Books are Rad, Let's Spread the Word!

August 25, 2009 12:46 AM

DonatingTextbooksInAustraliaFilter: How would I go about donating a heap of recent secondary school textbooks to worthy causes. I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

My aunt (actually) has a whole stack of textbooks that my cousins no longer need (having recently finished school) and they can't sell back to the school as new editions have come out.

There are textbooks on a whole range of subjects (English, Maths, Geography, Physics, French etc) and they are all in excellent condition.

They are looking to donate them to an organisation that could distribute them overseas or even within Australia to those who might not be able to easily access these books. The oldest book would only be 4 or 5 years old and most are very recent.

My question then is who could we pass these books on to to get the most out of them

posted by micklaw to society & culture (6 comments total)

You can all just add a question mark on the end there.....ok?

Thanks!
posted by micklaw at 12:47 AM on August 25

Call Lifeline. The number is 1800 800 768. They have book sales twice a year, in Canberra anyway.

I wouldn't be alive without Lifeline. My fave organisation.
posted by flutable at 5:06 AM on August 25

Try The Smith Family or the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience. Or your local migrant resource centre. Or the local public high school - they'll always need a few spare books for kids whose families can't afford to buy them.

Remember though, that free textbooks are almost useless to an enrolled student unless they're the exact same edition that the rest of the class is using. If you find they're even slightly out of date, send them somewhere where they'll be read for interest's sake - the Lifeline sale is an excellent option.
posted by embrangled at 6:05 AM on August 25

If you'd like to see them go to overseas charity, consider World Vision International. They do just this type of thing (disclaimer - I work for them).
posted by allkindsoftime at 7:07 AM on August 25

I would happily take your English books. I'm starting an educational nonprofit in the Philippines, and the English books could seriously help a few of our students become more proficient in English and hopefully get great jobs.

You can MeMail me if you want more details.
posted by ferdinandcc at 3:23 AM on August 26

Wow, thanks for the tips there. Not sure about World Vision though, would rather keep religion out of this sort of thing.

I'll certainly pass them on and let my aunt know of the power of the internet.
posted by micklaw at 5:44 AM on August 31