When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)
And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?
The last time I weeded out my library was probably two years ago. Since starting college, I really haven't wanted to et rid of anything. If it's a textbook that I know I'll never use again, I sell it to the university bookstore. If I liked the book, however, I keep it. Lately, I;ve been really hesitant to get rid of books. I want to build my library into something HUGE that my kids will take books from and that I can revisit again and again. I also think it would be really beneficial to my [future] job as an editor to have as many references around as possible.
When I do get rid of books, I always donate them to Goodwill. I think it's nice to pass them on to someone who can't go to Barnes and Noble every time they get the urge. I think in the future, however, I'd like to give them to some kind of literacy organization. I think books should be in the hands of kids and teens with no charge to them. Books offer such an awesome alternative to the more violent video games and movies that are out today. I wish every kid could have the relationship I've had with books.
It's always great to meet someone who really loves books! I like the idea of giving the books to a literacy organization, but when I do manage to force myself to part with a few of my books, they usually go to Goodwill. Actually, that's where quite of few of them came from, too!
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