(GRASS)ROOTS ROCK: The Cranky Professor writes: “Along with Catholic books for public libraries (an EXCELLENT idea), let me suggest gift subscriptions to Catholic magazines for school libraries both public and parochial.

“Most public libraries aren’t thrilled with gift subscriptions because they are sure that then they’ll have to take it out of their limited budget once you stop giving (the solution — call the magazine and find out how cheap a perpetual endowment would be — I know that some of the scholarly journals will do it for as little as $500 in one payment. Think about it — perpetual subscription to a scholarly journal for $500! Oh. You probably don’t read Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies.)

“However, most schools are [happy to get gift subscriptions] — and I’ve actually NOT had opposition to subscribing to religious journals for public [school] libraries. They’re just grateful to get something on the shelves!”

Note how easily this idea can be modified for non-religious uses–just replace Crisis or the Register with City Journal, Reason, Commentary, etc.