This morning on the FML, Regina Hart wrote:
 
DONATE A BOOK
>Think of all of the people that you can help if you purchase a good ferret
>book or two and donate them to your local library.  For $15 to $30 and very
>little time, you can reach out to your whole community.  I highly recommend
>Deborah Jeans, A Practical Guide to Ferret Care and Mary Shefferman, The
>Ferret.  If you don't know where to get these great books, drop me a line,
>and I'll point you in the right direction.
 
This is a good idea, but please, please, please ... never spring a donation
on a library without contacting the librarian FIRST to see if they want it.
Sometimes librarians are thrilled by donations, but more often an
unsolicited donation goes right to the book sale pile or the trash.
 
The reasons that librarians give for not accepting gifts include: the high
cost to merely catalog a book, which is often equal to the cost of the book
itself; the cost of binding; and not wanting to maintain a title that they
don't think is needed by the community.  There is a cost to merely keeping a
book on the shelves.
 
Massachusetts Ferret Friends (MaFF) has started a book donation program.  We
maintain a list of libraries that would like to receive books through the
program; we also allow people to earmark their donations to a particular
library.  However, in the latter case, we want people to have checked with
their library before sending us their check for the book .  In any case, we
check with the library before sending the book.  If the library doesn't want
it, we either send the donor's check back to him/her, hold the check while
the donor lobbies (gently) the library, or donate the book to a library that
does want the book, at the donor's direction.
 
We developed this program after checking with librarians over various
listservs, to see how they would like to see such a program run.  When we
send the book, we also send them cataloging information, whatever
information we have about organizations and shelters in their state, a
listing of on-line resources, and a couple of brochures, including the
mini-FAQ, with the permission to duplicate the information as they see fit.
 
If you would like to participate in this program as a donor or a recipient
institution, if you would like more information about how the program is run,
or if you would like to help us publicize the program, please contact me.
 
Right now, the book that we are making available is Deborah Jeans' book.  We
will have to take a look at Mary Scheffernan's book as well.  Thanks for the
reminder, Gina.
 
In any case, before you give a book to a library--any book, any
library--please talk to the librarian first.  If they don't think that they
need the book, please respect that.  You could leave some literature with
them, like the mini-FAQ, information about your ferret group, and a number
to call you back if they change their mind.
 
Another thing you could do, though, is to look at the ferret books and
information that they do have.  If their stuff is out of date, please make
them aware (gently) that obsolete information is misinformation.  Many older
books (and some newer, sloppy books), do not have information on vaccination
requirements, restrictions on hunting with ferrets, or on ECE, much less nip
or litterbox training or nutrition.
 
Book or not, most public libraries would be happy to display literature from
your own organization.  The library would also be a good place to distribute
information such as the mini-FAQ.  In any case, ASK FIRST.
 
-- Lee McKee (M.S. Lib. Sci.)
   one of the Masssachusetts Ferret Friends
[Posted in FML issue 1829]