Our school has some boxes of old textbooks which some of them are new or in good condition that has become obsolete for the syllabus purposes. However there are some readers which are good books. The school librarians have sent a note to all teachers and students to come and pick the books that find suitable for them. What does your local library do with old books?
(c) ronaldinu 2009 - the more people I meet-the more I love my dog
[question posted by ronaldinu]
responses and comments:
Our library hosts a used book sale once a month. The books are marked very inexpensively, 10cent to a dollar on average. The money goes into the Friends of the Library who uses the money to do things for the library. [eden32]
They have a book sale at greatly reduced prices. If they cannot get rid of them, they donate them to Old Age homes and institutions where the patients want something to read. Now our Christian school has a library and that is what they do with them, but they also send books overseas to the Missions so that the children there can have practice learning English. [suspenseful]
Our library has a so sale every so often. They also have a cart with old books that you can buy through out the year. I have gotten some very good books from the cart. When i finish with them I dona them to a thrift store for resale. [deebomb]
Very often I see old books for sale on a few shelves in the corner of our old library. There are sometimes some very interesting books for just a few U.K. pennies.. :-) Derek [derek_a]
both our local library and my daughters school has a large book sale every year and sells old and outdated books. you can get books at a very reasonable price to keep and enjoy. [cher913]
They have a table sale and put them up for the public to buy for a paltry price. It's nice because instead of having to check them out or paying a huge price for getting them otherwise. I love books and being able to get them for a much less or cheaper price. [moondancer]
My local library holds a massive book fair once per year. They host it in a vacant hall which is large enough to hold zillions of trestle tables full of unwanted books and magazines. All the proceeds are donated to Lifeline, a voluntary telephone counselling service for people in distress. The sale attracts an enormous public response and the books are sold incredibly cheaply - like 20 cents for paperbacks and 5 to 10 cents for magazines. [Piscesmoon]
That is a noble gesture to raise money for charities. I like the idea. [ronaldinu]
My local library sells them. They put them out as one comes into the main part of the library, and everyone can look through them and buy as many as they want. I've gone to the sale before, but I didn't find anything. I think any of the ones left go to Goodwill. [AmbiePam]
Our library doesn't give away books unless they are paperbacks. They may give away hard bound books if they get where their bindings are no good anymore, but I have never seen that happen. [OreoCookie3]
Textbooks? I don't know. But my library does sell old books when they are cleaning the shelves, periodically. A quarter a piece or something like that. [DaddyOfTheRose]
Our library has a book sale but all donation. So you can get as many as you want and pay only what you want. [laglen]
I am not sure about this town's library. But in my hometown that library would donate books to the Planned Parenthood yearly book sale. Planned Parenthood has a book sale as a fundraiser. [Ruthep]
I dunno about that because i dun go to the library at all.. lol =D Even though when i'm still schooling, i will only visit the library whenever i need to write some book reviews.. lol =D ALso, i'm not a librarian in school, and i think it's not just me, most students wont know what does the library do with all their books.. lol =D ANd all along, i thought library is the place to be able to find whatever i want, regardless of how old are those books.. lol =D [kun2349]
My local library has a huge, annual Friends of the Library sale. People wait in lines for hours to get this this sale. It really is a great way to pick up some inexpensive books. [makingpots]
Our library sells their old books every day in the lobby. Also about twice a year they have a book drive where you can buy a bag of books for about $1.00 [Shar19]
There are several libraries in my area, all of which hold a book sale periodically and sell their old book from anywhere between 10 cents to $2.00 depending upon the popularity of the book. What ever they do not sell they donate to charities. [thunderstar17]
The local library puts them out for you to take for free. The school gives the kids the older books to take home if they are something the kid wants. My son brought home 2 of the old reading books last school year. [lilybug]
Our local library puts old books and also old cd's up for sale. Prices range between 50 eurocents and 4 euros depending how good the book or cd looks and how new it is. I don't know what happens to the books that don't get sold though. Perhaps they donate them to charity or they throw them away. I do know that the benefits of the sale of the old books is used to buy new additions to the library. [cyberfluf]
Thanks for your feedback. That's a good idea to buy new books, making themselves self sufficient/ [ronaldinu]
Sometimes they put them on sale to the public. I'm not sure what they do with them if they aren't sold. I think they just leave them out until they are bought. [SuzyQ12]
They have a book sale for the community and it goes very well, too. [nanajanet]
our library at school sells old books at 10p or 20p when they need to make room for new books [anklesmash]
Our library has what you might call a book store in the basement of the library. There are shelves of books they have removed from the shelves, or books that have been donated. You can purchase these books at any price (considered a donation). I have gotten a ton of books from them, a lot of them brand new. Once a year they have a giant book sale open to the public. All prices are a donation of your choice. [patgalca]
At my locallibrary, they usually put them on a shelf for people to go through and take whatever books might interest them. It's a good thing to do, because their are always interesting books, and no one notices them because they are old, but when they are given away for free, people find them and enjoy them. I use to go every week to my library and find new books that they were giving away for free. [samma00]
