Books - Part 2

Photo By: Gaelle Marcel

Welcome back!

Hopefully you’re here because you’ve gone through your book collection and now have a box or two you’ve decided to part with. Now what? How do you get rid of those extra books and how do you store those you just can’t bare to let go of?

First, let’s tackle the ones you’re getting rid of. Aside from the obvious places I mentioned in my previous post like the local library, here are some other places to take your books. This is easiest if we break them up into groups.

1. Textbooks have always been a really difficult one for us. Most libraries don’t want them and they become out of date quickly depending on their content. At the very least, the edition you have is probably not the one currently being used in a classroom. The first thing I do with textbooks is build a pile of them with the barcode facing up. Get out your phone and install an app called Bookscouter and start scanning. Bookscouter will tell you if any of your textbooks are worth money and if so they make it easy to sell them. Incidentally, you can also buy textbooks on their website. You can also try selling your textbooks on Amazon. Any textbooks you aren’t selling should be donated. The easiest place I’ve found is Better World Books. They have drop boxes in many locations. You can also sell your textbooks to them after requesting a quote online.

2. Kids Board Books are usually easy to get rid of at a preschool, daycare, friends or relatives with young kids, etc. We brought some to church once and gave them to a young couple who just had their first kid.

3. Old or Antique Books are really cool and I have a bunch that I personally can’t seem part with. I rescued most of them from the attic of my grandparent’s farmhouse. I don’t know if I’ll ever read them but I do enjoy looking through them occasionally. If you are willing to get rid of your very old books, I would take them to a book dealer. You’ll have to look around to see if you have one near you. There are also dealers online that you may be able to talk to. Unless you have something pretty rare, you can usually get an idea of their value from websites like eBay.

   • Another website I really like is AbeBooks. I have bought used books from this site before and I see now that they have a whole section for rare books including tips on caring for them, and a list of book appraisers around the US and Canada. If you’re really into old books, check out The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA).
   
   
4. Everything Else can most likely go to the library or your favorite non-profit like Easter Seals, Salvation Army, etc.

How about all those books you want to keep?

For starters, don’t store them on the floor of the basement with a water pipe above them like I did. I decided to go to the experts in storing books and look at the American Library Association. They actually have quite a bit of information on the proper care and storage of books. We may not all be able to carefully control the temperature and humidity level where we’re storing our books but I did find some useful tips that we can all probably use.

I haven’t watched the entire thing yet, but the ALA has an hour long recorded webinar on the Care and Handling of Books and Scrapbooks. Also, every April the ALA recognizes Preservation Week with loads of resources on how to care for not just your books, but photos, scrapbooks, and other family heirlooms.

The simplest tips I found came from AbeBooks though:

1. To keep books from warping or being damaged when you take them off the shelf, put books of similar sizes next to each other and don’t cram them together too tightly on the shelf.

2. Don’t store acidic papers like newspapers in or on your books. This will cause the pages to darken.

3. The environment should be cool, clean, and not too humid. Too much heat and humidity can cause the books to mold and can attract insects.

4. Avoid direct sunlight on your books because it will cause colors to fade.

5. Clean your book shelves regularly.

6. Don’t eat or drink near your books.

7. The bottom of your book shelves should be a few inches off the floor in case of flooding, or in our case, puppies. We came home one day to find our dog had chewed up the binding of several books along the bottom shelf.

8. Don’t lay your books out face down and open to hold your place when you’re reading. That’s why book marks were invented.

9. If possible, get book shelves with glass doors to reduce the amount of dust that builds up on them.

After reading some of the storage recommendations, I’m shocked that the books I rescued from my grandparents’ attic are in the condition they are in. To be fair, even though I grabbed a bunch that were in good condition, I left many others that had damage from mold, insects, or water. My next task after writing this is to follow my own advice and get them off my basement floor.

Feel free to let everyone else know in the comments how your decluttering is going and if you have any of your own suggestions on decluttering your books.

Thanks as always for reading and good luck.

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