The Sam Houston Center Quarterly Book Club volunteered for hundreds of hours to sort and ship the books to troops, veterans and their families.

Inspired by the wartime spirit of service celebrated in Addison Armstrong’s book War Librarian, members of the Sam Houston Center’s Quarterly Book Club collected more than 560 gently-used books and shipped them to active-duty service members, veterans, and their families.

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center is a component of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s (TSLAC) Archives and Information Services Division (ARIS). It is located in Liberty, Texas, 41 miles northeast of Houston. The project originated in the summer of 2025, when the center’s book club read War Librarian, about World War I efforts to raise funds and collect books for camp libraries, military hospitals, and similar locations.

Club members were inspired to organize a similar effort, so Sam Houston Center staff reached out to Operation Paperback, a national, non-profit organization that connects volunteers with American troops, veterans, and families, to inquire about the feasibility of a community book drive benefitting the users of Operation Paperback.

Once a plan was in place, the book club launched its drive in early 2026 as a Texas America250 initiative and collected donations through July 4, 2026. Local media promoted the book drive, and the community responded generously.

Volunteers and staff shipped 565 books to troops, veterans, and their families! Packages with up to 20 books went to 21 states, including Washington, DC, and various locations overseas. Soldiers deployed in Okinawa, Japan and unidentified locations in Europe, Africa, Canada, and/or the Middle East received books from Southeast Texas readers.

A volunteer sorts donated books to mail to American soldiers.

Book club members met three times to process books for shipment. Volunteers sorted every book according to a detailed list of fiction and non-fiction genres, after which a list of individuals in need of books was requested from Operation Paperback. With a name, address, and lists of preferred genres in hand, book club members went “shopping” for each person among the piles of books, filling a box with reading material that would be most enjoyed. Books were shipped with Texas America250 and Texas Digital Archive bookmarks created by TSLAC.

Once packed, a box had to be taped, labeled, and a customs form completed if it was being shipped overseas before it could be loaded and carried to the local post office by SHC staff. Forty-five packages, some weighing 15-20 pounds, were shipped over a two-week period, with the help of workers at the Liberty, Texas post office who graciously supported the book club’s effort to honor America’s military. Books for all ages, including a vast array of genres ranging from poetry to biography and classic literature to fantasy, were mailed.

“Our book club and staff were so pleased to be able to gather books for American soldiers and veterans,” said Alana Inman, Manager of the Sam Houston Center. “I am proud of how hard everyone worked and the community’s generous book donations.”