<p>We have a book bank in our area. We just call ahead then bring the books in, they meet you on the street with a big cart. They mail you your tax valuation sheet later. They supply books to many different organizations. They also take magazines, cds, videos…etc.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s taken me 6 months to donate these books, but we finally did it. The Goodwill in our area is just as far as Manhattan, so H and I dropped off 4 bags of books at Housing Works in SoHo. I realize I could have scheduled a pickup from Goodwill, but sometimes the waiting around for the person to show up is more trouble than it’s worth.</p>
<p>Housing Works has a Bookstore Cafe where they sell used books to raise money for people dealing with AIDs. It’s like a real bookstore in there – filled with all these wonderful books – and I really felt like the books are respected. </p>
<p>The only hard part was realizing that the kids I bought them for have grown up. Not just the Harry Potter ones, but the “I Can Read” books and the Dr Seuss books. (It’s clearly been a long time since I cleared out these shelves).</p>
<p>Thanks again to all for the good ideas.</p>
<p>Glad you found somewhere that really needs the books. Be careful that some Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores sometime dump the books directly into the recyle bin if they are out of room. I have seen this done at two different charity thrift stores in my town.</p>
<p>Our local library only takes donations at a certain time of year, so I called around/looked online at some other nearby libraries and found one that was taking donations at the time I was ready to get rid of my books. Also, ask around among your friends to see if other schools/churches/community groups are currently collecting for rummage sales/book sales. That also worked for me.</p>
<p>Not sure where you live. If you live in the CT area, pm me. This past weekend I just donated over 100 books. So glad to get rid of them so that others can enjoy them.</p>
<p>Books to Women in Prison takes (recent, like this century) softcovers and paperbacks of all kinds.</p>
<p>maybe you can find a local Girl Scout or Boy Scout that is willing to start a book drive for their Gold Award or Eagle Project. One of my daughter’s friends collected children’s books and built shelves in a homeless shelter to start a kid’s library for her Gold Award. It’s a straighforward, but worthwhile project.</p>