Want some place where you can check out free books, movies and CDs? Looking for a quiet, air-conditioned building that smells like new books? Need a new spot to study and work on the Internet?

Check out the local library. Kent District Libraries have more resources than Miller Library. One library card gives you access to 18 libraries that have come together to form the Kent District Library.

Ten convenient locations to Cornerstone are in Cascade, Caledonia, East Grand Rapids, Walker, Alto, Grand Rapids Main (Downtown), Yankee Clipper (Leonard), Kentwood, Grandville and Wyoming.

After becoming aware of our resources, Jocelyn and I headed
to the Cascade branch in search of free Internet and a good book to read. We were surprised at how much more we ended up
finding. So we walked through the front doors and into the strong smell of new books. Wow. It was wonderful. I wanted to stand there longer to enjoy the smell, but Jocelyn dragged me to the information desk. When I got my first library card, I was about 6 years old, and I spelled
my name wrong on the card! So, this time I got a (free) new library card with an elephant on it, and we headed to some comfortable chairs for free Internet.

After finding great movies and CDs, I decided to check the catalog online at kdl.org for some of my textbooks. I ended up finding two books that I needed for my world literature class. Amazing! One book was at the Grandville library and another was at the Kentwood library. So I placed a hold on those two books.

I also was able to find magazines, books on tape and books from every genre imaginable. You can even checkout the Bible in every version. Jocelyn and I headed to the
children’s book section and found some rather large bean
bags, which would be great for sleeping on. We then found a room full of games that you would find at the doctor’s office such as a 3-D maze and a large puzzle. We also found a computer with games such as Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Train.

After acting like a kid again, we went to check out our books. Instead of giving the books we were going to checkout to a person at the front desk, we went up to a computer and scanned the books ourselves. The computer even gave us a receipt, which reminded us that our
books are due Sept. 20. It was surprising, fast and convenient, like the self checkout at Meijer.

When we finally walked out of the Cascade library, we found a little garden and a bench, which would be perfect for reading on a nice sunny day. So instead of just finding free Internet and a good book to read, we ended up with two DVDs, two books for my class and an elephant library card.

Honestly, you need to check out the Kent District Libraries. You never know what you might end up with!