At The Library

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine.

And we're in the mood to read something today, so we're going to a place called the library,

right?

That's right.

We're going to go to the library and we're going to get some books.

But before we do that, let's take a look at a word in vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right.

So, today's vocabulary preview word is a thing that you use when you go to the library to

take that book home.

You don't have to pay for the book.

You use your library card to borrow it.

That's right.

So, this is something that you need when you want to get books at the library.

You need a library card.

So, we're going to talk about this and how you get a library card.

So, let's listen to the dialogue.

Wow!

Look at all these books.

I bet I can find a book about anything here.

Shh!

Please keep your voice down.

There are people reading and studying here.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Are you the librarian?

Maybe you can help me.

I am looking for a book.

Yes, I am.

You can check our online catalog to search for the book you want based on the genre,

title, or if you know the author, I can point you towards the right direction.

I'm looking for a book that has nursery rhymes.

That would be in our children's section.

That bookshelf there on the right.

Okay.

I would like to check out these books.

Do you have a library card?

No.

How do I get one?

I just need to see your driver's license or utility bill to prove that you are a resident

of this state.

Here you go.

So, you're all set.

You can have these books for two weeks.

If you need to have them longer, you can bring them here to renew them.

If you don't, you get charged 10 cents a day for each book.

Okay.

Thanks.

All right.

We're back.

So, now, let's start with Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

All right.

We have a lot of great things for you today in Language Takeaway.

The first is actually a job.

This is a person who works at a library.

What's that person called?

He or she is called a librarian.

All right.

So, someone who works at a library is a librarian.

That's right.

So, this person organizes the books, knows about all the books that are there, and basically

takes care of the library.

That's right.

So, if you need help in the library, it's probably a good idea to ask the librarian

where the book you're looking for is.

That's right.

And today, we went in looking for a specific type of book.

We wanted a book that had nursery rhymes.

All right.

Nursery rhymes.

Now, these are kind of like songs or poems, things that we tell little children and babies.

So, Mary had a little lamb, little lamb.

That is a nursery rhyme.

It's a playful poem for children.

That's right.

So, obviously, since we are looking for nursery rhyme books, the librarian told us that we

need to go to the children's section.

That's right.

Now, before we get to borrow this book, there are a couple of things we need because the

person doesn't have a library card.

Now, the question is, how do I get a library card?

What was the librarian's response, Marco?

Well, it was pretty simple.

All we needed was to see that person's driver's license or a utility bill.

All right.

So, a driver's license is an ID card, an identification card that you get that allows

you to drive a car.

Now, each state has a different kind of driver's license and different rules for how to get

one, but this is a very common, almost the most common kind of identification in America.

That's right.

So, basically, you show them your driver's license and it has a picture of you there,

your telephone number, and even your address.

That's right.

But not everybody has a driver's license.

Some people don't drive.

Some people can't drive.

Some people don't want to drive.

So, they would have to show something else.

And a good way to show that you live somewhere is to show your utility bill.

That's right.

So, a utility is basically water, electricity, gas, or your telephone bill, and it arrives

to your house and that's where it's, well, obviously, it says your address there and

who the bill is directed to.

So, you can prove that you live there.

That's right.

Because why would somebody else pay for the water at that house?

It's obviously you.

So, these are a couple kinds of identification you can use to get a library card.

All right.

And while we're taking the books, we can borrow them for two weeks, but if we need to have

them for a longer period of time, we can take them back to the library and have them renewed.

So, to renew something, renew, means to continue to borrow it.

You have to re-borrow.

But we don't say re-borrow.

We say renew.

So, that means we get it for another two weeks.

That's right.

So, things that expire, usually you need to renew, like for example, your driver's license.

Usually it will last maybe five years, but then you need to renew your driver's license.

And if you don't renew it, if you forget to renew something, maybe there'll be a problem.

Like in the case of the library, you have to pay for the late fees.

Your book is overdue.

You have to pay for it.

Or in the case of a driver's license, if your driver's license is overdue, well, you probably

have to get a new one.

That's right.

Okay, so a lot of vocab there.

Why don't we review everything and we'll be right back.

Wow!

Look at all these books!

I bet I can find a book about anything here!

Shh!

Please keep your voice down.

There are people reading and studying here.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Are you the librarian?

Maybe you can help me.

I am looking for a book.

Yes, I am.

You can check our online catalog to search for the book you want based on the genre,

title, or if you know the author, I can point you towards the right direction.

