I'm not buying any at the moment because I'd only have to ship them home eventually. But I love my town's library - it overlooks the river and has these huge windows.
I also *love* second hand books, and I don't like borrowing books from others. Second hand books already have the spine cracked and I don't feel guilty pulling them open, cracking the spine or shoving them in my bag when I go out. Plus, it saves so much money, and second hand book stores have such a lovely musty smell to them.
Borrowing books is like looking wearing someone else's clothes. You don't want to get them dirty, you don't want to crease them, etc etc. Unless they lend you a daggy old sweater, in which case you can treat it any way you want. I have one friend who is meticulous with his books, they are always like new, without even a cracked spine! I want to read them, and he's fine lending them, but I anguish over where I can read them. It's reading, I shouldn't have to do that!!
My mother is a librarian, so growing up I used to go with her on book purchasing expeditions. It was *awesome*. She'd have her little list ad agenda of things she needed to get, but I could usually slip in a few suggestions. Some of these 'suggestions' spent a bit of time in 'processing' before they made it to the shelves. Even now when I go visit there's always books in 'processing' lying around the place. It's great!!