Olympia, discounted

While out on a walk yesterday, I stopped by one of the many local Little Free Libraries. (You can check the official LFL map here, but there are plenty of unregistered free libraries in the area, too.) I was happy to pick up a copy of Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera's All the Devils Are Here, and in return I dropped off a copy of a weepy-looking melodrama that I was never, ever going to actually read. Other people appear to enjoy that sort of thing, so I hope it finds a good home. Anyway, today I thought I'd do a quick post about Little Free Library etiquette, based mostly on my mother's experience with maintaining one.

1. If the Little Free Library you're using is overstuffed, it is totally okay to not drop off a book in return! They are rarely 100% watertight, and jam-packing them with books just means more books are likely to end up water damaged. Hang on to your donation, and make it at some later date when the pickings are more sparse.

2. Please don't drop off religious texts. It's okay to simply recycle that battered copy of The Watchtower or The Book of Mormon. If you feel really guilty, return it to the church in question. Either way, God will forgive you.

3. And speaking of religious texts, please don't drop off anything written by L. Ron Hubbard, even if it's not Dianetics. Scientologists work very hard to keep Hubbard's enormous body of work in constant circulation, and frequently pull stunts like donating huge crates of his extremely dated (at best) science fiction novels to local children's groups. Please do not encourage this behavior.