donating books

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

hi everyone - we've been going through our book collection and I was curious if anyone knows of a good place to donate used books to?

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Goodwill, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the library will take them and sell them at their Friends of the Library sale.

[mamabunny72.livejournal.com]

'Got Books' will pick up: http://www.gotbooks.com/

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

that's exactly what I was looking for - thanks!

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Thats awesome! I needed to find something like this as well.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I've heard that they're a scam; I can't find the web page I initially got this from, but google has plenty of others.

[veda815.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about them being a scam, but maybe someone took offense to the fact that they are re-selling your donated books. They then turn around and donate their profits to various non-profits like little league teams, etc.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

the only negative stuff I found was on yelp - they seem to have won some local good citizen awards so I'm more inclined to check first if somerville library is accepting and then if not go there since 50% ish of something is better than landfill

but yeah it looks like people missed the "for profit" at the top of the page on their about me

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

FYI, according to their FAQ, they donate 50% of the money to the organizations they work with.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

The criticisms I saw included that they weren't donating all that much of the profits to charities; if the 50% figure above is correct (and I haven't followed up on the details), that's a staggeringly low figure for a supposed charity organization.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

it is low for a non profit - but they are up front in what they are and I may use them since I don't think I can donate books to Somerville since its well past that time

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Medford takes donations for the Friends of the Library. They had their big sale a couple of weeks ago, so they should have room for more donations. They accept dropoffs all year long.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

ohhh I did not know that - hmmm now I wonder if Somerville accepts until they are full or not - I just assumed that they only took books when the flyers go up but I may be wrong.

thanks!

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

SPL doesn't have the same kind of space available for storage. Medford has a huge area dedicated to their Friends and they store books in there all year long. They are about the only local library that encourages donations all the time. Libraries have gotten out of the used book business cause it's more trouble than it's worth.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Actually, 50% isn't low at all for a charity like that (donations of material goods-->sale of material goods-->donation to service organizations). Most car donation charities, for instance, donate significantly less than that. (If you want the highest return for a car donation, donate to the American Cancer Society, which has a less than 25% overhead cost--that's much better than almost every other car donation program.)

The costs of collecting and selling material goods consume a lot of the proceeds from the sale. That's just how those things work, is all.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

That said, I put in the time to do other things with my books. But if the choices are "throwing them away" and "letting GotBooks come get them" I think "letting GotBooks come get them" is by far the better choice.

I'd always encourage people to try the local Friends of the Library booksales first, though.

[libraryfriend.livejournal.com]

Their shipping service says GotBooks ships 150,000 packages a day. Link and more here: http://tinyurl.com/5ljgyz

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

There was an article in the Globe about this organization. It is not a charity, but it does seem to give its low-value books to charities. It sells the high-value books.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/05/17/charity_begins_at_home_for_this_bookseller/

[ron_newman]

An article which prompted this letter in response, from a Friend of the Medford Public Library. She claims that GotBooks is "diverting book donations from real nonprofits" such as her own.

I have no idea who's right, if anyone.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

you know, its never that easy - one thing I have learned is that I am so becoming a friend of the Somerville Library!

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing is that if people can't be bothered to bring books to the library, they'll probably just throw them away. If GotBooks.com is the best alternative to throwing them away, I think it's a good choice.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I like the Prison Book Program (http://www.prisonbookprogram.org/). I've volunteered with them a couple of times -- they're a great group.

[laryu.livejournal.com]

I've donated to the Prison Book Program. I've also sent books to Better World Books on behalf of the Prison Book Program (see the Prison Books website). Better World is a for-profit program that donates some books through aid organizations, sells other books, and distribute earnings back to their partner non-profits.

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

seconded!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

if you're willing to put a bit of effort into it (it requires becoming an 'official volunteer' which involves mailing them something where a notary says you're really you), i highly recommend books for soldiers (http://www.booksforsoldiers.com). it takes requests from service folks mostly in the middle east (iraq, afghanistan, etc) for books, games, etc, and provides them to volunteers who fill the requests.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

that's also a really great idea - at least for some of the better books - and I need to go to a notary in the next few days anyway....hmmm - thanks!

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I would recommend either Got Books? or Big Brother/Big Sister. Both will pick up and both use them to further charitable/community service projects. Got Books? also sends books to military personnel serving overseas. The last time I put together some old books and brought them to the Somerville Library, I lugged them inside only to be told that they weren't accepting any at that time and to come back several months later. I don't donate books there anymore.

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

You can also drop off books at the Bryn Mawr Bookstore in North Cambridge. Profits go to scholarship funds.