Horrifying! Mortifying! An Unnatural Act!
Thousands of books thrown in a dumpster!
by WhiteElephantAugust 31, 2005
I was just minding my own business (well, actually, I was minding my local public library's business, since I was volunteering at their annual book sale) when I found myself plunged into a book-lover's adventure extraodinaire. Here's how it happened....
As a lifelong book lover, I was concerned about the fate of the many books that were left over after the library sale. I quickly found out that there was no need to worry; all unsold books would be contributed to the annual county-wide library book sale. Never one to accept an easy answer, though, I had to follow up to find out what happened to the books that didn't manage to find new homes at that event.
WARNING: Sensitive book-loving readers should skip the next paragraph!
"Oh, we just throw them out," the woman in charge of the Big Book Sale told me. "We rent a construction site dumpster (the really, really big kind!) and just toss all the leftover books into it after the sale."
Momentarily stunned by such cruelty-to-books, I finally recovered enough to ask if they would be willing to donate the books to a good cause instead of dumping them. Luckily, these kind-hearted folks didn't want to see the books meet such an unnatural fate either, and agreed to let me initiate a rescue operation.
The problem was that I only had a week, and was going to be out of town for most of that time. Luckily, with the help of a handful of dedicated volunteers, one SUV, one van, and a mid-sized sedan, we were able to rescue around 4,000 books. Unfortunately, at least that many more were still thrown away. My hope is that by next year's sale, we'll have a larger work force and the use of a moving van, enabling us to save even more.
As for the lucky 4000 rescued books, most of them are temporarily living at my house. My living room, dining room, foyer, and part of the garage are packed with books in bags, boxes, and piles. I'm in the process of finding new homes for each and every one of them. So far, 1,224 of the books have been offered to anyone who wants them. Of these, 640 have been spoken for, leaving 584 still available. All books are given away free of charge; I only ask that recipients pay the cost of having books shipped to them.
The remaining books will be offered as soon as I have time to sort through them. I'm currently sorting, packing, and shipping the book requests that I've received so far. I'm also trying to add BookCrossing labels to at least a couple of books in each shipment. As soon as I've caught up, I'll be adding more books to the "available" list.
If anyone would like to check out the list of books seeking new homes, please join us at the White Elephant Yahoo Group.
You can review the list of current books, and have the option of receiving emails with lists of new books as they become available. With your help, we may live to see the day when no more unwanted books will meet the Great Dumpster at the Book Sale before they move on to that great library in the sky!
As a lifelong book lover, I was concerned about the fate of the many books that were left over after the library sale. I quickly found out that there was no need to worry; all unsold books would be contributed to the annual county-wide library book sale. Never one to accept an easy answer, though, I had to follow up to find out what happened to the books that didn't manage to find new homes at that event.
WARNING: Sensitive book-loving readers should skip the next paragraph!
"Oh, we just throw them out," the woman in charge of the Big Book Sale told me. "We rent a construction site dumpster (the really, really big kind!) and just toss all the leftover books into it after the sale."
Momentarily stunned by such cruelty-to-books, I finally recovered enough to ask if they would be willing to donate the books to a good cause instead of dumping them. Luckily, these kind-hearted folks didn't want to see the books meet such an unnatural fate either, and agreed to let me initiate a rescue operation.
The problem was that I only had a week, and was going to be out of town for most of that time. Luckily, with the help of a handful of dedicated volunteers, one SUV, one van, and a mid-sized sedan, we were able to rescue around 4,000 books. Unfortunately, at least that many more were still thrown away. My hope is that by next year's sale, we'll have a larger work force and the use of a moving van, enabling us to save even more.
As for the lucky 4000 rescued books, most of them are temporarily living at my house. My living room, dining room, foyer, and part of the garage are packed with books in bags, boxes, and piles. I'm in the process of finding new homes for each and every one of them. So far, 1,224 of the books have been offered to anyone who wants them. Of these, 640 have been spoken for, leaving 584 still available. All books are given away free of charge; I only ask that recipients pay the cost of having books shipped to them.
The remaining books will be offered as soon as I have time to sort through them. I'm currently sorting, packing, and shipping the book requests that I've received so far. I'm also trying to add BookCrossing labels to at least a couple of books in each shipment. As soon as I've caught up, I'll be adding more books to the "available" list.
If anyone would like to check out the list of books seeking new homes, please join us at the White Elephant Yahoo Group.
You can review the list of current books, and have the option of receiving emails with lists of new books as they become available. With your help, we may live to see the day when no more unwanted books will meet the Great Dumpster at the Book Sale before they move on to that great library in the sky!