They sell them. Cheaply but that is what they do so it helps the library get funds to buy more books and money to replace things they need.. [mtdewgurl74]
They have sales several times a year. Rather than that I don't know what else they do do with the old books. [celticeagle]
My library actually will sell the book you want if they have about two in, so my guess that is how they keep their turnover from old to new? littleowl [littleowl]
i know they have a book sale a couple of times a year but other than that i don't know. [ANTIQUELADY]
the gave to them to underprivileged children if I can remember correctly [winterose]
They sell them very cheap. That reminds me I bought two Elery Queen mystery magazines with short stories and since its snowy I just might get them out today after I clean off my car. [muscles4me]
All of the libraries around my house sell books all the time. The one that I go a lot to has a special place for books they no longer need that you can buy every time you go and they are very cheap. Also they have huge sales few times a year where they sell the books for 50c up to $5 (but I have never seen a book for $5) 99% of the books go for a $1 or 50c (australian). With the money they get they buy new books. [violeta_va]
Our library sells off some books. Last year they created a storm because it was found they had disposed of thousands of books, some in good condition and some almost new. They didn't even sell them they threw them in a skip (dumpster) when the local press got hold of this they tried to say the books were damaged and old text books even though this was obviously not the case. Then they said they didn't have space for the books. What they've actually done is reduce the size of the stacks - previously six shelves high and now only five and often only two thirds full. They claim they have no money to get new books and when they do buy them they are the bestseller novel types that are so cheap few people go to the library for them. They'll buy multiple copies of these and then sell them off after six months because they only need to keep one. I don't blame the librarians because they aren't in charge of this policy. It's pen-pushers higher up who think books and libraries are old hat. [huswyf]
Hi huswyf i hope that your local library have a better managment of books. [ronaldinu]
Our library system has a book sale a couple of times a year. This gets books to people who want them and raises some money for the library. Husband and son went to the last one and bought a few books. [caver1]
WE have a library that close where i live, i used to go there most of my spare time reading books, but i dont know exactly what they do to thier old books, i have no idea, but its nice when they give it to school or stay the library because a lot of people coming and read the books. [kimberly99]
Erm i dont think our libraries do anything not the local libraries anyway. i remember at school they use to sell them to raise charity. But apart from that other libraries like college or university do not sell them or the local library so that sort of thing i think they just keep them until there not useable for anyone. [shamzy18]
Ours sells them for pocket change and you can donate books for that as well. [howellslj]
Hi Ronald, With old books, the local libraries hold annual book sales when they sell them off relatively cheap - like $1, $2, $5, etc. It is usually a crowded affair and I do pop by when I can make it. Everything is dumped everywhere so it is quite a bit of luck to grab something you want. [lordwarwizard]
The school has a book sale and sells them. The local library does the same thing OR donates them to the hospital for people there. [saundyl]
I don't know and i am active in the library support group. Maybe they feed them to goats, we have a lot of those around here or maybe they are used for the big fire the city has each autumn. I'll ask, thanks for the question [savypat]
I don't know about the schools but one of my local library takes donations.They have a gi annual book sale.From Thursday to Sunday , there is a huge booksale. [sarahruthbeth22]
Hi ya ronaldinu My local library usually hold a sale at really low prices of the books that are still in reasonable condition. As for the ones that aren't, I don't have a clue. One of my son's schools recently were taking a collection of unwanted books from families so that the children could mend any broken ones and then they sent them off to Sierra Leone. [Humbug25]
Well our local town library usually sells old books for a small fee. They are beat up from being rented by numorous people but they can still be read. My old college used to set up racks just inside the doors of the library with books and magazines they wanted to get rid of and those were free. [highflyingxangel]
Once a year of so they have a giant book sale where everything is marker down to rediculous prices everyone can afford. [eeyore39]
The library here constantly has books for sale and then a couple times a year, they have a huge sale and advertise and sell bunches that they are getting rid of. I think it is a great idea and helps to fund the library and I have to admit to have purchased a few now and then. [idowrite72]
To be honest I have no idea what my two nearby libraries do with out-dated books. They used to have book sales which I loved and got great bargains, like a hardcover book for only $1.00 or $2.00. It never bothered me that maybe the books were old as some I found rare first editions (dating from the early 1900s) that otherwise would be very expensive to a book collector buying them in those rare book places. Anyway, the libraries have stopped their book sales, so my feeling is that they just throw them out..a shame when you think of it. [pyewacket]
Hi there ronaldinu! I really do not know what the local library does with the old books nowadays. However, I remember that in the past, I heard that the local library donates the old books to some communities that would need them. I don't think they are sold but of course I am not sure about that. Now that you have started this discussion, I think it would be interesting to find out what our local library does with all those old books under their care. [dolce_vita78]