Welcome to the library-loving blog challenge!

 Whether you’re a bookstore lover or a library devotee, chances are that your local library is doing something awesome right now. 

 They may be finding a book that your non-reading child will actually like.  They may be helping someone use the internet to look for jobs, or trying their dangedest to find the name of the book that you only remember as, “Oh, it had a pink cover, it maybe it was blue, and it had the word ‘girl’ in the title.  It came out last year, or maybe the year before…”  They may even, if you beg the right way, be forgiving your library fines. 

I don’t know what I’d do without the dedicated and hospitable staff at the Louisville Free Public Library.  It must be an effort for them to smile when they see me coming, because I always ask them to pull so many books for me from around the city.  But they are always well-informed and kind, even though they’ve had a horrible year. 

In August, a flash flood that covered the city in two feet of water—the city!  Not the country!  We have regular city streets!—ruined the sorting and storages facilities at the main branch.  Many people pitched in for the recovery effort, but the library is still in need of funds.  The picture below is from the week of the flood.  Imagine already struggling with funding your multi-service operation and coming in to find this in your basement.  (The truck is the Bookmobile, drowned.) 

 Here’s where you and I come in: I joined writer Jennifer Hubbard’s Library-Loving Blog Challenge.  For every commenter on this post between now and April 6, 2010, 12:00 pm, I will donate 50 cents to the Louisville Free Public Library, up to an amount of $40. 

How easy could it be?  You comment, I proudly find two quarters, and the library gets a gift.  If you don’t know what to say in your comment, “I love libraries” will do. 

Note that my pledge is “per commenter,” so if a single person leaves 50 comments, that still only counts once.  But you can do more by spreading the word.  Please link to this post, tweet about it, and send your friends here so they can comment and raise more money. 

If you’re moved to make a flat-fee donation to your library, or to start your own challenge, you are quite welcome, and please leave that information in the comments.

For a complete list of participating bloggers (and to visit other sites where you can help libraries just by leaving a comment!) visit the writerjenn blog at http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/

Thanks for joining!  I look forward to seeing comments in the name of library love.