Is it time to get rid of my paperback books?
07-20-2017, 06:53 AM
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Walton Hills, OH
Posts: 828
Paperbacks are always welcome at the VA.
I had to laugh when you said you don't seem to remember some of the books you've read. I belong to a book club and have to keep a list of the characters as I go along. Also when I'm finished I do a book report in the computer. This saves me from getting half way through a book and thinking how familiar it sounds.
Used to have an excellent memory. (I'm aging with grace!)
I had to laugh when you said you don't seem to remember some of the books you've read. I belong to a book club and have to keep a list of the characters as I go along. Also when I'm finished I do a book report in the computer. This saves me from getting half way through a book and thinking how familiar it sounds.
Used to have an excellent memory. (I'm aging with grace!)
07-20-2017, 07:03 AM
#22
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Blue Ridge Mountians
Posts: 7,075
I'm glad to have libraries. The only books in my house are quilting & scripture books. All others are borrowed from the library and returned there. I have/want no room to store them. Our family visits the library every week, and I am getting more and more comfortable with borrowing e-books too.
07-20-2017, 07:11 AM
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Fresno, CA
Posts: 917
If you've gone away from paper books I say donate them...here are some great places:
Library-mine has racks of paperbacks and people can choose unlimited books for unlimited time from them
Church-if they are religious
RV Parks-ours has a "free" library where people can bring/take books and magazines
Guilds-quilt books/magazines you're never going to use
Nursing homes-both the residents and workers could enjoy them (also a great place to donate puzzles and puzzle books)
Library-mine has racks of paperbacks and people can choose unlimited books for unlimited time from them
Church-if they are religious
RV Parks-ours has a "free" library where people can bring/take books and magazines
Guilds-quilt books/magazines you're never going to use
Nursing homes-both the residents and workers could enjoy them (also a great place to donate puzzles and puzzle books)
07-20-2017, 07:12 AM
#24
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Horse Country, FL
Posts: 7,341
Some neighborhoods have small boxes set up for people to put in a book and then they can take a book (or not). Nice idea if you can find one nearby. Personally, we don't have a lot of room for books anymore, so we only keep ones that are really dear to us. If I buy a book (sometimes one just has to, you know), I read it and donate it to our library. They sell them to the public and that helps boost library funding. Win-win.
07-20-2017, 07:38 AM
#25
Super Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,886
I've had quite a large library (mostly hardcovers) for years. In the last couple of years I have downsized by half by donating to a couple of fellows who set up "Little Libraries" throughout the city. Knowing I would never re-read them, I recently gave my set of Harry Potter books to a young lady who is enthralled with Harry. Now I have only about 500 books left to donate somewhere. 
07-20-2017, 09:51 AM
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Sonoma County, CA
Posts: 4,299
Mine mostly circulate in the family - my cousin, sister & I all have similar taste in books; and now my nephew is old enough to read more adult books so he's getting in on the rotation too.
The way we do it is we initial the books as we read them. If you want to keep the book, circle your initials. When the last person gets the book, if someone circled their initials we route the book back to that person; otherwise the last reader is free to dispose of the book however they see fit (or keep it).
I usually keep books that are part of a series as I tend to re-read the whole series as each new one comes out. On those, I wait until the whole series is done before I send the books out into rotation.
Books that end up with me that I don't want to keep either go to the thrift shop, or I exchange them for credit at the local used bookstore.
The way we do it is we initial the books as we read them. If you want to keep the book, circle your initials. When the last person gets the book, if someone circled their initials we route the book back to that person; otherwise the last reader is free to dispose of the book however they see fit (or keep it).
I usually keep books that are part of a series as I tend to re-read the whole series as each new one comes out. On those, I wait until the whole series is done before I send the books out into rotation.
Books that end up with me that I don't want to keep either go to the thrift shop, or I exchange them for credit at the local used bookstore.
07-20-2017, 10:24 AM
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Southern United States
Posts: 481
Well my library is not always willing to take books. I checked out a "classic" book, one that is required reading in high school (ie, not some dime store novel) . Anyway, I left it out in the rain, and ruined it. So I went and bought a brand new copy of the book, and took it to the library, with my apology. Needless to say, the librarian was not happy, she explained all books had to be approved, and selected by a committee. (wait, wasn't this classic already approved and selected????). It seems each new printing by a publisher makes a new barcode number, and now they don't match. She went on and on. and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I was suppose to do. I think I was suppose to to and say it was "lost", pay the $15.00 lost fee, and let the library committee buy the new one. (the new book was only $6.95)....but it would not be there and available when the high school kids needed it. I can't figure it out, but I do know they don't want any donated books that way. Books that are "donated" are sold at a "book fair" in the parking lot for cash, and the cash goes to the library committee, who selects and buys only "approved books". Just wanted to share.
I think the person was doing a bad of of explaining how books get on the shelf. Libraries order books through a huge company (Baker and Taylor) so the processing of books in today's world is outsourced. They put the barcode on the book, download the book into the library catalog and send it to your local library. Each book has an ISBN number and if you add books from donations you end up with many multiple records for the same book which makes it difficult on the reference staff.
At our library we look up the ISBN number and tell the patron to go on Amazon and see if they can find that number and if it's cheaper than our price to order it and bring it in. We then manually add the book to the system and waive the $15.00 lost fee. Most libraries won't do that but we have a director who is people oriented and wants to make the library experience a good one. All donated, used books that aren't food stained, don't reek of perfume or smoke or are dry rotted from being stored in a hot attic or garage are used by the Friends of the Library for book sales. Any books left after the sale go to the prison in our town.
07-20-2017, 11:42 AM
#29
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: NoCal
Posts: 266
This is my experience as well, but I take advantage of it. If I run out of things to read while on vacation, I pull up one that I read a few years back and it's almost as if it's a new book. A free one at that.
07-20-2017, 11:58 AM
#30
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SoCal
Posts: 11,917
We own thousands of books. It is also time for me to clean house. I am giving many to my children that are married so they can build their own library. I am also thinking of selling some to use the money towards things we need or want. I am sure we will still be left with many books even after some cleaning. I am also sentimentally attached to some.
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