(BLOG POST)

By Joanne Kenny; IBPA Member Benefits Liaison

Some of you may have recently seen a post in your Facebook feed about a Just One Book campaign to help a junior/senior high school in California revamp their library. Thanks to many generous book donors (they have received over 4,000 books!), Greenville High School and Indian Valley Academy seem to have things under control. It’s so great to see what can be accomplished when we rally together around something. Sad as it is, there are many other schools, libraries, and communities that are in need of books. For better or worse, (I’m in the better camp!) we, in the profession of books often are surrounded by more books than we know what to do with. That puts us at an advantage to be able to step in and help in ways that many others cannot.

In a previous professional life, I worked with many organizations that helped distribute books to the underserved. Though I didn’t work on this program directly, I was proud to be part of the team that worked with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. I was able to watch this program grow from a fledgling idea with great promise to a global operation that now comes close to distributing a monthly book to nearly one million children. How amazing is that?

Do you know of other good causes people might donate books or publishing/writing expertise to? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!