If there’s one thing I learned I love, it’s the library.

The Dallas suburb I live in has a total of five different public libraries, one of them right next to where I practice taekwondo and another two not too far from my house.

If you’re a writer or a bookworm, you probably already have your own reasons to love the library. But the rest of you may not be convinced.

1. Libraries are air-conditioned.

If you lived in Texas, you’d definitely understand. Summer gets hot, very hot! This week we hit 90 degree weather again… so much for the nice spring weather. Later in July when it’s hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk, I can assure you that “outside” will be the last place you’ll want to go. Instead, you’ll seek refuge in a mall, movie theater, or library.

2. There’s a book for absolutely everything.

I’m not kidding you, if there’s a book, it’s in the library. Sure, maybe more popular books like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Dan Brown’s Inferno, or Sylvia Day’s Entwined with You have—or in Entwined‘s case, will have starting tomorrow—multiple copies in every library because they’re incredibly popular. But did you know they have other books that aren’t as popular? GASP! Isn’t it shocking?

I found a book called The Geography of Thought in one of the libraries, a book about the differences in Western and Eastern thought (not the most popular book). I found a book written by a Jesuit priest called Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit. I found a book called Dreaming in Chinese. I found every single Naruto manga, as well as every single Pokémon Adventures manga. I was even able to find books about learning Tagalog, as well as Balinese and Russian.

3. Libraries have really cool events.

I know, it’s kind of weird thinking that you’d show up to a library for reasons other than reading books. But you can. My younger brother Jude, who isn’t exactly a big fan of libraries (he’s going into third grade, he’ll change), wanted to go for a Minecraft party this summer where they’ll play live action Minecraft. Minecraft. Also this summer, they’re going to have a guest speaker for teens about vegetarianism and gluten-free cooking by a gourmet food truck chefs!

4. It’s FREE!

If you don’t see the obvious benefit of this, there’s no hope for you. Buying books costs money, whether it’s a physical copy, digital copy, from a bookstore, or from on an online store. Libraries, however, are completely free, allowing you to check out a ridiculous amount of books and then return them when you’re finished (or if you just didn’t like them)! Then you don’t have billions of books you’ll never read again cluttering your bookshelf! (I have a secret for you; if you loved the book so much you want to read it again, you can always just check it out another time.)

5. Libraries make you sound smart.

Which sounds smarter: “I’m going to watch another romantic comedy with the exact same plot as every other one” or “I’m going to the library”? The first one, because Albert Einstein watched romantic comedies in his spare time.

I mean, let’s be serious. Who needs air-conditioning, obscure knowledge, fun events, and money? All we really want is to sound more intelligent than the person next to us, an ego-trip. Because while everyone else was watching cat videos on YouTube, you were reading Shakespearian literature. (Or just getting a romantic comedy DVD. But no one knows that.)

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Right now I have seven books out from the library, as well as my own personal copies of some books that I still need to read.

So what about you? Do you take advantage of your public library? And what’re your reasons for loving (or hating) the library?