Outhouse Book Drive Continued

Outhouse Book Drive Continued

Yesterday I at last had the opportunity to travel to Dublin and donate the thirty-odd books I’d been given for this purpose in London almost six weeks ago. It also meant I got to meet the newly appointed librarian.

Aoife (pronunciation ‘Eva’) Fitzgerald turned out to be a charming lady who is obviously very enthusiastic about reorganising and upgrading the book selection in Outhouse’s wonderful library, and she accepted the books I brought gratefully. Since I’m really only the delivery-person, I pass that gratitude on to those who donated the books. Without your generosity I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this. This project has proven once and for all, that despite the controversies we occasionally find ourselves in the middle of, the MM community is and always has been, loving, loyal and supportive.

In case you’re curious about the titles we’ve donated over the past few months you can find them all in this spreadsheet I created and also shared with Aoife: Outhouse Book Drive.

Aoife told me she is in the process of expanding the reference section of the library, and that made me think ‘we’ might be able to offer some assistance once again.

No, I’m not asking you to donate more books (although they are of course always welcome). What I’m looking for this time is titles and authors of reference books you feel should be available in any self-respecting LGBTQ orientated library. If you have any suggestions please let me know in the comments below, and I’ll make sure they make their way to Aoife.

I have no idea when I’ll be posting about the Outhouse library again, but I have no doubt I’ll be paying it a visit on most if not all of my future visits to Dublin. If I have anything else to share, I will of course post here again. Right now, what I really want to say to all the authors and readers who donated and to Dreamspinner Press for all the support it has given me, is the following:

Related posts:

Call Out to all Authors: Outhouse Book Drive

Outhouse Book Drive: an update

Call out to all Readers: Outhouse Book Drive

Call out to all Readers: Outhouse Book Drive

Call out to all Readers: Outhouse Book Drive

Just over a month ago I invited authors to join me in a book drive for Outhouse in Dublin; you can read all about my idea and the centre here: Outhouse Book Drive.

From the moment I launched the idea the amazing people at Dreamspinner Press have been supporting the initiative; sharing posts and making it possible for authors to donate copies of their books through the publisher, who offered to take care of the shipping costs.

Now the wonderful Dreamspinner Crew has gone one step further and is offering readers the opportunity to join in. From January 14^th until January 17^th readers who want to make a donation can purchase copies of their favourite titles at a 50% discount. Dreamspinner will, once again, look after shipping the books to Dublin.

If you are interested in participating you can go to the Dreamspinner website and, using the promo code ‘Library50’, buy one or more copies of your favourite titles and thus help expand the beautiful Outhouse library.

I’m slightly overwhelmed and incredibly grateful for the support I have received from readers, authors and Dreamspinner Press so far, and very excited about making the donation in the not too distant future.

I will of course keep everybody up to date about developments in future blog posts. Thank you so much for your help.

Outhouse Book Drive – An Update

Yesterday, I went back to Outhouse in Dublin for a meeting with the centre’s manager. Martha Whyte is a wonderful and enthusiastic lady who clearly loves her centre and the job she gets to do there.

She took her time to tell me about Outhouse, its history and all the great services it provides. I won’t go into all the details here, because they can be found on their website, but it was inspiring to be told about it all by someone who is clearly devoted to her job.

As far as the book drive is concerned, I do want to share the following. The Outhouse library doesn’t have a dedicated librarian at the moment, but they have started the selection process and hope to have somebody starting in January. Of course that works out brilliantly with my initial plan; to collect the books now and donate them by the end of that month. If everything goes according to plan, the new librarian will be familiar with the library and the current stock by then, and ready to receive and integrate the new books.

Like I said, Martha Whyte is very enthusiastic and it was impossible not to get swept up in her passion. And that is why I’ve now committed myself to putting all the titles they’ll receive from us in a spreadsheet. Hopefully that will make it easier for them to determine what exactly they’re receiving without having to handle every single paperback immediately, and to integrate the books into their existing catalogue.  I will also be working out a schedule which would allow me to stay involved with the library and the centre after the donation has taken place. It won’t be easy. It is a three hour round trip for me and my regular job often has me working on varying days but where there’s a will, there’s a way, so I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with a plan that works for all involved.

The fact that I’m creating that spreadsheet means that I need all the books to come to me before I bring them to Dublin. I will be contacting everybody who still needs them, with my address details over the next few days. And if you're interested in joining this book drive please contact me: helenastone63@gmail.com

We also spoke about author readings and meet-and-greet events and Martha assured me the centre would be more than happy to welcome visiting authors to the centre. So, should any of you have plans to visit Dublin at any point in the future and be interested in such an event, please let me know and I’ll help set it up. This is, of course, an open-ended invitation.

Finally I want to thank everybody for getting involved and for your generosity. The response has been so good that I was mildly afraid of overwhelming the centre. Fortunately they’re made of tougher stuff than I gave them credit for, and they are very excited about welcoming any book we’d like to make available to their readers.

By coincidence, the first five books arrived by post yesterday and have been recorded. I can’t wait to see what the postman will be bringing next.

Related post: Call Out to All Authors: Outhouse Book Drive

Call Out to All Authors: Outhouse Book Drive

Outhouse Book Drive

While visiting Dublin yesterday I decided to at last do something I’d wanted to do for months; visit The Outhouse, a Community and Resource centre for LGBT people, their families and friends in Dublin’s city centre. The Outhouse offers a wide range of services—have a look at their website here—but I was particularly interested in their library. (Well, I would be, wouldn’t I? Occupational hazard and such.)

The images of the library show a comfortable room, filled with books. I could imagine myself happily spending hours there, reading in one of the comfy chairs. However, what I didn’t find on those shelves, were any LGBTQ titles like those we write. And the thing is, as far as I know there is no bookshop or library in Dublin (or Ireland) where those books can be found.

I stood in the middle of that room, looking around and imagined how wonderful it would be if there was a shelf or bookcase filled with books by the authors I’ve come to love.

So I came up with this rather ambitious idea for a book drive. But I need help to make it happen. I would like to ask all authors writing LGBTQ books to send (a) paperback(s) to me. I’ll collect all the books and then bring them to The Outhouse at a future date. Right now I’m looking at January 26^th, which would give me the time to get this organised and would allow for books to reach me without getting caught up in the postal madness over the Christmas season. That date also happens to be my birthday, and it is a good Dutch tradition to give to others on that occasion.

This is a general call out. The Outhouse operates as a lending library, therefore books for all ages and all tastes would be welcome. In fact, I would do a happy dance if one or more Young Adult authors were willing to participate. The one shelf of titles aimed at that age group did disappoint me, especially since I firmly believe teenagers benefit most from being able to read about people and situations they recognise.

Please contact me if you would be interested in participating. My email address is helenastone63@gmail.com or you can send me a PM on Facebook. If we all work together we’ll be able to transform this library and turn a wonderful space into a small piece of heaven.