Old Text Books

[iloveglee]

i have a box full of old text books (nursing mainly) and I cant bear to throw them out, or even put them in the paper re-cycling. some of them are quite old and will be a bit out of date although i am sure some of the information doesn't change that much. has anyone any idea as to what i can do with them. i cant imagine the charity shops having much of a market for them otherwise i would take them there.

[woofgang]

if they are really old, go and have a look on abebooks to see if they are worth anything, if they are not that old then grit your teeth and trash em.

[iloveglee]

they are not old as in antique and can't imagine that they would be worth anything to sell them. some of them are between 15 and 20 years old, others older, maybe 30 years.

[bookbinder]

You might find something here:
http://books2africa.org/
http://community.tes.co.uk/tes_librarians/f/104/t/331735.aspx
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/recycling-for-charity/recycling-for-charity-old-and-unwanted-books
http://www.charitybooks.co.uk/

[treetops68]

See if your local hospital would like them to pass onto trainees?

[woofgang]

Hmm Anatomy books are usable but so much has changed in treatments, prognosis and nursing care in the last 15 to 30 years that they may not be useful and might even be dangerous!

[Old_Geezer]

You must be as bad as I am. Hate trashing anything, especially anything that was important to me. Haven't the heart to do it so too much builds up until I have to do something.

[Mamyalynne]

Enquire at a local College that does Craft courses, people do amazing artwork using old books.


http://www.pinterest.com/lindsayjwhite/old-books-into-art/

[iloveglee]

I am a terrible hoarder. i agree some of the books may be useless being so old, but some of them have information that doesn't really change. i have looked at books2africa and that seems to be just the thing i am looking for. is this a legitimate charity though, don't seem to be able to find it from the number on the website, and i cant make the 'interactive' map of collection points work either. i would love to think these books are going to be useful to people who would otherwise not have any but don't want to end up giving them to some organisation that is not legitimate.

[iloveglee]

has anyone actually managed to make contact with, or find out anything from the books2africa website. i have tried to e-mail them for information about collection points, there is no link to send the e-mail form. the collection point map is blank on all 3 of the browsers i have installed, and also when logging in on an iphone. i wonder if the charity is no longer functioning but has not taken the website down.

[vulcan42]

It's not coming up on the charities commission website, neither the name or their registration charity number (1152599), I fear it's defunct.

[iloveglee]

yes that was what was concerning me about books2africa. oh well, back to the drawing board. none of the other links appeared to be any good. maybe i will just pack them up in a box, take them to the oxfam shop and let them decide if any of them are any good, maybe they will have other options for useful re-cycling of these books. i am pretty sure one or two at least of them will be useful to someone these days, but the majority i fear are too out of date.

[iloveglee]

Success. I had a really good look at the Oxfam website, and their online book store. some of the books (medical, nursing etc) they have for sale date back as late as the 1950's and they are for sale at prices that would raise reasonable sums of money for the charity. i like oxfam anyway as a charity, and even better, our local Asda has a collection point. Sorted!! anyone else with what they think are out of date books to get rid of, look at oxfam.

[DaisyNonna]

Cannot access map for Books2Africa either

[iloveglee]

i think it must be defunct. maybe the whole charity. they have a facebook and twitter page but no posts have been made recently. i sent a message via their facebook page but did not get a response. oxfam seems to be the best option

[nonjohn]

Managed to get through to Books2Africa. Apparently they had some issues with their website but actually working now. Arranged collection online and a UPS driver collected the books next day. Quite efficient I will say. Oh and their charity number 1152599 also worked on charitys commission website so quite happy:)

[nonjohn]

Here is the website I visited to donate books www.books2africa.org/donate

[nonjohn]

quite a few projects all across Africa too