o really, you shouldn't have.
Not everyone
receives gifts well. Sometimes (as with me), it's a fundamental lack of
good manners. In other cases (as with many lyberries), it's because
someone else's idea of a gift falls short of what's optimal, and it's
hard to be grateful when it means that you've got to put their crap in a
pile that the state of Tennessee mandates you must retain for 3 years,
and then you're just going to give it all to the public library for
their book sale so the "gift" can boomerang right back to you... but I
digress.
What's the proper protocol, then? Tell folks upfront and hope they listen. My professional reorientation as a book jerk
makes me interested in how the Katrina-devastated libraries are
rebuilding their collections, especially when I read things like the donation guidelines for New Orleans PL. Money talks and suckers walk; amen, brudder.
People,
please take NOPL at their word here. Several friends outside of the
Southeast have inquired as to how they might help, and this FAQ says it
all. It's also a refresher for anyone who might have forgotten what
much of the Lower 9th Ward still looks like (and that's just the lyberry). Consider giving generously - get yourself a sweet t-shirt for your trouble - and laissez les bons temps rouler, lyberry style!
