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School districts spend valuable time and storage space packing,
stacking, moving, and storing obsolete materials, such as used textbooks.
Additionally, the disposal costs for a large quantity of used textbooks
can be significant. Used and outdated textbooks may, however, be of value
to someone else. By exploring reuse options first,
before recycling, the books can provide maximum environmental efficiency
and value.
- The Desert Sands Unified School District in La Quinta,
California has saved over $123,000 in one year by donating three tons
of old textbooks to developing countries through the use of several
local charities. This program has been in place since the late 1970s
and has consistently grown over time. For more information, see the
United States Environmental Protection Agency winter
1999 Reusable News (Adobe PDF, 770 KB) or contact Donna
Piccirilli at (760) 771-8571.
The following list of services and information should help simplify the
process for finding a new home for your school district’s used
textbooks. In many cases, this collection or recycling service is
available at no cost as fees are often covered by the textbook salvage
value. You may even receive cash or credit for textbooks salable to other
districts or schools.
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CalMAX
CalMAX (the California Materials Exchange) is a free service of the CIWMB, designed to help businesses,
industries, and institutions save resources and money by finding markets
for materials they have traditionally discarded. School districts or
individual schools can place a free "available textbooks" listing in
the CalMAX catalog (both on line and printed quarterly).
Check your yellow pages for a local book surplus center. Most centers
gather and then redistribute used books from school districts to those in
need within a general geographic area.
Sacramento Surplus Book Room
Sacramento’s Surplus Book Rooms’ volunteer staff collects and
redistributes used books from more than a dozen counties in Northern
California. For more information contact the Sacramento book
room at:
4121 Power Inn Road
Sacramento, CA 95826
Phone: (916) 454-3459
Darien Book Aid Plan
The Darien Book Aid Plan focuses on distributing used books to
libraries, prisons, hospitals, Native Americans, and Appalachia within the
U.S. While also working with the Peace Corps, volunteers, teachers,
libraries, and schools world wide.
The Darien Book Aid Plan accepts a wide variety of both
new and used books including subject area books as well as fiction,
nonfiction, etc. For further information contact the Darien Book
Aid Plan at the following address:
1926 Post Road
Darien, CT 06820
Phone: (203) 655-2777
E-mail: BookAid@aol.com
Follett Educational
Services
Provides an economical and environmentally sound place
to buy and sell textbooks. While based in Illinois, this company does
accept texts from California. However, donors might be expected to pay the
shipping costs to the Follett Educational Services Warehouse. For more
information, call or write to:
1433 Internationale Parkway
Woodridge, IL 60517
Toll Free: 1-800-621-4272
Phone: (630) 972-5600
The Global Book
Exchange
The Global Book Exchange finds new homes locally and globally for
used texts and library books. Working with Marin County youth, educators
and service clubs, their goal is to promote education and literacy
worldwide. For more information or to make donation arrangements, contact:
Marilyn Levin Nemzer
821 State Access Road
Hamilton Field
Novato, CA 94949
Book Exchange Hotline: (415) 883-2665
Goodwill Industries
Goodwill accepts donated textbooks, workbooks, and library
books and will generally pick up books anywhere in the state. For more
information or to find out if they pick up within your area call
1-800-252-8938.
Indian Reservations
Many reservations accept donations of used textbooks to help
increase their local reservation libraries. To get further information
including donation requirements, contact the Indian Regional Office of Education at (916) 978-6057.
Contact
information for the various tribes is also available on the web.
Libraries
Many cities or counties have local libraries that accept used book
donations. Some libraries have even developed a program called "Friends
of the Library" in which donated books are collected from individuals to
add to their catalog or for reuse in the community. Check with your local library regarding their book donation policy,
as some programs do not accept used textbooks. For more information or to
schedule a drop in time, contact your local public librarian.
Prison Literacy Programs
Books Behind
Bars is an ongoing book drive for prisoners
throughout the United States. Many prison libraries are in great need of textbooks to help
promote literacy among inmates. For more information, visit the Books
Behind Bars web site
or contact the director of community resources at any California prison to arrange
a book donation. You may also
contact Jan Stutter, Head Librarian for California Prisons, at
(916) 324-4615.
Rotary Clubs
Local Rotary Clubs participate in various community and global service
projects, including book donation activities and programs. For example,
many individual Rotary clubs provide books to developing countries. In
fact, in other countries that have indigenous Rotary Clubs, Rotary
International (also see below) will match
funds for shipping. Contact your local Rotary Club for further
information.
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army accepts donated textbooks, workbooks, and library
books. There are numerous drop-off points throughout California. For more
information or for drop off locations, visit their donation
Web site or
contact them at:
180 E. Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90802
Telephone: (562) 436-7000
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International Donation Programs
This list is not all-inclusive. These programs, however, have indicated
that they do accept K-12 textbooks. For more international book donation
programs, see the additional resources below.
