I love books. I always have. In fact, one of my ultimate dreams is to either build a library, or have one named after me at some point. I love libraries, too.
I was an English major in college, so I’ve read a lot of literature, and now I read a lot of non-fiction and business books. I always try to have a good book around to read. That is one of the reasons that I love the Kindle app for the iPhone. It means that I always have a little library in my pocket. I’ve read a lot of good books lately, most of them on the Kindle app.
There is one major drawback to the Kindle app, though. I discovered it when I mentioned to my Facebook friends that I was reading “Trust Agents,” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Someone asked me, “can I borrow the book when you are finished with it?” Well, of course I wanted to share the book with my friends. Problem is, I can’t share books on the Kindle. Well, I guess I could, but it would mean loaning my iPhone to someone until they were done with it, and that won’t work.
So, I went out a bought a physical copy of the book, so that I could share it with friends. Then I thought, “how could I share the book with even more people, people who might want to read it, but who wouldn’t know to ask me for it?” That’s when it hit me– donate the book to the library. Duh.
By donating the book to the library, anyone can find it and read it, return it, and then anyone else can do the same thing; and the local library gets a current book without having to dip into their very limited acquisition budget– everybody wins.
So, that’s exactly what I did. I took “Trust Agents” to the Fluvanna County Library, and made a donation. Oh, and I made a video about my experience, too:
I can guarantee that I’ll be doing this with more books. My wife, Kari, will tell you all about the giant tubs of books taking up space in our shed because there is limited shelf space in our house. I would encourage anyone reading this to consider taking a trip to your local library and donating the great books that you have already read. The library will appreciate it, and so will the community of folks who visit the library.
ps- ”Trust Agents” is a fabulous book. In the future, I’ll be discussing some of the lessons I have learned from the book. In the meantime, you can buy it on Amazon, if you want. Or, you could always see if they have it at your local library; if not, I know a library that does. 
