By Craig Scott, Director, Gadsden Public Library
There is something about throwing away a book that just doesn’t feel right.
Maybe it’s a favorite novel we read years ago. Maybe it is a set of encyclopedias that once occupied an entire shelf in the family room. Maybe it is a box of books that belonged to our parents or grandparents. Whatever the reason, many of us can clean out a closet without a second thought—but when we get to the books, we stop.
“Surely somebody can use these.”
Very often, that “somebody” turns out to be the Gadsden Public Library.
Throughout the year, members of our community bring us thousands of donated books. They arrive a few at a time in shopping bags and sometimes by the carload in boxes. They include everything imaginable: recent bestsellers, mysteries, romances, cookbooks, biographies, children’s books, reference books and plenty of titles that take us back several decades.
And occasionally, they arrive after spending a little too much quality time in an Alabama basement, attic or garage.
Those books can bring some unwanted friends with them—mold, mildew, insects and other evidence that their storage accommodations were not exactly library quality. Unfortunately, not every book can be saved or reused. But every donation is appreciated and every donated book begins with the same thing: a careful look from our library staff.
When books arrive at the library, they are reviewed to determine whether any of them should become part of the Gadsden Public Library’s collection.
Sometimes we discover a newer title that we do not own. Other times, a donated book may be a better copy of something already on our shelves that has been loved—and checked out—so many times that our existing copy is showing its age. In those cases, a donated book can find a permanent new home in the library’s collection.
But what happens to all the others?
That is where our wonderful Friends of the Library come into the story.
Books that are not needed for the library’s circulating collection but are suitable for resale are turned over to our Friends of the Library, a dedicated group of volunteers who support the library in countless ways. The Friends sort, organize and price the books and place them for sale in the Friends Bookstore located near the library’s main entrance.
If you haven’t browsed the bookstore lately, you really should.
It is one of those places where you can walk in intending to “just look” and somehow leave carrying an armful of books. The prices are wonderfully affordable, the selection changes constantly, and you never quite know what treasure someone else has donated.
Best of all, those books continue giving back to the community.
The money raised through Friends of the Library book sales comes right back to support the Gadsden Public Library. In other words, that mystery novel gathering dust on your bookshelf can eventually help support the library that serves your community.
We also provide donors with a donation acknowledgment form that may be useful for tax purposes. Library staff can document the donation, but the donor—not the library—determines the value of the donated materials. As always, donors should consult their tax professional regarding eligibility for any charitable deduction.
There is a wonderful cycle to all of this.
A book begins in someone’s home. It is read and enjoyed. Eventually, the owner decides it is time to make room on the bookshelf but simply cannot bring themselves to toss it into the trash.
So it comes to us.
Perhaps it becomes part of the library’s collection. Perhaps it replaces a well-worn copy that has circulated hundreds of times. Perhaps it travels a few steps away to the Friends Bookstore, where another reader discovers it for a dollar or two and takes it home.
And the money from that purchase comes back to help the library. That’s quite a journey for a book someone almost threw away.
So, the next time you are cleaning out a bookshelf and find yourself standing there with a book in one hand and the trash can in the other, we understand the hesitation.
Book people just aren’t very good at throwing books away.
Fortunately, at the Gadsden Public Library, we’re pretty good at finding them another chapter.
- Gadsden Public Library: 254 South College Street, downtown Gadsden (next to the U.S. Post Office). Phone: 256-549-4699
- Genealogy Branch: 2700 West Meighan Boulevard, Alabama City (next to the Ritz Theater at the corner of West Meighan and Wall Street). Phone: 256-549-4688
