The beneficiaries of this year's Dewey Donation System are The Rockhouse Foundation, a small library in Jamaica, and The Children's Institute, a Los Angeles organization that helps children and families who have been affected by violence. I know that we librarians are supposed to concentrate on lobbying governments to make sure that libraries are funded adequately so they don't have to depend on donations, but at the same time, the thorough Tuesday-morning heart-warming I get from buying picture books for kids trumps that. So far this year, 170 books and almost $1000 have been donated to these two organizations! And that's not even including mine!

Revised: mine just got added to the total! You should go donate some money and/or books just to watch the tallying magic. Or if not for that reason, then because books are the safest, best, most interesting thing. In the world.