Last week I was in Grand Rapids, where I encountered a great little organization you should know about. Theological Book Network was started by Kurt Berends a few years ago. They have a large warehouse space where they receive and collate books aimed to go to Majority World Christian libraries. The books are donated—some from individuals (for example, pastors’ libraries sent in when the pastors move on to a higher assignment), some from academic libraries, some from book publishers (who get a good tax writeoff). If you have some theologically oriented books you think might be useful to a poorly endowed Third World seminary or Bible college library, you just have to box them up and send them in. TBN will give you a tax receipt for the donation.
TBN has surveyed hundreds of institutions. They know what kinds of courses they offer, their academic level, and their library status. The institutions indicate to TBN which books they need. TBN then figures out the best set of books for the institution and sends them out. Ideally they send a whole container load (usually to several neighboring libraries) but they sometimes send a pallet or two.
You can learn more at theologicalbooknetwork.org.
