11 Places to Donate Books
If you’re here at Everyday Reading, odds are good that you’re a book lover.
But even the most ardent book lovers sometimes have books that need to be donated.
Whether your children have outgrown some titles, you’re running out of bookshelf space, you have duplicate copies, or it’s a book you don’t plan to read again, donating books is a great way to give them a second life (and clear out some of your space)!
Here are 11 places to donate books:
Where to Donate Books
- Your neighborhood. Choose a date, time and place (could be your driveway, the apartment parking lot, or a neighborhood park) and send out an email to your neighborhood list, put up signs, or post on your neighborhood Next Door or Facebook page. Let them know you’ll have free books for anyone who wants them (maybe invite others to bring their books to donate too!) and set them all out, ready to be thumbed through. Bonus, it’s a great way to meet other book lovers in your neighborhood!
- A thrift shop. If you’ve ever looked through the books at a thrift shop, you know the joy of discovering a book you’ve loved or been wanting to read for 25 cents! Most thrift stores are happy to take books and it’s a great way to make them available at a bargain price to others.
- Local schools. Email your child’s teacher or drop in at your public school and see if they’d like any of your books (and be sure to tell them there is NO pressure to take anything they don’t want!). Your child may be done with your 50 Magic Treehouse books, but a second grade teacher might be THRILLED to add them to her classroom library.
- A Little Free Library. Do a quick search for your nearest Little Free Library and let your books be enjoyed by the community! (I personally think this is a great strategy when you have a few books to donate – it’s not great to try to shove 50+ books in a Little Free Library).
- Your Local Library. Most libraries aren’t going to want to take your book donations for their shelves, BUT they often will hold them for periodic library sales to raise money for the library. Ask your librarian how they handle book donations.
- A Local Theater. Theaters often need books as props or stage decor – call and see if they could use some of your book donations for an upcoming show.
- Better World Books. This is an online bookstore that resells books and donates book and money to literacy projects. They have drop boxes all around the world where you can donate books!
- Bookmooch. If you want to trade your books for other books, Bookmooch is a great way to donate books you no longer want and exchange them for ones you DO!
- Freecycle. Freecycle is a simple way to list your books for local pickup – it’s free and helps connect people who have items to get rid of with those who would love to have them!
- Books to Prisoners. This non-profit provides books to incarcerated people – they have a list of the kinds of books that are most requested and specific directions about how to donate books and what kinds of things they can’t accept.
- Facebook Marketplace. This is a great place to list free books that you no longer want – someone will be thrilled to get them!
Any other favorite places or ways to donate books? I’d love to hear – leave your suggestions in the comments!
