Over the course of my move, I discovered a few things. Whatever you immediately need will be at the bottom of a pile of large boxes of books. Something will fall prey to the relocation gremlins and never be seen again. And ten years of books times multiple editions times audio times foreign translations creates an alarming number of boxes at the back of the closet. (And the front of the closet. And next to the closet.)

It seems silly to have these books living in my closet when they could be, oh, read, or something like that. Also, I’m afraid they’re secretly breeding in there and planning to take over the rest of the apartment. So a few days ago, I put out a call on Facebook, offering up my spares as donations to libraries.

The response was amazing. Thank you so much to everyone who chimed in. I’ve been hauling large bags of books to the post office, so the first waves should be arriving at their designated libraries soon.

Do you know what? There are still more. (It’s like that line from my favorite Barbara Cartland made for TV movie, A Hazard of Hearts: “More, more, more! You’re insatiable with books!” Okay, it’s really, “You’re insatiable with greed.” But, still.) It also occurred to me that there are those who might not be on Facebook.

So, if you’re a librarian and would like a donation of books for your library, leave a message in the comments below or email me at willig@post.harvard.edu!

I’m pretty much cleaned out of audio CDs at this point, but I have both hardcovers and paperbacks.

A special shout out to those libraries that collect foreign titles: do you need books in German (also audio CDs), French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Korean, or Dutch? I have a handful of each of those.

The libraries to which I have sent or am in the process of sending books are:

— Brandon Free Public Library, VT
— Genoa Public Library, IL
— Mae S. Bruce Library, TX
— Orem Library, UT
— Helen Kate Furness Free Library, PA
— Burnhaven Library, MN
— Westerville Public Library, OH
— Mount Kisco Public Library, NY
— Brownsburg Public Library, IN
— Glenview Public Library, IL
— The Boulevard, IL
— Ashli’s two libraries in TN
— Carver County Library, MN

Have I left anyone out? If you’ve requested books and haven’t heard from me on Facebook/don’t see your library listed, let me know.

And now back to digging through boxes….