You’ve got to wonder how often this happens. A school or library throwing perfectly good books into the trash:
Several garbage bags filled with copies of classic literature like “Little Women,” “Sarah, Plain and Tall” and “Treasure Island” were discarded in a Dumpster alongside Intermediate School 73 in Maspeth.“Those books, you open them up, they still crack, they’re so new,” one staffer said. “Why not give them away or hold a book drive at least?”
I’ve seen this happen at a regional public library near my house. Either these books should be given away or sold, or there will be a lot more dumpster-diving.
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14 Comments
That is just insane. While I fully understand weeding your collection, because that is something that all librarians do, that is for books that are outdated, old, or just plain bad. That is most definitely not for new books.
By the way, it is much easier to give the books away than to sell them. The rules and/or laws for this are particularly stringent in most states.
The recycle center in my town has bins full of good books all the time.
I’ve rescued an uncountable number of fantastic books, especially children’s books, but also out-of-print hardcover non-fiction adult books that have decent value.
And I’ve also filled the bins with books I cannot sell or give away, when I decide it’s better to let them be recycled into new paper than to fill a landfill or take up needed space in my warehouse.
The policy there used to be that people were welcome to take any books they wanted. They also freely allowed people to take clean cardboard boxes, interesting glass from the glass bins, magazines, etc.
Within the past month, for some reason, they’ve changed the policy and have no-pilfering signs all over the place.
It’s very sad.
As a bookseller I’d love to have access to look through these discarded books. But if that’s not possible, then I’d like to spread the word about sites like Freecycle or 2good2toss. Whole boxes of unneeded books can be offered for free on these sites. Homeschoolers, day care centers, homeless shelters, hospital reading programs, senior centers, etc. can benefit from these books. Better that than to end up in a landfill.
Disgraceful. Even if they did not want to sell the books (which is dubious; perhaps the money raised could go back into the classroom — and still more people could benefit financially from the books…let alone readers who would have had hours of enjoyment) – they could have donated it to one of the many charities, either through a group like Bookmooch, or direct. In fact many of the charities on Bookmooch are schools (including one in NYC) that desperately need books!
Someone on that list pointed out that a children’s hospital could have greatly benefited from such a gift. Imagine if all the kids in a ward could forget their pain and troubles for a second and all share the same story.
Close to a decade ago, when I still worked in higher ed, my office donated books and software to a nearby high school. It’s not that unusual. If there’s a policy against it, you can always write and ask for an exception. What a waste of the taxpayer’s money, and of wonderful books that could spur more kids to read!
Thrift stores probably put more books into dumpsters than any other group. The ones I go to throw boxes of books away quite often, especially if they are getting lots of other donations. I encouraged one thrift store not to do that. . .they received some bookstore shelves in a donation and allocated a good sized space to books and they now get lots of customers they didn’t get before. I don’t see it as competition, but as a chance to keep those books out of the dumpster. I have found that talking to the thrift store managers/board of directors about their policies helps. Thanks so much Steve for these photos. Publicizing donations and books being thrown away is probably the most effective way we can get it stopped. If a national news service picked up on the story, that would be even better. I have often thought that if people in the community saw their donations being thrown away, that would stop it. . .or if the community saw library or school dollars being thrown away.
This is akin to drowning kittens in a sack. We need a national ‘Save the Discards’ volunteer group to see if such things are worth reshelving at prisons, nursing homes, or donated to foreign groups.
There is a business in our area that receives dumpsters of new and used books. They sell the books over $3 in value to sell on Amazon. The rest of the books that are both new and excellent condition used are tossed and sent to be recycled for newsprint. It is really upsetting me. There are a number of poor communtities in our area (Chicago area)these books could be donated to underserved schools and libraries or given away to disadvantaged children at Christmas. Can anyone advise me where they obtain dumpsters or totes full of books? my e-mail is melanieperkins2@yahoo.com
Truly sad! When young, reading and the books at the library were inexpensive, free activities that hooked me as a book lover! Many kids would appreciate free books, including those in homeless shelters or other places. But to throw them out! They could be used in literacy programs, too
I think most of the books that go into dumpsters are from schools instead of libraries.
Some of it stems from the fact that the teachers are hard put to do the work it takes to cart them away or sell them. (I know, that sounds bad… but some teachers really are TIRED at the end of the day and have too much work to do already.)
It would be great to list these books or put ads in the paper to have people come and get them. Especially other schools or homeschooler families.
Or even other countries!
I do know that many libraries, though, have great book sales and people can donate books to them, sometimes year-round.
Try checking the neat website, http://www.booksalefinder.com/ for library book sales across the country.
There is no reason for good books to be thrown away.
They can be given away on Freecyle; Craig's List & most newspapers have a free section in their classifieds & I know ours doesn't charge someone to advertise something they're giving away.
Our city does pretty good here. The library has a free rack for people to put books in & take books from.
The Friends of the Library has a couple sales every year & after the Spring one, they have books for free. I just got some nice textbooks to sell.
The School District has a big give away every year after school is out.
And both the library & School District give lots of books to the prison; children's home, etc.
Better World Books (www.betterworldbooks.com) to the rescue!
MCkays in Nashville fills a dumspter almost twice a week with books that are over 5 years old. They don't want to donate out of fear of having to process the books again
It is disgraceful to suggest that old books not fit for a library collection should be given to homeless or any other at risk or needy people. Nice gift. “Here is the crappy stuff other people don’t want.”
I think if the books are classics and in good condition, it’s not disgraceful to give to others. It’s a better alternative to throwing them away.