We also get a large number of donated books. Our synagogue has an annual rummage sale, so I often put books that aren't relevant to our collection in there. Some I bring to the public library for their sale. I have a big pile of donated books right now, and I'm thinking of putting them out for a little book sale on a Sunday morning to catch the Hebrew school parent crowd. As an aside, I know that our public library sometimes takes the nicer books that are donated but not needed and sells them on half.com.We have a cart at the entrance to the library where we put books like that, books we've weeded, books that just turn up, etc. We have a box into which we ask people to put $1 for a hardcover and $.50 for paper. Believe it or not people will take anything, and usually pay us! We use it on supplies or refreshments for the library committee.Does your synagogue ever have a rummage sale? I put unwanted donated books in our Sisterhood's rummage sale.
I have a never-ending book sale. I have a couple of book cases outside the door of the library where I put unwanted books. I used to charge 50 cents/book. But now, I am weeding the collection, so the books are free. The books that nobody wants, I am offering to a used book jobber after I finish weeding the collection. You might also see if there is a public library or other library in town that has a book sale. One of our public libraries does twice a year, and they take everything. We have a cart at the entrance to the library where we put books like that, books we've weeded, books that just turn up, etc.I just became an Amazon reseller, and have had some luck getting rid of duplicates, etc. that have been donated and are unwanted. Some of the prices I've gotten just offset postage, so its not a real money-make, but in about a month, I have gotten rid of about a dozen books, and have collected about $50 toward wanted books. The reseller process was easy, and I pop up just like a real book on an Amazon search. I give a lot of the books my library can't use to jail and prison programs, and to the university library to sell in their well-attended booksales. I also sell unusable books at a modest price and put the money in the library's JNF pushka. The trick is to minimize the amount of time you have to use to dispose of these books. I rely on volunteers to help me with this. Barnes and Noble will take books in good condition that they can re-sell and give you a gift card for the amount they feel is fair for the books or book. I just created a book donation policy that is posted in the library saying books will be reviewed for condition, content and appropriateness. Books the library can't use will either be given to the Friends of the Library, sold or recycled. Money from sold books will go directly into the library fund. Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