I'm looking for a book that has nursery rhymes.

That would be in our children's section.

That bookshelf there on the right.

Okay, I would like to check out these books.

Do you have a library card?

No, how do I get one?

I just need to see your driver's license or utility bill to prove that you are a resident

of this state.

Here you go.

So you're all set.

You can have these books for two weeks.

If you need to have them longer, you can bring them here to renew them.

If you don't, you get charged 10 cents a day for each book.

Okay, thanks.

Alright, so now we have three key phrases for you on Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

So Marco, what are librarians famous for?

Well, librarians are always telling you to please keep your voice down.

Alright, so libraries are quiet places.

They're places where people like to go and read and think and study.

So oftentimes when people are talking, they're being loud, the librarian will say, hey, keep

your voice down or be quiet.

That's right.

So another way of saying be quiet is keep your voice down.

And it's a little bit more polite.

Please keep your voice down.

Keep your voice down.

Or if there's two people or three people, you'd say, keep your voices down.

So the librarian tells us to keep our voice down.

And well, now we can get some help from the librarian.

And he says that, you know, if you know the title of the book or the genre or the name

of the author, the librarian can point you towards the right direction.

Now to point someone in the right direction or point someone towards the right direction

means to help them understand where to go.

Maybe they don't know exactly the title of the book or the author, but in this case,

the librarian can help put the person in the right place.

So I can point you in the right direction or point you towards the right direction.

Exactly.

Even maybe you're lost in a town and you stop and ask someone for directions because you

don't know how to get there.

And that person can help you by pointing you towards the right direction.

All right.

So this means I can help you basically.

Okay.

And now what we wanted to do was we wanted to borrow books from the library.

We wanted to get books from the library.

But we have another way of saying this.

We can say we want to check out some books.

All right.

So to check out a book means to borrow it, like you say.

But this is also a noun.

Check out.

That's the place where you scan something.

So maybe there's a bar, a black bar on the back of the book.

When you scan it, it scans out.

That means that you're borrowing it.

You get it for two weeks and you bring it back to check out.

Okay.

So a lot of great stuff in this dialogue today, learning about libraries and how to get a

library card.

Why don't we review everything one last time?

Wow!

Look at all these books.

I bet I can find a book about anything here.

Shh!

Please keep your voice down.

There are people reading and studying here.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Are you the librarian?

Maybe you can help me.

I am looking for a book.

Yes, I am.

You can check our online catalog to search for the book you want based on the genre,

title, or if you know the author, I can point you towards the right direction.

I'm looking for a book that has nursery rhymes.

That would be in our children's section.

That bookshelf there on the right.

Okay I would like to check out these books.

Do you have a library card?

No.

How do I get one?

I just need to see your driver's license or utility bill to prove that you are a resident

of this state.

Here you go.

So you're all set.

You can have these books for two weeks.

If you need to have them longer, you can bring them here to renew them.

If you don't, you get charged 10 cents a day for each book.

Okay, thanks.

All right.

So borrowing books in a library seems pretty simple and you don't really have to leave

a deposit or something just in case you steal the book or you damage it.

How do you deal with this?

No, well libraries are a wonderful part of, well at least American culture.

I'm not really sure how they work in other places, but in America there's a lot of federal

money in libraries.

In fact, I think it was Franklin Roosevelt who really helped get a library system in

place in America.

So they're a part of this system of kind of community sharing and information.

You can go to the library and look for jobs.

They have computers.

Many have DVD and video sections.

Many have very wonderful CD sections.

So basically it's a community center for information, knowledge.

And it's almost a relationship of trust.

I trust that the library will provide for me and the library will trust that I don't

destroy a book.

Of course, if you do, you have to pay.

You have to pay.

So is it a federal offense to steal a book from a library?

I don't know, but it's a pretty big deal to steal a book from the library.

They certainly will know who you are because they have your information, your driver's

license.

Right.

It's actually pretty interesting, especially because, as you said, libraries, there's

a lot of money put into libraries.

So all communities have them, as you say, DVDs or movies or a lot of different types

of books.

And in other countries, like maybe in Latin America, it's not as popular to have a community

library where you can go and check things out because there's not that much money involved

as well.

But we would be curious to know how it works in your country.

Maybe your country has some beautiful or extensive libraries.

Yeah, I'm very curious as well.

So public libraries, do you have them?

And if you don't, do you also have university libraries you can go to?

Let us know.

Our website is EnglishPod.com.

All right, guys, we'll see you there.

Bye.

Bye