Book Donations Provide Surprises

Posted by Staff

jul2013_week2_09, a photo by Edwardsville Public Library on Flickr.

Nearly every day, patrons bring in used books to donate to the library.  We sort through all the boxes and bags before deciding how best to use the books.  Quite a few titles are added to our collection.  Sometimes we will replace worn copies of popular titles with newer, cleaner copies.  Every few months, we weed through our paperback collections and often add mysteries and romances from donations. 

Sadly, there are books that we can't use in the collection.  These books are turned over to Carnegie's volunteers.  Many titles are sold to an online book broker with the proceeds going to Carnegies.  Remaining books are sold in Carnegie's, at Carnegie's summer booksales, or downstairs in the bargain bins.  All proceeds go to Carnegies, which are then used for ELF and Library Programs.

Sometimes, though we find a special book.  The paperback shown above is one of those.  The reader marked the beginning and end of each chapter AND inserted a color-coded tag for when major characters appeared in the text.  There are so many markers, it is a bit difficult to find things.  We loved this book so much, we kept it at the desk for days.  Here was a dedicated reader!