American Chemical Society’s Project
Bookshare
Project
Bookshare collects chemistry textbooks and back numbers of journals from donors and
makes these materials available to libraries in
selected small U.S. colleges and to university libraries in mostly
developing countries. Donated books and journals from Project Bookshare
have reached across the United States and around the world to help improve
the educations of chemists and chemical engineers in Africa, Asia, Europe,
and Latin America.
The Asia
Foundation's Books for Asia Program
Books for Asia has distributed
more than 36 million books in over 40 countries throughout Asia.
Books for Asia accepts used books from public schools, provided they meet pre-established
criteria. Donations are evaluated for condition and content and are
processed on a first-in, first-out basis from their San Francisco
warehouse. For more information, see their web site
or contact a representative at:
80 Elmira Street
San Francisco, CA 94124
E-mail: booksforasia@asiafound.org
Phone: (415) 656-8990
Book Aid
International
This British organization works in partnership with organizations in
developing countries to support local initiatives in literacy, education,
training, and publishing. Ranfurly Library Service of New York is the U.S. branch, which is also
affiliated with Rotary International. To obtain more information on what types of books they accept,
visit the Book Aid International web site or contact them at (914) 473-1652.
Bridge to
Asia Books Program
With the help of more than 2,000 donors, Bridge to Asia has sent 4
million books and journals to China and Asia. Bridge to Asia will host a local
collection at the donor’s location (i.e. school district site) but only
when quantities justify costs. For more information visit their web site or contact a representative at:
665 Grant Ave
San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: (415) 678-2990
E-mail: Asianet@bridge.org
Books for
Africa
Books for Africa is a nonprofit organization seeking to share America’s
wealth in books with the English-speaking countries of East Africa. They
accept textbooks from schools, mainly in the Midwest. To obtain
more information and sending specifications please see their Web site.
The Canejo Valley Unified School District in
Thousand Oaks, California donates used textbooks to the Commons
Coalition for West Africa in partnership with Books for Africa. For
more information, see the Commons Coalition for West Africa press
release.
Books for the
Barrios
Books for the Barrios is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
strengthening elementary school education in the Philippines. If you are interested in donating your used
textbooks, or would like more information, see their materials
donation page
or contact them at:
2350 Ste. D Whitman Lane
Concord, CA. 94518
Phone: (925) 687-7701
Fax: (925) 387-8298
Books for Children of the World
This program is an affiliate of World
Vision (formerly Brother to Brother
International) that specializes in international donations of goods in high
demand over seas. Books for Children of the World requests elementary and high school
level textbooks. For more information or to arrange shipping, contact
Reverend David High at:
6701 North Bryant
Oklahoma City, OK 73121
Phone: (405) 721-7417
Brother’s Brother
Foundation Education Program
This program
seeks to help efforts within developing countries to build educational
infrastructures by providing donated books and educational materials. Donated books range from
prereader
picture books through primary and secondary school to college,
postgraduate, and general library books. Institutions of learning, public
libraries and social organizations receive these donations and disseminate them in
their communities. Specific programs include Books Across
The Sea, Jamaica Book Program, and Ghana
Book Program.
Brother’s Brother Foundation typically deals in very large
quantities; while they accept individual (smaller) donations, donors are
usually expected to bear the shipping costs to the U.S. warehouse. For more
information visit their Web site or contact them at:
1501 Reedsdale Street, Suite 3005
Pittsburgh, PA 15233-2341
Phone: (412) 321-3160
Fax: (412) 321-3325
E-mail: BBFOUND@aol.com
Commons Coalition for West Africa
An organization dedicated to
augment the quality of life for the well being of the citizens of West
African countries by providing educational, medical, recreational and
other humanitarian aid resources. They accept books in good condition,
levels K-12, and no more than 10 years old. For more information, e-mail okici@aol.com
or contact George Lange at:
35 Cantera Street
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-2612
Phone: (805) 492-1743
International Education Services
IES distributes books and supplies
to primary and secondary schools in two rural communities in Ghana, West
Africa, primarily to children who have never had real books. Since IES is
a very small organization, donors are required to pay
transportation costs to the warehouse in New York and it is requested that
the donor covers the cost of shipping to Ghana as well. For more
information or to arrange a shipment, contact them at:
385 Park Place
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Rotary International
As part of Rotary International’s World Community
Service, donated
book projects are developed and implemented by individual Rotary clubs to
provide books to developing countries. Contact your local Rotary Club for
further information or you can contact their international office at:
Rotary International
International Services Section
1560 Sherman Ave
Evanston, IL 60201-2698
Phone: (312) 866-3000
Sabre Foundation
The Sabre Foundation welcomes donations of high-quality, up-to-date
educational materials from publishers, institutions, and individuals. All
donation offers are considered in light of the special needs of Sabre
partner organizations abroad and not all donation offers are accepted. For
more information on making a material donation to Sabre, please see
Sabre's donation guidelines
or contact Colin McCullough at (617) 868-3510.
