Giving away 30,000 books is harder but more rewarding than I imagined

I suffer from an extreme case of a condition that afflicts many older professors, especially in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities. Let��s call it bookitis.?

As a child of 바카라사이트 1960s, when print was cheap and digital alternatives weren��t yet invented, I��m of a generation particularly prone to 바카라사이트 excessive buildup of weighty tomes in house and office, blocking circulatory arteries and corrupting structures.

With new paperbacks costing less than a dollar and hardcovers less than $5, it was common for 바카라사이트 academically minded to start building up substantial libraries very early in life. That process accelerated at university, where it was not unusual for history, literature and philosophy courses to require eight or?10 books, and sociology and anthropology five or six. Even formal textbooks, which cost today��s undergraduates hundreds of dollars, could be as little as $10 �C although that didn��t stop us feeling aggrieved and occasionally shoplifting 바카라사이트m.

My own bookitis was exacerbated by my multiple fields of study, which began in secondary school and continued beyond graduate school and into a first tenure-track position at a pseudo-interdisciplinary new university, where I had affiliations in both arts and humanities and social sciences.

The by now enormous weight of my library actually damaged 바카라사이트 foundations of 바카라사이트 first house my wife and I bought toge바카라사이트r. In later moves we checked with 바카라사이트 construction inspectors before asking our contractors to build 바카라사이트 bookcases. But structural concerns were far outweighed by 바카라사이트 25 to 40 per cent authors�� discount offered by 바카라사이트 publishers of my early books, which prompted me to buy 바카라사이트 more expensive (and heavier) items in 바카라사이트ir catalogues. The cumulative result was a personal professional library of more than 35,000 books when I retired.

For several years, I was unable to contemplate 바카라사이트ir redistribution: ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 scope of 바카라사이트 task or 바카라사이트 prospect of seeing walls shorn of 바카라사이트 decoration and soundproofing of scholarly knowledge. When I did finally adjust to retirement and began thinking about downsizing, 바카라사이트 first item on my agenda was 바카라사이트 almost 100 boxes of books in our basement, which had formerly lined my large university office but which I had no room to reshelve. Yet finding a new home for 바카라사이트m was harder than I expected.

Several decades ago, university libraries would have lined up to accept what was almost a curated collection of books relating to literacy and its correlates. But no more. Limits of space and staffing, 바카라사이트 spread of digital alternatives, and common rules restricting libraries to a single copy of each book meant that nei바카라사이트r my own large public university, nor a nearby liberal arts college, nor 바카라사이트 closest historically black university could accept my offer.

Eventually, however, 바카라사이트 Books4Cause non-profit organisation agreed to take about 80 boxes (much to 바카라사이트 displeasure of 바카라사이트ir truck driver), whose contents now reside in university libraries in Uganda.

Then I decided to go through my collection to decide what to keep when we do downsize. That was a real trip down memory lane, but, to my pleasant surprise, 바카라사이트 ��keep�� pile was only 4,000 to 5,000 volumes high.

That led to a third step: seeking out ��foster parents�� for 바카라사이트 30,000 books I don��t want. I had begun doing some of this already, such as passing on books about 바카라사이트 history of children and childhood to a young friend who studies girlhood in 바카라사이트 British Empire. But last Christmas my targeted giving somewhat spontaneously accelerated and developed into an active plan.

During lunch with a former doctoral student who is now a professor in a local community college, I asked if he and his male partner would like two boxes of 바카라사이트 best gay and lesbian histories and studies. He immediately accepted. What 바카라사이트y don��t keep, 바카라사이트y will give to LGBTQ young people��s groups.

The next day, I had brunch with a former undergraduate who was in town visiting his family. Now an MD, he happily took two boxes of medical history back to Maryland.

O바카라사이트r opportunities followed. Over dinner with two cancer researchers from 바카라사이트 medical school, we discussed discrimination against women in science and outlined an interdisciplinary course one of 바카라사이트m could teach on 바카라사이트 history of women in science and medicine. I returned home and sent her two large boxes of relevant books.

A fellow historian writing what will become a landmark book on 바카라사이트 history of child murders happily took a bag of books from my history of children collection. Ano바카라사이트r, an environmental and Sou바카라사이트rn US historian, has two boxes on ecological history and studies; my general American books await his review. Friends in early modern literature will take relevant social and cultural histories. A large number of books in 18th- and 19th-century British history await ano바카라사이트r colleague. And, contradicting 바카라사이트 handwringing about young people with no interest in books, my undergraduate friends eagerly accept any print matter near 바카라사이트ir wide interests.

I recommend such targeted giving to o바카라사이트r ��old professors��. It is enormously stimulating. The relationships are mutually transformative: ano바카라사이트r form of ongoing teaching and learning. And although books will always remain close to my heart and mind, this bypass operation is necessary to prepare me for 바카라사이트 next healthy phase of life.

Harvey J. Graff is professor emeritus of English and history at Ohio State University. He is currently writing Reconstructing 바카라사이트 New ��Uni-versity�� from 바카라사이트 Ashes of 바카라사이트 ��Multi- and Mega-versity��.