What happens to your book after you donate it?

Your donations help fill our Pop-Up Library, which gives away books all around the community.

When you place a book or two in our donations box—thank you, by the way—do you ever wonder what happens to it?

Where does it go? Will anyone ever read your book again?

The answer is your book could go to a lot of different places; but, wherever it goes, that book is helping someone.

We give a lot of donated books away. We firmly believe everyone should have access to books. If that means giving away a book that we might have sold at a book sale, we’re fine with that.

We’ve given away hundreds of books during My Community Monday where we donate books to local nonprofits, including schools, churches, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Deepwood, Lake Metropolitan Housing Authority, Hannah’s Home, Boy and Girl Scouts, and more.

The books you donate help fill the Little Free Libraries in parks, restaurants and businesses all over the city. We also give them away at city pools and at Mentor Headlands Beach so people never lack for a good summer read.

Your donations also fill the Pop-Up Library that gives away books at CityFest, Beachfest, schools and more.

And many of the donations we receive are sold during the Friends of the Mentor Public Library book sales at our Read House. In turn, that money goes to support library events and programming. The money that pays for an author talk or buys supplies for children’s programs often begins with the book you donate.

Furthermore, thanks to donations from people like you, we’ve given away more than 10,000 books this year.

And that doesn’t happen without your donations, so thank you! Thank you for your support, your donations, and for making us your community library.

Diane Frangos picks donations from the shelves of our Read House for the Girl Scouts.

Fun at CityFest

Paulina and her father share a story while at CityFest.

We had a lot of fun at our Pop-Up Library during CityFest this weekend, giving away nearly 2,000 books.

And we wanted to share some of that fun with you.

Elizabeth's new book makes her smile.

A Christmas book in August? Sure, why not?

Spencer and Ryan enjoy an impromptu story time at CityFest.

You can find more pictures from our Pop-Up on our Facebook page. You can see our photos from the CityFest parade on our Facebook page too. (We're vikings. It's pretty awesome.)

Finally, we have more Pop-Up Libraries coming up in September.

You can find us on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 3, during the jazz concert at Wildwood Cultural Center.

Feel free to pick up a book or two from our Pop-Up during the Women's Health and Financial Wellness program from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, at Noah's Event Venue.

We'll also be at Little Mountain Brewing Company on Sept. 17 for our Austen in Autumn Kickoff Party, along with our special tribute to Jane Austen—Austentatious IPA.

Check our event calendar for more Pop-Up Libraries.

Our mighty viking crew from the CityFest parade.

Come see MPL's Pop-Up Library at CityFest

Have you spotted our Pop-Up Library around town yet?

If not, you can check it out this Friday and Saturday during CityFest.

It's stocked with hundreds of free books for kids, teens and adult. Feel free to take one (or a few) for you and your family.

The books are free to keep forever. You don’t need a library card or to return them to one of our branches. (If you like, you can drop the book off in one of our Little Free Libraries when you’re finished.)

You may wonder where the books in our Pop-Up come from. Most of them are donated to the library, so we make it our mission to find them a new home where they'll be enjoyed.

So stop by during CityFest and pick something up. It might just be your new favorite book.

You can show us what you found by sharing your new book on our Facebook page or tagging us on Twitter or Instagram.

If you aren't coming to CityFest—fie!—you can also catch the Pop-Up Library on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 3, during the jazz concert at Wildwood Cultural Center.

It'll also be at Little Mountain Brewing Company on Sept. 17 for our Austen in Autumn Kickoff Party.

Check our event calendar for more Pop-Up Libraries. We could be coming to your neighborhood soon!

You never know what you'll find in our Pop-Up Library.

BeachFest!

Christine and Olivia (on the right) try to decide what color they should top off their sand art with.

We want to thank everyone who made sand art at our tent or grabbed a book or two from our Pop-Up Library Saturday at BeachFest!

We hope you had as much fun as we did.

Allison and Brian smile as they add another layer to Allison's sand art.

We'll be having more Pop-Up Libraries in August, as well. You'll find it during the Mentor Rocks concerts, Matt Henk Benefit Softball Tournament, Concord Community Days, Mentor CityFest and more!

