Inspired by this thread. I’m tired of dragging my college text books - mainly things like calculus, physics, chemistry, etc. - around with me when I move and tired of having them cluttering up my apartment. My college is using different versions now, mainly to prevent copying the answers from previous generations of students, which means that I can’t pawn them off on younger students. They’re still in good condition, and really, how much has intro-level calculus changed in the last few years? The idea of throwing them in the landfill offends both my love of learning/knowledge and my hate of waste. (All that paper! All those trees!) Any suggestions on what I might be able to do with them and/or where I might find someone who would be able to use them?
Two options:
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Sell them on Half.com. I bought a lot of my textbooks from there. Although your college no longer uses them, some university still might. Just be very clear on the ISBN, edition number, etc. so potential buyers understand the book isn’t the most recent edition.
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Donate them to your local public library. They may decide to add them to the collection if they don’t have anything good in that area. Or they may re-sell them and keep the funds for the library. It’s a good cause either way.
Mrs. Furthur
I second using Half.com. It’s what I did with my textbooks after college (that I didn’t keep, anyway).
Otherwise you might try using Freecycle to get someone to take them for free.
The easiest, least-effort option would be to drop them off at Goodwill.
Goodwill will likely just throw them away. I worked as a sorter at one for a time, and textbooks were on our toss list.
I second the freecycle suggestion. I’ve been slowly working my way through my basement/garage using it, and it rocks if you’re willing to put in some time for e-mails and pickup arrangements.
Donate it to the local library. They sell them off to bibliophiles who love to read.
Hate to say this, but text books are not all that welcomed at the public libraries (at least where I live). I’ve tried and there’s not a lot of interest. Donating them to the university library is probably a better option. If these books are older editions of the current versions, then they probably have very little (read that zero) resale value. If they’re really of no use to you, I’d drop them off at a local used book store. You will probably get nothing for the books, but at least they won’t be tossed in the trash.