Where to donate books? Or does anybody want these?

[ballz]

I've got a bunch of textbooks I want to donate somewhere but I can't find a good organization. Well I found one, a friend of mine is going to Sierra Leone with a Women’s Empowerment Program established by a Canadian-based NGO, so I am able to give a bunch of anthology's of short fiction, poetry, philosophy, the "Marion Bridge" play, and the entire Harry Potter set.

But the heavier textbooks,

Principals of Microeconomics
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance
Elementary Statistics
Business (An introductory book about business)
Politics, Power, and the Common Good
Money, Banking & Financial Institutions: Canada and the Global Environment
Calculus: Early Transcendentals
Visualizing Physical Geography
Access 2007
Excel 2007

Are of no use to them, and I'd like to donate them. They're all in pretty good shape. I'm thinking the local prison but a lot of these are hardcover which apparently could be a problem? Also, as much as I believe in second chances and trying to help the downtrodden, I can't help but think there's downtrodden people that aren't criminals that could use them.

So if anybody knows a good solution, or is interesting in these books for whatever reason, let me know.

 

[dimsum]

Your local library?  A used bookstore?

 

[TN2IC]

Try a LCC on base.

 

[RememberanceDay]

If you're near Borden, I may be able to take them off your hands, my school library is struggling to expand.

 

[ballz]

Your local library?

A local library is on my radar, but I was trying to find something more charity-like I guess. The thing that drew me to prisons, for example, is that an inmate might read these kind of things and decide he wants to try and start his own business, or that he wants to go to school, or something. I don't want to give them to a used book store or any place that's interested in just making profit off of them.

TN,
What's an LCC?

RemembranceDay,
I'm in St. John's, but I don't mind shipping them for a good cause. Are there any books that I listed that you think an elementary, junior high, or high school library would be able to make use of though?

 

[GeorgeD]

What about talking to your ULO and seeing if you can pass it off to someone who is doing those courses next semester? Might save the CF a few hundred dollars.

 

[ballz]

What about talking to your ULO and seeing if you can pass it off to someone who is doing those courses next semester? Might save the CF a few hundred dollars.

These are the books I couldn't give away because they were no longer used in the classes I used them for. Funny you mention that though, I was having a conversation on Saturday about how that should be looked at and made to happen. If every area did that, it could save the CF a lot of money...

 

[RememberanceDay]

RemembranceDay,
I'm in St. John's, but I don't mind shipping them for a good cause. Are there any books that I listed that you think an elementary, junior high, or high school library would be able to make use of though?

Hey, you're from the rock? Never would've guessed...

My school (high school) is seriously lacking in texts... If you could be ever so willing as to consider Politics, Power, and the Common Good, Business (An introductory book about business), Money, Banking & Financial Institutions: Canada and the Global Environment and Calculus: Early Transcendentals, or one of them, they would be exceptionally appreciated as we are a small school as it is, and have limited resources. If you can, PM me?

 

[ballz]

Hey, you're from the rock? Never would've guessed...

Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? >

Anyway, PM sent.

 

[2010newbie]

Your local library?

Most public libraries (at least in larger towns/cities) do not accept donations. Well, they might smile and accept them, but they get tossed after you leave. Try an institutional library like a nursing home, school, MFRC, or a used bookstore as Dimsum suggested.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Don't waste 'em at a prison.
Thanks.

 

[Rheostatic]

Are they current? You could pass them on to some students at MUN, maybe through your faculty.

Edit: Fine. Maybe some student could use them for insulation or furniture or something.

 

[PMedMoe]

Are they current? You could pass them on to some students at MUN, maybe through your faculty.

These are the books I couldn't give away because they were no longer used in the classes I used them for.

 

[Cui]

they are great for starting the fireplace if you forget to pay your gas bills...

 

[The Bread Guy]

Most public libraries (at least in larger towns/cities) do not accept donations. Well, they might smile and accept them, but they get tossed after you leave.

Some public libraries, on the other hand, will take donations and re-sell them for fundraising.  Check before you donate in this direction.

 

[ballz]

Don't waste 'em at a prison.
Thanks.

Ha, was I reading the good-idea fairy's blog when I came across that one? Luckily, it seems I will not have to resort to that.

I am now down to:

Access 2007
Excel 2007
Principals of Microeconomics
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance
Elementary Statistics

These seem like something someone might actually go to a public library to borrow, so I'm going to see what the library says.

Can anyone tell me what an LCC is though? And MFRC is Military Family Resource Centre?

they are great for starting the fireplace if you forget to pay your gas bills...

I used my Psychology textbook for that... not because I couldn't pay the bills, more out of contempt than anything else.

 

[NavyShooter]

I dropped off 400+ books to HMCS Charlottetown for the ship's library last year. 

Little thing to me, but big for them....lots of selection for the ship's library now.

NS

 

[dimsum]

Can anyone tell me what an LCC is though? And MFRC is Military Family Resource Centre?

LCC is Learning and Career Centre (or something similar.)  You're right about MFRC. 

Last time I had a bunch of unwanted books, I just...."donated" them to the local library.  As in I just dumped them in their inbox and walked away.  It was a long time ago though.

 

[ballz]

I called the libraries here but they don't accept donated books (wtf...) and didn't know where I could donate them.

Found that the Saint John Public Library in Saint John, NB does though, so they will be getting them.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[2010newbie]

I called the libraries here but they don't accept donated books (wtf...)

I think there are three main reasons:

Libraries want to appeal to their patrons and shed the image of being there only for seniors and kids. They are continually discarding books that have any kind of damages or seem to worn. A lot of times the donated books are in worse condition than what they want on their shelves.

They also want to build their collection in a specific way. If they accepted random book donations, their collection would be random as well and might not fit the collection outline for the community. It can also deplete the available space for the facility as well.

Of course there is the financial side also. If they were acquiring a lot of books from donations in a single year, you could have an over zealous councilour decide they should have their budgets slashed going forward and try and rely on donations instead.

My girlfriend is a Librarian and she manages two library branches currently. I believe the official policy is that they don't accept donations, but sometimes people will drop books directly into the drop box. If she sees a book that is in good condition, fits the collection, and they don't already have their target number of copies, she will keep the book. Otherwise she will discard it or if it is military or aviation related she'll bring it home and we'll drop it off at the Legion for their library (after I review it of course!).

Related to your books, I know that the 2 library systems she worked in did not purchase or maintain textbooks in their collections. They take up too much space and are continually being revised so they don't stay current very long. They also are too expensive and tend to go missing a lot, especially in September and January.