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Originally Posted by issybird
Easier said than done, and also easier said than should be done, in many cases.
As for the first, I’m pretty sure that my own public library hasn’t started accepting donations again yet.
As for the second, there are too many instances of people passing along the valueless to a charity so the charity has the problem of disposing it. In this particular case, it’s important to remove the “sacred” aspect to the notion of these books and view them for what they are, a commodity. Then evaluate them closely for ones with intrinsic value, i.e., it would be worth it to another to buy/sell/keep it. And then the rest, which realistically will be most of them as used books have very little value in general, really are trash and should be viewed as such and recycled as possible (covers on hardcovers are not recyclable) and the remainder dumped.
In any case, it’s a big job. Books are heavy and bulky - another reason it’s wrong to shift your own deaccession issues onto another entity.
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It is a big job. I took my time when I was doing it. Back when I had a bunch of physical books that I wanted to donate, what I did was separate them into two categories:
1) Sell - These were books that were typically hardcover, limited edition, signed editions, etc. that didn't have any sentimental value to me. I did keep some books that I couldn't part with, but there weren't very many.
2) Donate - everything else.
I separated them out into those two piles. The first pile was much smaller. I posted the Sell pile on eBay and sold those. The Donate pile, I put into large Rubbermaid tubs, but I didn't fill them to the brim, just enough so that I could still carry them. Stacked them in the garage. Every time I went out and about on errands and was going to be near a Half Price Books or Goodwill, I'd put one in the trunk of my car and take it to one of those places and sell/donate it. Over the span of about a month I got all of the books out of the house. So it took a while, but it was pretty painless that way. If someone can't handle the bulk and carrying of books, due to physical limitations, they can also use services like Got Junk?
https://www.1800gotjunk.com/us_en That was something I considered, but figured since I wasn't in a big hurry I could handle it myself.
I'm not minimizing the issue, it's very difficult (physically and emotionally) to get books moved from one place to another, I'm just saying it's possible to do it, and there are different ways and solutions available to people that might need to get their physical books out of their living space.