Sudan-American Foundation for Education,
Inc. (SAFE)
This organization seeks to improve education in
Sudan, particularly at the university level. SAFE does this by delivering
donated books, equipment, and other educational materials needed by
colleges and universities in Sudan. Books in almost every academic
discipline or field are needed. Because of the expense in shipping books
to Sudan, they ask donors to adhere to specified selection criteria. For more information,
contact SAFE at:
4141 N Henderson Road, #1205
Arlington, VA 22203 USA
Phone: (703) 525 9045
Fax: (703) 351 0782
E-mail: mailto:burchinal@erols.com
World Bank Volunteer Services Book Project
Through this program, more than 100,000 books a
year are shipped to developing countries, including the Philippines,
Belize, Guatemala, Ghana, Gambia, Jamaica, Kenya, India, Sierra Leone,
Nigeria, and Pakistan. While the World Bank will gladly accept donations
from school districts within California, they do not have a budget to ship
books within the United States; thus, donators will be required to pay
shipping costs to the warehouse in Maryland. For more information or to
arrange a shipment, contact them at:
1818 H Street NW, JB3-105
Washington, DC 20433
Phone: (202) 473-8960
E-mail: wproject@worldbank.org
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Other Book Reuse Resources
Directory of Book
Donation Programs. Compiled by Gretchen Walsh and the Book Famine Task Force of the
African Studies Association (1992). Updated and revised by Deborah M.
LaFond, Index by Marieta Harper, Africana Librarians Council, Book
Donation Committee, November 2000.
Manual for International Book and Journal Donations.
By Janet Greenberg. This manual provides:
- An overview of the context in which books are donated in the U.S.
and placed in libraries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and East/Central
Europe.
- Profiles of existing intermediary organizations able to facilitate
the placement of such particular and valuable donations.
- Models of donation programs organized by learned societies and
federations of professional organizations.
- Other basic information, including print resources, useful for
setting up a systematic process and establishing ongoing relationships.
If reuse options are not available or feasible, consider recycling
used textbooks. Check with your city or county recycling coordinator and
county office of education to see if there is current contract for
textbook recycling with a local hauler or recycler. If not, Earth’s
911 may help identify a local recycler for used textbooks in
your area:
- For recycling, pollution prevention and other environmental
information in the United States, Earth’s
911 provides a comprehensive database of local programs by ZIP
code. For more information visit the web site or
call toll-free at 1-800-CLEANUP.
Additionally, the following examples include community book recycling
programs that have been developed in other areas and may be duplicated
in your area.
Alameda County Waste Management Authority, Source Reduction and
Recycling Board
The authority provides a list
of recyclable materials, including books, that links to a list of
companies in Alameda County that recycle them. For more information on
recycling used textbooks, visit them on line at http://www.stopwaste.org
or call the Alameda County Recycling Hotline toll-free at
1-877-STOPWASTE (786-7927)
Butte/Glenn Counties: North Valley Services
School districts and libraries in and near Butte and Glenn Counties
give their discarded books to the Glenn County Workshop (aka North
Valley Services). Disabled workers at this nonprofit State of California
Department of Rehabilitation, work center will remove covers, shred
pages, and sell all to a recycling center to support their work.
To find out if there are centers that do this kind of work in other
regions, look under “California, State of; Rehabilitation
Department” in the white pages of your telephone directory. You may
also search under “Recycling Centers” and commercial recycling
organizations. Or contact your local government to inquire about
sponsoring work centers that partake in this variety of work.
Fresno County: Allan Company Recycling
Allan Company accepts “soft cover” books or hardback books with the
cover removed for recycling. Schools throughout Fresno County have used
Allan Company to recycle their old magazines as well as their soft back
books. For more information for recycling in the Fresno area, call or
write:
2607 East Woodward Avenue
Fresno, CA 93721
Phone: (559) 264-4804
Orange County: Taormina
Industries
Serving Orange County, Taormina Industries/CVT accepts used textbooks
for recycling. Prior to transporting texts, please call to verify the
volume of textbooks to be sent, so that the appropriate accommodations
may be made. For more information, visit them on the Web or contact them
at:
1131 North Blue Gum Street
Anaheim, CA 92806
Phone: (714) 238-3300 ext. 3062
San Bernardino County: Victor Valley Materials Recovery Facility
The Victor Valley MRF will accept used textbooks for recycling. Prior to
transporting texts, please call to verify the volume of textbooks to be
sent so that the appropriate accommodations may be made. For more
information, contact:
Robert Rios
1700 Abbey Lane
Victorville, CA 92394
Phone: (760) 245-8607
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