Extend the Life of Books and Magazines
Promote reading in your community, reduce clutter around your
home and your contribution of waste to the landfill, save a buck
and benefit a charity while you are at it. Just how are you
supposed to do all this? Well, it is actually quite simple. Go
through your closets and bookshelves and look for all the used
books and magazines that you no longer read.
Families that have moved repeatedly know the curse of hoarding
is best avoided if at all possible. Moving literally hundreds of
pounds of them certainly prompted us to systematically read our
books once each and then decide whether it was a “keeper” or
not.
Management of used books and magazines is a very environmental
and community conscious thing for people to participate in.
Extending the life of books and magazines is easily accomplished
by taping the binding and edges of the covers. This repairs any
damages, prevents wear and tear, and increases the value because
it is nicer looking.
There are many options for you to consider for used books and
magazines:
* Donating to any library is a good idea. Even well read
publications are appreciated. If they do not make it to the
library bookshelf, they will be sold in their annual fundraising
book sale. There are many kinds of libraries to consider aside
from public ones - including church libraries, retirement home
libraries, coffee shops and mobile libraries.
* Consider participating in Book Crossing (www.bookcrossing.com)
- a charming way to encourage reading and create a connection
with the community. This program requests that people register
their used book, place an informative label on it and leave it
at a common destination place (i.e. bus stop). Individuals that
pick up the book visit the website and describe where they found
it and where they decided to leave it for the next person to
read. It can be quite interesting to see how far the book
travels!
* Operation Paperback (www.operationpaperback.org) accepts
donated reading material for the military.
* Trading in at the used bookstore is one of our favorite
past-times. It feels good to support a local store that focuses
on ‘reuse’. The trouble is our shelf is filled once again when
we return with bundles of ‘new’ books to read!
* Get involved in exchange loops with friends, family or
co-workers. By doing this, we have found ourselves exposed to
all sorts of subjects and writing styles that we may not have
picked up ourselves.
* Using the Key Words “Book Swap” in a search engine reveals
many places online where one can trade used books, including: -
www.paperbackswap.com - www.titletrader.com -
www.frugalreader.com - www.bookswap.com
* Leave a box of books near your door for guests to riffle
through and have their pick. This way you don’t have to remember
to trot out the box when people are visiting.
Donate to any fund raising event held by schools, churches or
non-profit groups.
* Sell, or give away in a garage sale. We always offer free
stuff when we have a garage sale. One day we set out a box of
magazines, thinking we would be lucky to see half of them off.
One of the first bargain hunters happily scooped up the entire
box. She couldn’t believe her luck.
* Many waiting rooms (doctor, lawyer, accountant and banking
offices) and staff lunchrooms accept donated reading materials.
* Consider hospitals - their patients have to do something
healthier than staring at a TV.
* A Local Literacy program.
* Coffee shops are another great place to try. * Shelters for
the poor or disadvantaged, Women’s shelters and missions are
other places to consider for your donations. There are a number
of less-privileged areas (i.e. Africa) that are hungry for our
used school and university books in particular. In keeping with
this topic, using the key words ‘book donation’ in a search
engine turns up pages of places to donate to. Here are a few of
the sites: - www.asiahousinternational.org -
www.sabre.org/books/bookorg/bkdn_toc.htm -
www.loc.gov/rrr/amed/afs/alc/bkdncte.html - www.ala.org - lists
contact information for organizations that distribute used
books. - www.nationalbook.org/bookdonations.html - lists places
that accept book donations
