realfire
07-15-2010, 11:32 AM
hello community
i have procrastinated having not posted this in the past
but , there are recycle bins behind the sebastopol library
they are regularly filled with perfectly good books
it is a shame that they end up somewhere not being used
the library needs money and they could easlily get 1.00 for almost each one
anyway the intention of this posting was not to 'bitch " about it as another thing to complain about .........it was to tell you COME AND GET IT
these are the books i got today ( in theory they can be sold on amazon or ebay so if you NEED money ):
The Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavatsky
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a hat
SLapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
Love by Leo Buscaglia
Leaves in the Wind ( poetry )
Jesus Love
Peace
Come and get some , for the sake of the trees ( did i say that )
christyanthemum
07-15-2010, 10:19 PM
Thanks for sharing! I am a former bookseller who still compulsively takes books home all the time... I just can't help it! I may have to swing by the Sebastopol library soon....
Now, it is a shame that the library just puts those books in "the trash," but I should point out that so many books (like those you listed) are so popular and over-published that the library probably wouldn't sell them off a "for sale cart" or at a book sale for a $1 or $0.50 or at all, in a lot of cases. Look up used copies on Amazon--many of these start at $0.01, which has earned them the name "penny books," by most online booksellers. You won't be making any money on most of these titles, folks. Trust me on that one! ;) (Sure, there are exceptions and you'll find rare gems in the dumpster now and then, but...). I am guessing the library doesn't have the storage capacity to store these books until they sell or until they can move them. Library budgets are notoriously tight. Anyway, what do I do with all the unsaleable books I routinely adopt? "Worthless" used books are great for all kinds of things:
TRADE: A lot of these books go in my "trade box" and I trade them online for books/movies/music that I want at sites like BookMooch (BookMooch: trade your books with other people (https://bookmooch.com/)) and TitleTrader (Title Trader - Book Swap and trade your used books, DVDs, CDs, and textbooks for something new, for free (https://www.titletrader.com/)). There are many other sites like this, including Paperback Swap (Trade Books for Free with our Online Book Swap `PaperBackSwap.com (https://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php)). Fun hobby and a great way to get the books you "need"!
DONATE: There are a few great sites that get used books into the hands of soldiers serving overseas. I donate(d) books to Operation Paperback (Operation Paperback (https://www.operationpaperback.org/)) and Books for Soldiers (Books For Soldiers - Care Packages For The MInd (https://booksforsoldiers.com/)). Books make great care packages! I'm sure there are others out there too... hit the Googles! Oh, there's also Craigslist and Freecycle, if you want to just share with the neighbors and keep them out of the landfill.
"UPCYCLE": Use old books to create altered books (Altered book - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_book)) or (gasp!) tear/cut out the best illustrations/typography/text to use in your art. I like to make bookplates, bookmarks, collages, gluebooks, frames & mattes for photos, and pages from old/used books make great fodder for scrapbooks (they don't sell that good stuff at Michael's or Jo-Ann's!). Sometimes, I'll find a great illustration/photo/plate in a book that I just frame simply and hang in my house or give as a gift. Children's books are great, due to the large number of illustrations--the older the better, in my opinion! Also look for really old textbooks or manuals; they have great stuff too. Also music books or old Little Golden books...
And, oh, there are SO MANY other uses for used books... I've seen old dressers Mod Podge'd with pages from hymnals. I've seen pages from vintage kids books used as wallpaper border. The possibilities are endless...
Happy Book Hunting! :):
PS: What do you "rescue" used books for?
christyanthemum
07-15-2010, 10:25 PM
I forgot Christmas ornaments! This past Christmas, I made a bunch of Christmas ornaments for my family using an old beat-up Peanuts gift book (The Joy of a Peanuts Christmas). Check out my inspiration (blog post I found online that gave me the idea) and the step-by-step photos of the project here:
Peanuts star ornaments - a set on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cshym74/sets/72157622953296091/)