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Hopefully all of my (by now many) physical books will get donated to the village library from where my mother grew up and where my parents live right now. I rem

Hopefully all of my (by now many) physical books will get donated to the village library from where my mother grew up and where my parents live right now. I remember I borrowed a David Copperfield translation and never returned it, that happened about ~30 years ago. I still feel guilty about it from time to time.

flybrand 4y ago
Libraries Are over run - few take donations.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  Here in Ithaca, NY the "Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library" has a book sale of donated books twice a year. Each sale goes over several weeks with prices declining, with the last day being "$1 for a medium sized bag full of books". After the sale a large dumpster is parked out front and the volunteers fill it with things that didn't sell, to be sent off for disposal (recycling, I think.) https://www.booksale.org/ https://www.booksale.org/
dageshi 4y ago
Based on personal experiences trying to give away my collection of 2000's scifi/fantasy books, it's hard even to give them away. The physical book market is shrinking and a significant portion of new readers likely use ebooks/audiobooks instead so there's just far less demand for physical books. I think it's going to be very hard to even give books away in the coming decades, I can see the vast majority going to recycling.
- pfdietz 4y ago
  Did you try a used book store? They'll at least take them off your hands for a nominal amount, even if they then throw most of them away. Half Priced Books has this business model.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Used book stores--such as there are these days--tend to be very selective about what they take. So you haul in a box or two and they'll take a relative handful off your hands. My local library will take books for their annual fundraising sale. But I suspect most end up recycled or tossed even so.
- kingcharles 4y ago
  County jails. Having spent time in county jails, a lot of them have few or no books and people in them are desperate for something to read as jails tend to have literally nothing to do except stare at the walls (no TVs, radios etc). They all happily take book donations. Doesn't matter how weird or esoteric the books are, someone will read them. I read over 800 books in jail, and because beggars can't be choosers I read some weird and wonderful things. Book charities won't send to jails, only to prisons, because they say people aren't held long enough in jails, even though I know people who have been waiting 11 years for trial so far.

flybrand 4y ago

Libraries Are over run - few take donations.

pfdietz 4y ago
Here in Ithaca, NY the "Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library" has a book sale of donated books twice a year. Each sale goes over several weeks with prices declining, with the last day being "$1 for a medium sized bag full of books". After the sale a large dumpster is parked out front and the volunteers fill it with things that didn't sell, to be sent off for disposal (recycling, I think.) https://www.booksale.org/ https://www.booksale.org/

dageshi 4y ago

Based on personal experiences trying to give away my collection of 2000's scifi/fantasy books, it's hard even to give them away. The physical book market is shrinking and a significant portion of new readers likely use ebooks/audiobooks instead so there's just far less demand for physical books. I think it's going to be very hard to even give books away in the coming decades, I can see the vast majority going to recycling.

pfdietz 4y ago
Did you try a used book store? They'll at least take them off your hands for a nominal amount, even if they then throw most of them away. Half Priced Books has this business model.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Used book stores--such as there are these days--tend to be very selective about what they take. So you haul in a box or two and they'll take a relative handful off your hands. My local library will take books for their annual fundraising sale. But I suspect most end up recycled or tossed even so.
kingcharles 4y ago
County jails. Having spent time in county jails, a lot of them have few or no books and people in them are desperate for something to read as jails tend to have literally nothing to do except stare at the walls (no TVs, radios etc). They all happily take book donations. Doesn't matter how weird or esoteric the books are, someone will read them. I read over 800 books in jail, and because beggars can't be choosers I read some weird and wonderful things. Book charities won't send to jails, only to prisons, because they say people aren't held long enough in jails, even though I know people who have been waiting 11 years for trial so far.