Advice for gaining a wide variety of books

[Undesired Walrus]

How would I go about getting a donation of books for the charitable organisation I work for?

[Dave Rogers]

Have you contacted any local recycling centres? What do your local libraries do with withdrawn books? Do the local charity shops have any excess stock?

Just the first few ideas that spring to mind.

Dave

[JerryGarcia]

Most public libraries have book sales, and if they are anything like the library I work in they have a ton of books left over at the conclusion of the sale.

[Professor Yaffle]

More details might help give me ideas.

[Undesired Walrus]

What details do you need (Thanks for the ideas everyone)?

[Modified]

Put ads on Craigslist and Freecycle.

[Professor Yaffle]

What sort of charity? What will the books be used for? I just work better with a mental image.

[bluesjnr]

What will the books be used for?

Prof - I reckons they'll be used for that readin' peoples talk 'bout

:D

[The True Scotsman]

You could attempt to setup a book donation box in grocery store or similar place, where in, the store agrees to keep your large, decorated, cardboard box in their store at the entrance which reads "Donate books for charity". That would be cheap, effective, and would require very little effort on your part.

[Aitch]

No-one suggested hi-jacking a mobile library yet? :duck:

[bookitty]

How would I go about getting a donation of books for the charitable organisation I work for?

Specifically, what types of books do you need? If they're for reading purposes, what subjects, age-groups, that sort of thing.

[eerok]

You could try contacting organizations like churches which hold book sales as fundraisers. They don't want to be stuck with the left-overs. You could be proactive and hunt for such sales, and offer to take the remainder. (Often they dump the left over books at hospitals.)

[The True Scotsman]

If they're for reading purposes...

What else do you use books for? :p

[LashL]

How would I go about getting a donation of books for the charitable organisation I work for?


Do you have Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org/) in your area? I've given tons of books (and all manner of other stuff) away via this network.

[Professor Yaffle]

Do you have Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org/) in your area? I've given tons of books (and all manner of other stuff) away via this network.

Seconding Freecycle. We have given loads of stuff away using it too and received some great stuff (including books) too. Most groups require you to offer things before you can post a 'wanted' message.

[Undesired Walrus]

Amazing. And it's all free? What's the catch?

[Professor Yaffle]

The only downside we have ever had with freecycle is occasionally people failing to turn up to collect stuff when they said they would.

[Homemade psycho]

Ask Arth (http://www.arthwollipot.com/photography/books/) :D

[LashL]

Amazing. And it's all free? What's the catch?


There's no catch. It's just a bunch of like-minded people getting rid of stuff they don't want and obtaining stuff they do want. I've given away scads of stuff via Freecycle, but it was my daughter who told me about it, as she had been utilizing it to get rid of excess stuff she'd managed to accumulate and to obtain things she wanted for her apartment while attending university. I've never had any issue or problem with it myself, but similar to what the good Prof said above, LashL Jr. has told me that once or twice people didn't pick up the stuff that they had arranged to pick up from her apartment in a timely fashion.

Now that my young niece has moved into my home and LashL Jr. has moved back home temporarily to help out in that regard (she's finished 4 years of university now and her grad ceremony is tomorrow, actually, which I am so looking forward to!), I've had to re-organize things so I've been on an absolute Freecycle tear, giving away all kinds of great stuff at a rapid pace, and I've still not had any problems at all.

[Dave Rogers]

Amazing. And it's all free? What's the catch?

As LashL says, there isn't one. The basic principle behind Freecycle is to cut down on what goes into landfill. If you were going to throw something away, you might as well give it away instead, if anyone's interested. It's functionally equivalent to leaving stuff on the pavement outside your house with a note on it saying "Free to anyone who wants it", but less messy.

Dave