I've been beating myself up for several weeks now because I have old textbooks that I need to destroy and I have such a hard time actually doing it. No one, I mean really no one, wants these old, outdated textbooks, so I need to remove the hard covers and put them in recycling. Sounds easy and would clear room in my office, but can I do it? Nah!
You're all book lovers. How to you handle this kind of thing when there is literally no place to donate books? I'm in the same quandary about ARC copies of books. Can't give them away, can't sell them, must destroy them. They should be very easy to just toss in the recycling, but can I do it? Nah!
I'm getting better about donating books to book sales, and if I could find a nursing home or something that wanted books for their little libraries, I would happily donate to them. That's okay; I know someone will enjoy them like I did. But destroying them? Oh my.
So there they sit on my crowded shelves looking at me soulfully and making me feel guilty. I should, I really should - but as Sheila at Book Journey says, "Gah!!!"
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I have a terrible time with this, too, Barbara. Not only do I not want to destroy a book, I always think I might want to look something up in those old textbooks. That I haven't needed to do that in decades doesn't make any difference to my anxiety.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree, it's awful. Especially when you know somebody somewhere would be so appreciative of getting that book! I say too: gah!
ReplyDeleteI have trouble destroying books too. I give ARCs away to my indie bookstore, the hospital and places like that - is that a no no?
ReplyDeleteI donate all my ARCS to the library and they sell them in their book sales as do other libraries around here. That way they are at least getting read a few times.
ReplyDeleteWorking at a college transitioning many books from old print versions to recent eBooks, we send our discards to a vendor who sells some and recycles the others. The library makes a few $$ in the process --not much but something.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I was under the impression that I couldn't sell or donate ARCs since they weren't the final version. I hope I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to do, but sometimes that's the only way. The only textbooks I've kept are my Norton Anthologies, which I still use every couple of weeks!
ReplyDeleteJust recycled my old beat up Dr. Spock the other day!
You could also have a little bonfire - kind of a funeral pyre for books that meant something once but no longer have a life in the world. Feng Shui says this kind of thing frees you!
Except for friends and family members, all my books go to my local library. Our librarian told me she accept some of my good hardcovers for the shelves, but ARCs had to go on the book sale shelves. (It's an ongoing sale in the lobby.) She said those books are considered a "donation" to the library and thus ARCs are a donation and the sale of them is a donation. Now, as to textbooks - the librarian might know some sources for those. Since we began RVing I've kept very few books. (Hundreds not thousands.) There simply isn't room.
ReplyDeleteI've done a few altered book art projects with textbooks - their pages and covers take paint quite well :) But I know what you mean - it's so much harder to recycle a book rather than giving it away.
ReplyDeleteI don't get rid of a book unless it is inappropriate. I don't carry books with graphic sex (not romance novels, but pornography, and the only book I have ever burned was The Satanic Bible.) I prefer the older texts as they are more accurate then modern textbooks. I sell my hard to sell books on Amazon or place on paperbackswap.com What exactly is an ARC? I'll have to look that up. I have a used bookstore but have never heard that term before.
ReplyDeleteThis generated a good response I see. I think perhaps I could donate ARCs after all. I will have a little discussion with our librarian and see what she says.
ReplyDeleteFor Amy, ARCs are advance review copies which may differ from the actual published book in some way because of editing. They also lack pictures that will appear in the book sometimes.
Thanks everyone. I just knew you would care, especially Margot with her limited space. :)
I´m not sure ARCs are meant to be sold under any circumstances, but can´t you give them away? I plan to sell some of my novels to my colleagues this year, and then I´ll offer an ARC as a sort of bonus if they buy more than one.
ReplyDeleteI´d hate destroying good novels, but I have thrown textbooks out several times.