paying it forward

June 7, 2012 12:01 PM

Today I acquired a Kindle 4. Yay! Now I have 400+ books I'd like to donate. I'd give them to the library but I know they regularly have clear-outs, and I'd like the donation to help as much as it possibly can to people who need it the most. Any ideas where they should go? I am in the Vancouver BC area.

Schools? Prisons? Old Folk's Homes? Any suggestions welcome.

posted by everydayanewday to society & culture (8 answers total)

Is there a veterans home/hospital near you? My boyfriend works for for a VA hospital in the US and they have a library there. They're always happy to get our castoff books.
posted by jabes at 12:10 PM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I send most of my books to Goodwill, particularly if they are popular novels. Goodwill will a) sell them to people who may not otherwise be able to afford them and b) use the money to help unemployed people.

Frontier College (a literacy organization) also accepts donations of books, but it looks like they are mostly looking for childrens/youth books.

If you have academically inclined books, you may want to find out if your local universities do any book sales to raise money.
posted by jb at 12:13 PM on June 7, 2012

At the risk of sounding selfish ... KEEP THE BOOKS! I too gave away a lot of my books at one point, and periodically regret doing so. There is something magical about shelves of books in a house.
posted by Nightman at 12:15 PM on June 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Local hospices? I ended up donating a lot of my books to a hospice when I got my Kindle. Apparently they can use fresh reading materials there for those late nights. As well there were a few boxes I gave to a local woman's centre.
posted by kanata at 1:14 PM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hospitals, rehabs, any kind of inpatient facility probably has a library.

However - I second Nightman. At least wait until the Kindle glow wears off before you toss your entire library.
posted by something something at 1:29 PM on June 7, 2012

You can send them overseas to Afghanistan or Iraq. It's my understanding that boredom is horrible in them there parts and your books will be very welcome.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:58 PM on June 7, 2012

Carnegie Centre . They have an easier loan system - for people who can't use a city library, and they do weekly book give-a-ways.
posted by what's her name at 7:29 PM on June 7, 2012

I always donate my books to the library... they don't put them in circulation (I'm not sure it's even legal for them to do so; I think they have a different sort of contract with publishers). They sell them at semi-annual book sales. I feel good that I'm helping them to make some money, and if the books aren't exactly going to the neediest people, they are going to people who want them.
posted by Kriesa at 6:31 AM on June 8, 2012