Despite only having been in NYC for a Europe layover in 2007, I am now a proud cardholder of the Brooklyn Public Library. Do I have any plans on going up there? Nope!

But, for $50/year, I have the same access to its e-resources as a resident, and while I have Libby targeted, Brooklyn provides further resources where my local library system falls short. In fact, with Libby alone, Brooklyn provides greater availability and a larger collection. For example, in non-fiction audiobooks, the Tennessee READS provides just over 5,000 whereas Brooklyn is over 13,000. And while I don't know Brookyln's specifics of the quality of the added numbers, I already have found titles by a couple of favorite authors, Annie Jacobsen and Michio Kaku, that my local library does not have.

Of course, my local system is free. But, c'mon fifty bucks a year is a heck of value and blows the water out of Netflix's $108-$192/year—OK, so the Netflix model is compared to everything under the sun that has an Internet context, but for my purposes, they can be loosely considered as substitute goods.

I'll go ahead and call it: an out-of-state library card from the Brooklyn Public Library is the best value of 2020.