I’ll get straight to the point- libraries are awesome. I read books all the time, normally about two a week. I get every single one of those from the library. Can you imagine the economic and eventually environmental strain that would generate if I had to buy every single one of those? Books cost like twenty bucks! And I’m checking them out for free! Just think- what if everyone who read Harry Potter bought a copy? (Ok, I buy the Harry Potter books, but I’m a huge fan.) Think of how many trees that is. Think of how much paper and money we save by borrowing in lieu of buying the books. And on that note, think of how much we could save; I know lots of people who refuse to use libraries due to the used feel of the books and “second class” appeal. That’s bull shit. Most books that I check out of the library are dirty and bit torn- if the book you’re reading needs to look good whilst you read it… read better books. Also, the catalog of your books at home can never hope to rival that of a local library. Unless, of course, you are completely finically independent and can afford to but all of your books off of Amazon, but that’s not really the point; if you want to be environmentally conscious a library is the best way to go. While I say that using a library is environmental conscious, it’s worth pointing out that reading E-Books would obviously save the most paper. Unfortunately, E-Book technology/downloadable books haven’t progressed as much as downloadable movies and video games. The Amazon Kindle looks promising, but it will be years, nay, decades before the Kindle is available at a reasonable price and available to a mass audience. In short: use libraries!