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Coals to Newcastle: So Many Books, So Little Storage

by Bethanne 07:55 PM
Categories: the reader's advocate

Every day I receive between two to ten books. I think my neighbors have long wondered about why FedEx, UPS, DHL, and other, locally branded delivery services stop at my door so often. They probably think it's an unfortunate eBay addiction. My mail carrier is supposed to drop single volumes through our door slot, but often resorts to leaving books just inside our storm door so that she's not in danger of having fingers snapped at by our "guard dogs" (i.e., two rescue Miniature Schnauzers with messiah complexes). 

 

Alas, it's not always easy to keep up with the onslaught. (I don't, in case you're wondering, request all of these books; I've been at this bookish game for a while, and I receive a lot of unrequested material, although I will say that most of it is attention worthy). This month I've been reading an ARC of E.L. Doctorow's gorgeously written Homer and Langley, a novel about the Collyer Brothers -- and I have to tell you, my office looks a lot like a nook in those famous hoarders' home. There are stacks and piles and yes, corridors constructed in there of books. Negotiating the floor can be tricky for those Schnauzers, let alone humans. 

 

I know that it's time to cull the herd, so to speak, when I start wincing at the parcel delivery knock. That wince appeared today, after I'd received  the sixth separate delivery of books -- handed to me by a visitor (I thought all of my deliveries were done for the day!). There's NO ROOM LEFT.

 

That means I need to make a trip to the library with donations this weekend. My local library always welcomes my overfull boxes. However, I'd love to get some new ideas for where to give my books, especially ARCs and galleys that I do not want to donate to library, but may be in such great shape that recycling seems....a waste. Do you have special places you give your gently used books? Charities that might gladly accept mine? I'd love any and all ideas.  

4 comments
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by Reader-Moderator Melissa_W on 08-08-2009 12:52 AM
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I so wish there was a place we could send old advance copies; we can't take them to the used store or charity shop since they can't be sold and it seems like such a waste to just trash them.  Those I usually try to disperse amongst my fellow bookseller friends.

 

Half my problem is that a lot of my books aren't gently used; they're pretty worn, scribbled in and dogeared.  I give the boxes of books I can manage to let go of to my parents and they pick what they would like - the rest goes to the friends of the public library.

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by on 08-08-2009 12:35 PM
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Try your local Salvation Army.

 

The used stores around here will pick them up too. I bought many a "1/2 price" arc book, they stick a 2 buck sticker on it and call it good.

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by susan259 on 08-10-2009 10:56 AM
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Perhaps there is a shelter or other community organization that can use them?  Often times they can't afford to buy books, and people who utilize them can't make it to the library...
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by Moderator becke_davis on 08-10-2009 11:46 AM
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My used book store takes ARCs. I have friends who love it when I give them ARCs because they feel like they have something rare.
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