Is There Anybody Out There?

Another month or so drifts by and a number of books have made there way out into the world to some far away places and some more near to home. Check out "Where Are They Now" for the list and locations. We are now over one hundred wandering tomes looking for temporary sanctuary in hands of those who love to read. The response to my plea for those who find our friends to e-mail their whereabouts to me has been underwhelming to say the least. When I first started this project back in January of this year I hoped to get a 10-15% response rate. As of today I have received only 3 e-mails which is far below my expectations. Although in speaking with someone who has been involved with a similar project for over 5 years they informed me that they had not one response in all the time spend in that program. So this lack of contact about the whereabouts of these hundred books or so leads to number of questions. Are the books being picked up? I would say most definitely. I will often hang around the area that I have left books to see what happens and most often the book is picked up with minutes of being left on its own. In one case I watched as on person picked up three books I had left in close proximity to each other. Are the instructions on the sticker too vague or unclear? I've had people review the instructions and the feedback I have gotten is that the the directions are fine, although in English and some books have been left in countries where English is not the dominant language. Are the books being read? Since the major goal of this project is simply to get people engaged in reading I can only hope that since the response rate is so low that people are picking up the book and either leave them laying around at home until they find time to read it. Which may explain the lack of responses. People haven't had time to sit down and read the book then pass it on and let me know. At least the books are getting into peoples hands. What happens after that I have no control over. I'm sure there are other reasons for such a low contact rate but not to be discouraged we will continue to send out books on a regular basis. I now have a number of people who are assisting me in this endeavour by relocating books to other countries as they travel the globe. So keep your eyes on the "Where Are They Now" link as there will be some hobo tomes ending up in some very unique places within the next few months. Later next week a bunch of the gang have indicated that they will embark on another trip to Vancouver to escape the upcoming cold weather that will engulf us here in Calgary sometime in the fall. So if you're travelling along the TransCanada Highway during the September long weekend you may come across one of our wayward waifs looking for a new home. Let me know if you do.