Christopher shows us his almost finished jar.

For more—seriously, a lot more—photos from BeachFest, check out Mentor Library's Facebook page.

Also, to the artist who sculpted an enormous Velveteen Rabbit, thanks for making us cry at the beach.

Celebrate Earth Day with MPL & the City of Mentor

Going green is easier than you think. You don't have to live in a solar-powered earth berm to make a difference.

It can be as simple as sorting your recyclables, having a rain barrel or planting a backyard garden.

You can learn more fun and helpful ways to go green during the city of Mentor's Earth Day celebration from 3 to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 24, at Wildwood Cultural Center.

You can get free tree seedlings and build a rain barrel. There will be crafts and games for kids, as well.

And Mentor Public Library will be there with free vegetable, fruit, herb and flower seeds that you can check out from our Seed Library. You can also grab a gardening book or two from our Pop-Up Library.

And the whole shebang is free for you and your family, so come see us this Friday!

Where do you want Mentor Library to pop up next?

Kids show off their new books during a Pop-Up Library at Hopkins Elementary last week.

We celebrated National Library Week—which, by the way, was last week—by bringing out our Pop-Up Library.

If you haven't seen our Pop-Up Library yet, it's a small trailer that we fill with donated books and bring them to wherever you are.

Just last week we gave away more than 800 books at Mentor High School, Eleanor Garfield Park, Mentor Senior Center, Altercare, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Mentor-on-the-Lake City Hall, Deepwood's Vocational Guidance Center, and Hopkins Elementary.

Our Pop-Up, ready for readers at Eleanor Garfield Park

The books are free to keep forever. You don’t need a library card or to return them to one of our branches. (If you like, you can drop the book off in one of our Little Free Libraries when you’re finished.)

And we're not done. You'll be seeing our Pop-Up Library all around Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake this spring and summer.

If you want us to bring our Pop-Up Library to your school, church or workplace, email our community outreach coordinator at jason.lea@mentorpl.org.

A Deepwood client picks through the collection in the Pop-Up Library.

How Mentor Library celebrates spring in Lake County

Our Pop-Up Library will be popping up all over the place now that the weather's warmer.

Is it finally over? The subzero temperatures? The freezing wind? The snow? (So much snow.)

Is winter truly gone?

It must be because the sun is out, and some plants have even dared to bloom.

Here are some of our favorite things to do during springtime in Lake County:

1. Get planting

Maybe you're already a certifiable green thumb. Maybe you've never grown anything except dandelions. Either way, we're about to make gardening a little easier for you.

Mentor Library just launched a new seed library.

Here’s how it works. Anyone with a MPL card in good standing can check out seeds from the library for their own garden. The library’s collection already includes more than 100 varieties of seed, including herbs, flowers, vegetables and fruit.

People can check out as many as 15 types of seed per year.

2. Read outside

We are blessed with a plethora of lovely parks—city, county, state and even national parks.

There are few things we enjoy more than a good book in a beautiful place. Some of our favorite places to read outdoors include Wildwood Cultural Center & Park, Squire’s Castle, Mentor Beach Park, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Eleanor Garfield Park and the Read House next door to our Main Branch.

Visit them sometime on a quiet afternoon or even during your lunch break. And if you need reading material, we can help.

3. Get out there
We're not blessed with a surfeit of sunshine in Northeast Ohio; so, when we get a little glimmer, we need to make the most of it.

That's why this spring and summer, you're going to see us all around the community. We'll be bringing our Pop-Up Library to parks, schools and other places all around Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake. Whenever you see it, feel free to grab a book or two.

The books are free to keep forever. You don't need to return them to the library. If you like, you can drop the book off in one of our Little Free Libraries when you're finished.

You'll also see our Flash Libraries during the city of Mentor's summer concert series and farmers markets, as well as Concord Community Days. So when you see us out there, feel free to say hello and (of course) get yourself or your kids something to read.

Skipper from the Lake County Captains checks out a book during one of  our Flash Libraries.