Dear Jenny, Ask people to stop sending their books, sit down with your committee, and map out a collections developoment policy. If folks still send books ( and they will) box them, and don't look at them until you're done setting up your infrastructure with lots of clear policies that you can refer to and hold up to others.
FYI, if people are desparate to send books somewhere, NOW, refer them to local charities, thrift shops, used books stores, etc. Or, if they're willing to pay the postage: In Seattle, WA, there is a Jewish Prisoners project. Contact Chaplain Gary Friedman. [EMAIL PROTECTED] . There's someone in China who posted to hasafran awhile ago, collecting books for Judaic studies programs: [EMAIL PROTECTED] And, tell your congregants if they REALLY want to be helpful to your new library, they'll type up an author/title list of what they'd like to donate to you, and send you the list by email. Then, you can tell them what from their list would be useful for the collection. But tell them, too, that you first need to get your systems in place before you can deal with receiving donations of books. If you'd like to see a sample of a gifts policy, visit our website: http://www.tisrael.org/study/library.php?page=467 Good luck! Ann Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
