As a child, I loved to go to the library. At the end of the school year I couldn’t wait for the summer reading program to begin. I’d read 60 books just to get a free cone at my local Dairy Queen.

Looking back, it seems like such
an insignificant prize, but it was
enough to keep me begging throughout
the summer to go to the library.

As a parent, I loved taking my children
to the library, and continued to check
out books for myself as well as for
them, but as they grew up and read books
from their own school library, I stopped
going. I became someone who
wanted to “own” my books and dreamed
of having my home office filled
with every book I’d ever read or ever
hoped to read!

My collection grew, and years later,
in trying to simplify my life and get rid
of things I don’t use, I realized that
most of these books had only been read once
and the chances of my reading them again were
slim. I decided it was time to find a
new home for them.

I loaned them, sold them, and gave them
away. It not only felt good to think
they were giving pleasure to someone
else, it also gave me more room in my
house and fewer things to dust.

An important point in recycling books
is not to dwell on the money originally
spent for them. If the author enriched
your life by making you laugh, cry, think
or dream, then you have already received
more value than the price on the cover.
Your life has been changed by it, no
matter how insignificantly. It’s time to
pass it on to someone else.

Just recently, I wanted new reading
material, and instead of going to the
bookstore, I went back to my old friend,
the library. I was right where I wanted
to be - surrounded by shelf after shelf of
books without the expense of having
purchased them, or the responsibility of
having to dust or store them!

Copyright 2005 Joyce Moseley Pierce
Joyce Moseley Pierce is a freelance writer,
publishes the Family First weekly ezine,
and pushes preparedness beyond food storage.
Visit her site, www.emersonpublications.com
to register for the newsletter, to read
past issues, to order her book, “All They’ll
Need to Know,” or just to learn more about
how you can protect your loved ones.