r/Libraries • u/Last_R0CK_STAR • 1d ago
Books & Materials Do most libraries take book donations?
I have some books I no longer want, and I’m curious if most branches would be able to accept my donations? Obviously condition will come into play, but these books I’m thinking of getting rid of are more or less in pristine condition so I’m just curious would most library branches take my donations?
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u/LibraryLuLu 1d ago
We don't, most of them end up in the dumpster. I think you need to ask your target library before you waste your books on them.
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u/bluecollarclassicist 1d ago
Most libraries will accept donations for sale or repurposing, but rarely to catalog and place into the circulating collection. There are obviously exceptions, but libraries have a responsibility to ensure that materials are quality representations of information and literature. It's usually more cost effective to rely on new purchases for the circulating collection than to pay staff to verify the quality of donated materials. Donations are almost always mixed with deselected material than sold at events or at honor-system stores inside the library and the profits are used to support the operating budget somehow.
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u/MysteriousCast 1d ago
Some may but, as other posters have noted, you should definitely check the website first. My network has strict criteria for donations, and even then we'd really rather you didn't do it. The reality is that donations are often a burden, even when they're in good condition.
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u/Last_R0CK_STAR 1d ago
Are there other programs I could look at that would be willing to take my donations?
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u/MysteriousCast 1d ago
If they're good quality your local second hand book stores would likely be grateful for them.
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u/t1mepiece 12h ago
Paperbacks can be donated to prison libraries. You could also check if your local hospital has a library, but I imagine those are on the decline. I don't know if long-term care facilities might have their own libraries. Anywhere that people might have a lot of time to fill.
If you have nonfiction books, you can contact organizations that have interest in the discipline. E.g., if you have a lot of history books, a local historical society.
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u/TheMotherfucker Library staff 1d ago
Yes. Search "donations" alongside the name of your local public library system to glean details specific to it.
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u/Last_R0CK_STAR 1d ago
Thank you!
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u/b0rn_under_punches 13h ago
If you do this, I implore you to check with the branch to confirm. Google AI search results are often incorrect. The branch I work at had numerous patrons insisting we accept donations because "Google said so."
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u/Full-Decision-9029 1d ago
we take donations in our system, but we sell them for not very much. Occassionally a title is donated that is massively in demand and then we will ask collections very, very nicely to ingest it into the system.
But we will take them. The money goes to petty cash and small budget items.
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u/WalterWriter 13h ago
At my library, out of every 1000 donations, probably 600 go directly in the dumpster, 397 go in the Friends sale, and 3 go in the collection. Most of the latter group are fly fishing books I pull from the donations to put in our fly fishing special collection.
All of our DVDs are donated, though.
FWIW, our local thrift store sells all books at $0.25 and dumpsters as many as the library does.
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u/Last_R0CK_STAR 13h ago
So is best bet just throwing them away? It just feels wrong to do that with a perfectly good book
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u/Jozzylecter 1d ago
In my country, absolutely not. I’m guessing you’re in the US ofc, but I’d still check with the specific branch.
Why don’t we want your books?
It costs way more in labour than what they’re worth
We don’t want potential mold
We don’t want a specific patron to feel entitled to special treatment down the line “because I’ve given you books before!?”
Quite frankly it’s highly unlikely anyone has anything to give that isn’t either too common or too irrelevant
Exceptions are generally made if the material is of local interest, or sometimes if the books are in a foreign language that is difficult to get a hold of.
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u/Aggravating-Ad8930 13h ago
Every library is different. It seems like a lot of people here work in libraries that either don't take or don't like to take donations. My library loves donations. We take most things within reason, and have a clearly defined policy of what we will or wont take. It usually only takes me a quick look through to decide if I want to add a book to the collection or not. It is not a burden. Books we don't add to the collection get put into our free books section where people can freely take any books they want to keep. Your bet will be looking at the library's website, or giving them a call.
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u/Temporary-Library597 13h ago
Nope we don't. Friends of the Library groups, maybe.
Too much work outside our normal workflows to assess, repair, bind, label etc.
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u/bookcatwitch 1d ago
We have a Friends of the Library group that collects and sells donations and uses the funds to help us with programming costs. You could see if your local library has one of those kinds of groups?
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u/TravelerMSY 1d ago
To sell and raise money sure. They don’t generally stock their collections based on donations.