resource and they are finding it increasingly difficult to survive. And, as @plethora points out, they have to be paid for somehow and are supported by tax dollars. Sadly, their budgets are among the first to feel the axe. The county libraries where I live have had to cut back their hours because of budget cuts.

As a non-resident of Virginia Beach you are not paying the taxes that fund the library system there and by charging you $10 for the card they are simply asking you to pay your fair share to help support them. That is more than fair, I think.

And, in my opinion it’s a pretty incredible bargain. For $10 you could buy a single mass market paperback and maybe have enough left over for a cup of coffee and that would be it.

IMHO, we should all be grateful that public libraries exist at all and $10 is small price to pay for access to them.

I have lived all over the eastern US. I obtained a library card in every location. Every public library I’ve used required a utility bill or a piece of mail with a local address in order to get a library card.

I’ve worked in a public library several years. With perhaps a few exceptions that I don’t know about, they all charge you if you are outside of the tax payer base. Public libraries aren’t free. They are paid by city or county taxes and municipal bonds. Why shouldn’t you have to pay for something that the local residents are paying for with taxes?

Thank you all for your responses.

The first place I look up when I move is the library.  I hone my career skills, find local events and volunteer opportunities, and librarians are my favorite people.

Yes, libraries need the money.
Yes, from my posting one might infer stinginess.
But when moving every few months the invisible costs quickly add up. I  donate books, mostly non-fiction academic and instructive books to my local libraries when I move.  Volunteer opportunities can be found at and through libraries, I donate time if I’m lacking in funds.  Service-members, myself included, donate to charities.

I understand the payment of taxes as they apply to people who relocated by choice to the area.  But military are training to promote the interests of Americans, wherever they put us.

If an active duty or reservist resident of Virginia Beach wanted a library card in  my home state i wouldn’t care whether they were paying taxes in some other part of the country.  It doesn’t matter whether the card is to be used for anime movies or researching an automotive purchase.   Homeless people use libraries, they don’t  pay anything other than sales tax.

Service members made a choice to serve our country, and yes we were aware that our energy and resources would be put to the test, but we could not anticipate everything.  My other choice was to be an armchair humanitarian in the security of my home town.  I’m making positive things happen on a grander scale. I love it, but it involves alienation from the familiar resources of home.  That is what a library is to some members of the armed forces:  we can’t just drive the thousand plus miles to our home library.

There are benefits to being in the military, like education, but our responsibilities often mean we are unable to attend school when we are active duty.  The library educates us until we can use our education benefits.

The budgets of our home libraries’ often permit only the most popular online holdings, if any.  This doesnt make study and research possible.

I have traveled many miles, and packed, shipped and moved my belongings half a dozen times within the span of several months.  But to post in err is human, and responses lead to new insights.    
The concensus is that military should pay taxes in their hometown, and pay non-resident library fees everywhere they are stationed.  No big deal, when you consider the outlandish charges for cable and cell phones.

But no other location I have served in has compelled me to pay a fee to acquire this privilege. I do wonder that Virginia Beach, an area with many temporary military residents, has residency restrictions on
Library card acquisition.

In the Navy we are not allowed to wear our work uniform to go anywhere other than get food or gas off base other then commuting from/to home from work.  Many times I have wished books would be added to the essential list.

@stagayote54 Well, you might have mentioned that. Yes, many libraries offer free library cards to non-resident active duty military and reserve members. I’m surprised Virginia Beach doesn’t. But if that is there policy, unfortunate as it is, there’s not much you can do about. Maybe you can get the military there to lobby for a change in the policy. In my previous post I included a link to a list of all the libraries in Virginia that includes their phone numbers. Maybe there is a library system near Virginia Beach that provides library card free to service members. Call around. Good luck.

Try Norfolk and Portsmouth. Both are home to large military populations and likely to bend over backwards to accomodate their needs. Good luck finding one.

Yes military cards are totally different. I’d mention that to the individual libraries and see what they have to say.

The Virginia Beach Public Library system considers military members and their families residents and don’t charge for a library card.

http://libraryonline.erau.edu/worldwide-libraries/OceanaLibGd.pdf

A library that is in or near Virginia beach,Va that doesn’t insist on charging it’s
non – residents patrons $10.00 for a library card for four months does not exist.