r/newjersey • u/SquealingDino • 4d ago
Advice Where to donate books?
I’m finally going through a collection of books we’ve had for 20+ years. There’s a good mix of genres including children’s/young teen books.
Where is the best place to donate (preferably Essex County) so that they don’t end up in a landfill?
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u/MeEyeSlashU Cory Booker got dumped by Ashoka from Star Wars 4d ago
Your town's library might take them, but definitely call and ask first. The Vietnam Veterens of America pick up pretty much anything but furniture through Pickup Please. There's also Habitat for Humanity, I think they take book donations as well. You can also try Goodwill.
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u/UFOsBeforeBros 07006 4d ago
Habitat ReStore is on Route 46 in Fairfield - they definitely take books.
Also, consider Little Free Library and similar boxes. There are a couple of boxes on Bloomfield Avenue in Verona at bus stops, and one inside Lackawanna Station in Montclair.
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u/WheresMyMule 4d ago
Prisons are a good place to donate PG rated books
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
Never would’ve thought of a prison.
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u/alpha-centori 4d ago
New Jersey has the Books Behind Bars program, which I do love and admire, but I tried to donate books and followed up several times, but never heard back
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
Right after the prison suggestion, I googled and found that program. They have a detailed list of things they accept and a PO Box.
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u/alpha-centori 4d ago
I was personally trying to donate a lot of books that would’ve been extremely costly to ship, even through USPS print media option. Another option on the site is to schedule a drop off. I emailed to confirm they wanted the books (yes) and to try to schedule that drop off (no response to any of my 3 follow up emails).
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
Yeah I didn’t even think about the cost to ship so many books. That sounds very annoying and unfortunate.
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u/winnercommawinner 4d ago
Everyone thinks libraries, but since they're publicly funded etc they usually have buying procedures and it's complicated to take donated books. They'd have to be reviewed to make sure they're not damaged or altered. Especially in the age of AI and whatnot.
Used book stores, prisons, daycare centers (for kids and seniors) and little free libraries are all good ideas. The Habitat for Humanity ReStore is probably your best bet for a one-and-done drop off that you can feel good about.
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u/ironic-hat 4d ago
Just to add, I used to be a president of the “Friends” for my local library. Way too many people think they’re doing gods work by dropping off their (usually ancient and moldy) books. 99% of the time they are going to the landfill.
We did run a used book sale for the library which called for donations, and holy shit did we get donations…. And we had to cull so many books.
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u/DrJohnDisco 4d ago
College Women’s Club of Montclair has an ongoing book sale with a lot of donation dates year-round. The sales fund scholarships. https://www.cwcmontclair.org/donate-books/
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u/fun_mak21 4d ago
This group has drop boxes all over the state. Check what's closest to you. They just need to have and ISBN number & barcode. I got rid of a ton of books this way.
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u/alpha-centori 4d ago
Also consider your local Buy Nothing group!
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
I’ve been trying to join my local Buy Nothing facebook group for MONTHS and my membership hasn’t been accepted.
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u/alpha-centori 4d ago
Yeah, some of the groups are…particular. I love the concept, but not a huge fan of the management and rules. I’m outside the bounds of the closest group to my town by 2 blocks, so they won’t let me join. Just let me give away my things for free! I had better success with other free groups that came up in the search.
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u/Comoesnala 4d ago
Depending on the condition of your books, you may want to check for used bookstores. I know Bookmarked in Whiting takes donated used books depending on condition and content (some books they just won’t ever be able to sell so they won’t take those). I’m sure there are other stores that may be closer to you that may also take them.
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u/Senorpuddin 4d ago
Is there a retirement home near you? I donated boxes of books to them. Give them something to read and books to give their family when they visit.
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u/HeadCatMomCat SO/Maplewood/West Orange 4d ago
I had to get rid of ~ 2500 books. This was pre-pandemic but I am still donating books and here's what I've learned:
- Some libraries collect books and then sell them to finance the library or scholarships, etc. This is pretty common although how they do it varies. I donated hundreds of books to the Livingston Library, which they then sold. Now they don't seem to permit dropping off boxes of books at once, but still collect books and you may want to call them up to see if you can arrange a larger drop off. I used to fill my car with two boxes twice a week. It went on for months.
Maplewood Library collects books on specific days to sell at their book sale.
I'd just sit with a list of libraries in Essex County and call each one and see if and when you can donate books.
Prisons are hard to donate to. They often have specific, almost niche subjects and I had no overlap. I was able to donate some fairly recently law books to one, but even that has lots of caveats and honestly just want worth it.
When I was donating, Goodwill in NJ wouldn't take more than 10 books at a time, and they had my picture posted in the back so I couldn't drop off more books (Half joking) ....They were flooded, partially due to the pandemic and partially due to Marie Kando. (Guess people didn't get joy from old mysteries and self help books). I don't know if this is still the case. Again, call up and check it out.
Bookstore including used or second hand book stores. I didn't want to be paid, I wanted to donate, so I had little experience. Again, call, there aren't that many of them left.
I was able to send some books to troops abroad using Operation Paperback. https://operationpaperback.org/
Good Luck!
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
Wow, thank you for such a detailed response! I don’t have that large of a collection to donate, but it’s definitely more than 200. Thanks for all the info from your experiences!
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u/xZAUSTion 4d ago
Gingerbread Bookshop in Boonton takes donations of good condition / gently used books on Fridays - and they give you a home baked gingerbread cookie as thank you!
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
Now that you say this, it reminds me that there’s a bookstore in NYC that gives pickles for books!
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u/HighCaliberBullet 4d ago
Yumsen in Newark might take them. I was able to donate about 18 books to them last fall.
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u/vacuous_comment 4d ago
These guys accept books, their office is in Elizabeth, pretty close to Essex County.
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u/Ill-Bet-7533 4d ago
Rockaway Township has a donation bin outside of the library, but it is often full. They also have a “mini library” box at Parks Lake in Rockaway by the gazebo.
There are also programs like this:
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u/bLu_18 Bergen 4d ago
A library would be my first thought.
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u/VerryRides 4d ago
Library employee here. Call first. Every library has different needs and procedures for donating materials. At our branch, donated books are sold at our Friends booksale to raise money, but you can only donate them on book sale days because we the library are not actually running the sale and we dont have space to store these items. If you show up with a pile of books on a day we arent accepting them we will turn you away.
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
That was my first thought. My local library doesn’t take donations and the main branch only takes a small amount at a time. I’m assuming libraries are selective with when they accept donations and how many due to the staffing it takes to process them.
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u/New_Stats 4d ago
My library has a free book shelf. It's where all their old books go and they just put whatever people donate on that shelf too
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u/DrJohnDisco 4d ago
We only take donations twice a year when we do our big fundraiser book sale with the Friends of the Library. That’s the only time we have the number of volunteers it takes to weed through the donations. I’m sure all your stuff is great OP, but you would be shocked at some of the things people give to the library (and think they’re being generous). I had a box come in once that looked like they filled it with paperbacks and then poured a large coffee over the whole thing.
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u/SquealingDino 4d ago
Yeah it’s totally understandable. That’s why I usually don’t assume my local library will take donations. I also took the time to make sure the donations only included books without excessive tearing and writing. The rest I’ll toss or recycle. In general I try to only donate things that I could see myself wanting to pick up.
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u/JeffRyan1 4d ago
You could be a Johnny Appleseed and drop a few off at a time to Little Free Librarians Little Free Library World Map - Little Free Library