Little Free Library 213SM discussion

I have a problem. I cannot throw out books. When I do throw one away it is basically destroyed and is not able to be reclaimed. Yet, it breaks my heart to do this so I tend to keep books until I can find a way to pass them along. Some people think this is good, except I am out of room. I also do not reread, so except for a few books that I want to keep for reference, they gather dust and that is not good either.

So here is my proposal: I will give my books to you for your libraries if you want, gratis. Those interested, email me and the genre you want and I will look to what I have and give you back a list to which you can choose from. Here is the catch: I only ask that you do not sell them on Ebay or any other such type of site. You can trade them, loan them, or even give them away, but you cannot sell them.

Here is my promise: I will not ask for money or hint at money. I will not ask or hint at getting anything back or ask you to sing my praises to the high heavens, anywhere. I will not write my name anywhere in the book or anything else that is not there before I received the book. The books will be in good shape or if they are in borderline shape, I will tell you and have you make the decision if you want to take a chance. I will not ship you a book without your knowledge or permission. No book dumping from me. So you can be assured there will be no requests for dates, business opportunities, religion, politics, natural Viagra or any other type of weirdness. Just books. I will even pay for the books to be shipped.

Here is why: I need to thin the crowd or I will end up on one of those shows about the guy killed by being buried in his own books. I do not want that because that is a Darwin Award winner and I prefer to avoid that fate. I also have a true love for reading and want others to enjoy reading too. I have a high regard for the idea of these little libraries and I will never build one because I am too lazy. Yet, I can still be involved by supporting someone with books and that is good.

I cannot promise that I have what you want or that you want what I have, but feel free to find out.

Haha! Sounds like a good plan, no one wants you drowning in books!

Have you also considered donating some to Goodwill or similar place, or is that not an option for some reason? I'm just thinking that way you could avoid shipping costs and materials etc. (And be environmentally friendly.)

When I did my big book purge 4 years ago I sold a bunch at Half Price Books, gave some away to friends and strangers, and donated some to Goodwill.

Another option is the Buy Nothing Project. I love my local one because I have met some nice people and it is a place to give away what I don't need and ask for what I do. Here is the link to find the one for your area: http://buynothingproject.org/

Gertie wrote: "Haha! Sounds like a good plan, no one wants you drowning in books!

Have you also considered donating some to Goodwill or similar place, or is that not an option for some reason? I'm just thinking..."

Thanks for the tips. I will certainly look into them. I have filled up all of my friends and colleagues. I was shocked the library didn't want them and many of them are hardbacks. I could try and sell them, but it bothers me to do so.

I would be very happy to take some books from you. But Gertie does make a valid point about the shipping cost. My library is built, but will be launching in the spring as the ground is too frozen to dig to put in the foundation pole. If you want to send me a list of books, that would be great. Paperbacks would probably be better as cheaper to mail. I just received a collection of mystery books, so I'm good for that genre. But I'd be happy for some fantasy, sci-fi or any other books you think would be enjoyed by others.

Just curious, why does it bother you to sell them? Something like Half Price Books is kind of a win-win (a little in their favor though). At any rate, it is very generous of you to offer to share your books!

Gertie wrote: "Just curious, why does it bother you to sell them? Something like Half Price Books is kind of a win-win (a little in their favor though). At any rate, it is very generous of you to offer to share y..."

It is hard for me to explain. Maybe the easiest way is to say I come from the Andrew Carnegie school of thought about public access to books. There are plenty of people that cannot afford books or have access to libraries. Carnegie built about 1700 libraries in the united States, which one is still in use in my town. At the time, he expanded the public library system by about 75% in the nation. He believed it should be free to all for access.

To me, access to books is vital for both pleasure and and knowledge acquisition. In many ways, access to knowledge is easier than at any time in history unless you cannot afford the technology, then it is much harder. If you cannot afford the technology, then you probably cannot afford the books either. Selling them restricts the books to those that can afford them in the first place including the technology. Funny thing is that I buy used books so I can find the out of print or old chestnuts that you do not find in stores any more, so it is not like I am against the concept.

I give my books away to help spread the ability to gain access. I am under no illusion that I will change the world this way, but I figure that at least one book will land in the hands of one person that will start them down the road to changing their life. I am lucky, I have always been surrounded by books growing up and I live in the NYC area for the last thirty years. This place has the best books stores in the world. It doesn't get much better than this.

As I wrote earlier, I think this idea of tiny little libraries are great and it is a way to support lending books.

Susan wrote: "I would be very happy to take some books from you. But Gertie does make a valid point about the shipping cost. My library is built, but will be launching in the spring as the ground is too frozen..."

I will email you in a few days with a potential list for you.

Wonderful, Thanks!

Thanks for explaining!

If not enough people take you up on your offer here, I think the community oriented Buy Nothing Project is a good fit then.

There is also Better World Books >which sells books to fund literacy and libraries.

The American Library Association also has a book donation program that might work since your local one wasn't interested.

These are just backups of course! I am guessing you have quite a lot of books. :-P

Gertie wrote: "Thanks for explaining!

If not enough people take you up on your offer here, I think the community oriented Buy Nothing Project is a good fit then.

There is also Better World Books >which sells b..."

Those are great suggestions and I will certainly look into them.

Thanks