What Do You Do With Your Used Books?
So, I was going to blog about this service offered by Barnes & Noble (that I discovered via Treehugger.com) whereby they’ll buyback your used books. The payouts aren’t very much - $1 to $2 - and the books have to be in good condition. They’re also only interested in current textbooks and recent hardcovers and paperbacks.
You can get better deals for your used books if you sell them through Amazon, or even at a garage sale, but this service at B&N seems pretty painless, so if you were looking for ease of use, this could be for you.
But then, upon reading the comments in the Treehugger post, there were a couple of folks who were adamant about the need to donate your used books to your local library. In my own case, I realized that the majority of the books that I can bear to part with tend to end up in the donation box of my local branch.
So how about you? Do you sell your used books or do you donate them?
Link to Barnes & Noble Book Buyback Service.
[via Treehugger]
Related Stories
POSTED IN: General, Reusing and Recycling
10 opinions for What Do You Do With Your Used Books?
~Dawn
Mar 30, 2006 at 10:50 pm
1 Vote for Lib-er-ary.
Debbie
Mar 30, 2006 at 11:11 pm
I usually donate my books to the library, but I have also “released” books through Bookcrossing.com, which is kind of fun.
Mandy
Mar 31, 2006 at 6:46 am
One option I recently discovered is to post them on paperbackswap.com.. you then send books to those who request them via media mail and when they receive them you get credits to request books from others. It’s pretty cool!
Jenn
Mar 31, 2006 at 6:58 am
Our local library isn’t accepting donations for the foreseable future. They are very small, and all current shelf space is in use! They are planning an expansion (which may not be for a couple of years) and at that point I’m sure they would be glad to have more books.
At my last 2 moves I sold the books at my yardsale then took the leftovers to the local used bookstore. The ones the used bookstore wouldn’t take I donated to a local nursing home.
I don’t have many to donate anymore because 99% come from the library, but what I do get from friends etc I am now keeping to send to my sister who is deploying to Iraq in a few weeks.
Hsien Lei
Mar 31, 2006 at 9:58 am
I usually keep half of the books I read and give the other half away to friends and family. This was especially important when I lived in Vietnam where English books are hard to get. Now I try not to buy too many books (ha!) and check them out of the library unless I’m certain I will want to keep it. Our local libraries suffer when fewer people are interested in borrowing.
Kevin Humphrey
Mar 31, 2006 at 6:52 pm
Awesome. Thanks, everyone! :)
Kayll
Apr 2, 2006 at 11:10 am
That paperbackswamp site is pretty neat! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve donated all of my books to the library. At one time, I donated 8 or 10 full file boxes worth of books. Yup, I’m a book junkie.
What the library doesn’t use, they sell in the basement used book store. So sometimes I see some of the books I donated now for sale. But the money is going towards a good cause.
When I want to buy cheap books, I usually go to http://www.half.com, http://www.abebooks.com, or check amazon to see if they have the book I want used.
Also, my state has a great interlibrary loan system. I can see if any library in the state has the book I want. It might take two weeks to get it once I request it, but it’s still FREE. :)
Dale
Apr 5, 2006 at 10:23 am
If they are in good shape and not too common I sell them via half.com. If not in great shape I donate them to Goodwill.
Molly
Apr 7, 2006 at 12:28 am
I’m a Paperback Swap addict. Just this week I’ve received two books and sent out four. I also list books on Half.com, but anything that I’m going to price under a dollar I just put on PBS instead–and sometimes things I just think PBS members will enjoy, even if I could get more than a dollar for them on Half.com. :-)
I used to be a cataloger in a large library system. Believe me, the last thing the library needs is another copy of the latest paperback bestseller. Even though the overflow usually goes into a book sale, someone has to check the catalog for each book to evaluate whether it’s needed or not. Donating to the library is a fine idea, but common items take up a lot of shelf space and staff time. OTOH, donating to something like the Ronald McDonald House or a senior center, where people have time to read but not necessarily a lot of books to choose from, can be really neat.
Kevin Humphrey
Apr 10, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Good point, Molly. I been living in small towns for so long now where the libraries are always happy to get more stock. I can imagine how libraries in larger centers wouldn’t have the same needs as the rural ones.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: