Unloading used textbooks

[ion_exchanger]

I'm trying to make my moving load as light as possible, as well as leave nothing behind at my old house. I have a huge set of old edition textbooks not related to my major that I cannot sell online, but don't want to just throw away. Is there a better way to dispose of my books? A place to donate them or recycle them? Any advice is appreciated.

[IRToni]

Library? In my country, you can donate all kinds of books to a library. If they're in good shape, they go into their "stock", if they're less good, they sell them for you (for like 50 cents a piece).

[i.am.me]

Thrift store donation?

[mpheels]

Freecycle or list on Craigslist for free. If you live reasonable distance from a university, contact the department that best matches the books and see if they want them.

[mewtoo]

Donate to a women's center or goodwill type places (though I wouldn't give to goodwill personally...)? Or you could find out if an organization on your old university's campus might want them to sell or use. One I was in we would have a book sell a couple times a year and a garage sell so we always wanted used books.

[TakeruK]

One idea is to find out if your school's student organization runs a tutoring service. When I worked for my school's tutoring service (free for students, but we're paid by the student organization), we gladly accepted donations of old editions of textbooks which our tutors used to reference material as necessary. Since our policy was to never work with students directly on the assigned material, it didn't matter that the editions were old so that the assigned problem numbers don't match up! The material is probably still the same. 

[baktrax]

If you know anyone who's an undergrad or high school student, they might be willing to take them, if you're free. Consider people outside your direct network as well (friends of the family, sibling's friends or your friends younger sibling's, maybe a neighbor, etc). My sister gave the med school textbooks she didn't think she could sell to my friend who's about to start med school. She may never use them, but many students will take free textbooks.

[Sigaba]

This response is geared specifically towards graduate students in history.

 

Keep your text books. All of them. If you don't take them with you to your new school, store them someplace where you can get them easily.

 

At some point down the line, you or a colleague may have a use for your old text books for a historiographical discussion in an essay or a research paper. (For example, you're writing your dissertation, you have an advisor who is either skeptical of the topic or simply likes to ask "So what? / Who cares? / Why is this important?"  As part of your answer you go through several editions of college and high school text books to show how generations of collegians have been getting out dated information and then you show how those anachoristic viewpoints ended up having political and policy implications of global significance. For example, the persistent myths that the United States "saved" Europe during World War II and that the America's military effectiveness during that conflict was chiefly due to its superior industrial production.

 

Also, as you go through your coursework and prepare for your qualifying exams, the textbooks will be a useful, reliable resource for basic historical facts. (At times, it can be very daunting to realize that one is reading a monograph that assumes a basic level of knowledge its topic.)

[ion_exchanger]

Thanks everyone, there are so many good suggestions here, keep them coming. I would just like to agree with the poster above me, about anyone keeping their subject relevant books. I have piles of old editions of biology and chemistry related books, and I'm keeping them forever. I also have piles of sociology, psychology, geography, and other elective books that will do me do good. Thanks again everyone.

[rising_star]

When I was a high schooler, I used to buy those old editions from the local public library, who was selling them as part of the Friends of the Library sales they had. I used them as reference materials for my AP classes. I imagine you could do something like that and people would find it useful. Or you could see about donating them directly to a local high school, particularly if there are more impoverished schools in your city.

[frundelson2]

There are usually donation bins in the parking lots of major shopping centers, grocery chains, Wal-Mart, etc. Look for a BetterWorldBooks bin and you can count on your books going to a good cause. Take a look here to find the exact location near you: http://www.betterworldbooks.com/go/donate

 

Otherwise you could see what they are worth with a BuyBack program like AbeBooks BuyBack. Simply enter in the ISBN's and they will give you a quote. They pay for shipping, and you just need to throw them in a box and send them off. 

 

Hope this helps!

[nugget]

Some hospitals sell used books to raise money for the hospital or for medical research. They would gladly take your donation.