Please help your local library

It is snowing out here and it will be the first snow that sticks to the ground, so right now I'm all smiling and giddy, christmas is here! Check your local library and see how many perl books they have. You'll probably be surprised at the out dated number of programming books they have in general.

At the library out here they have one lonely learning perl book stuck in with all the old pascal books and near the also lonely python book. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of other libraries are the same.

For christmas this year get your library something special, pick up the newest perl programming book or the one you read the most and donate it to the library. With any luck the book will catch an inquisitive person's eye and they'll check it out. At the very least you will be giving somebody access to a book that they normally do not have.

I know it is a little early still for Christmas chatter, but if you're going to order that book online you've got to start thinking about it now ;). Don't forget that Perl books also make great stocking stuffers too!

UPDATE:

I am composing an email to fatbrain and o'reilly to see if either of them would be interested in giving discounts for a program like this or in any other way giving us some form of support from kilinrax's suggestion. Maybe if merlyn is interested he could give us a person to contact at oreilly other than order@oreilly.com hehe...

Comment on Please help your local library

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Please help your local library by merlyn (Sage) on Nov 30, 2000 at 20:50 UTC
If you are planning on donating a book or two to a local library (public or school), and can keep the logisitics simple enough for me, I'd be happy to pass along my O'Reilly discount to get the book to you. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker	[reply]
Re: Please help your local library by Blue (Hermit) on Nov 30, 2000 at 20:18 UTC
gaspodethewonderdog++, wonderful idea! You know, I have a good number of textbooks from college that are in good condition and fairly new, maybe I'll donate them all. Plus a few duplicates in my O'Reilly zoo. I've spent enough time at public libraries that it feel right to donate a bunch. I think books like merlyn's "Learning Perl" may be better then reference material like the cookbook, since that would be something to get someone hooked, not something that a person would take out for an extended period because they want it while coding. I know personally that once I 'Perled', I wanted the whole O'R collection myself. Time to go and find out about my library's donation policy. Heck, maybe it's good for a tax break if I give enough, though that's not why I'm doing it. =Blue ...you might be eaten by a grue...	[reply]
Re: Please help your local library by mrmick (Curate) on Nov 30, 2000 at 19:50 UTC
It's really nice to see someone getting into the Christmas spirit! I just received a copy of Programming Perl 3rd Edition. I'll give the 2nd Edition to my local library. Thanks for the idea! HO! HO! HO! Mick	[reply]
Re: Please help your local library by kilinrax (Deacon) on Nov 30, 2000 at 20:26 UTC
Excellent idea, gaspodethewonderdog++ Man, d'you think there's any chance O'Reilly or FatBrain would help sponsor this initiative by giving the Monastery a bulk discount on 'Learning Perl', for instance?	[reply]
Re: Please help your local library by MadraghRua (Vicar) on Dec 01, 2000 at 23:02 UTC
excellent idea - i have a few o'reillys that i can recycle as well as the X windows programming series. could you please formalize this with merlin and let interested folk know the details? may your bat'leth never dull... MadraghRua yet another biologist hacking perl....	[reply]
Re: Please help your local library by zigster (Hermit) on Nov 30, 2000 at 19:43 UTC
What a fantastic idea.. I am going to do that. Thank-you for a truely good idea. -- Zigster	[reply]
Re: Please help your local library by ziva (Sexton) on Dec 01, 2000 at 00:21 UTC
This is a great idea. Local libraries are constantly faced with limited budgets and can never purchase all the materials they'd like to be able to offer. Since prices on computer-oriented books add up very quickly, and computer books go out of date so fast, keeping an up-to-date computer collection is usually difficult. Also, the more copies of a new book a library has, the more likely the library is to offer the book for circulation (rather than just reference), so people can take it home and use it. And yes, you can get a tax break if you donate a whole lot of books to your local public library. --ziva, librarian-to-be	[reply]


Just another Perl shrine
	PerlMonks