Do libraries consider adding donated books to their collections?

Our library says “Thank-you” and then culls. Sometime I see a table with used books on sale for $.50 and $1.00. Also in our community there are many small libraries and they give their overflow to one another.

There is a large inter-library lending system, and I often see books such as “The Da Vinci Code) on the shelves at many branches.

There are also dozens of novels (no dupes) by the same author if he is popular.

I worked in a library once and it seemed that after review of the books by some of the staff, then they decide whether to shelve them or not. So sometimes they ended up on the shelves, sometimes they ended up being donated to a thrift shop. It was kinda amusing because the lady who was in charge of libros de espanol always had pornographic stuff shelved.

I see donated books on the shelves of my library including paperbacks.

This will probably depend on the specific library staff involved (and definitely on the types of books involved). If I were looking to donate to the collection, I would contact the head librarian and try to have a conversation; they have no reason not to be honest about the fate of donated books. If they are destined to be sold, you could cut out the middleman and do it for yourself, or donate them to charity instead.

Ours does. They take in CDs, DVDs, Learning Materials (curriculum & sets), Games, and Books.

Our library requests used book donations year-round. Then once in spring, they have a used books sale. The money is used for new materials, upgrades to areas of the library, and for speakers/readers/theater acts to come in. The sale has been so helpful, they now have a mini sale in summer.

My son has donated some of his “doubles” from his book collection. The librarian has sent him nice letters. We have seen the books added to the library collection.

When we changed from VHS to DVD, we turned our VHS collection over to the library. It appeared to us that all of the tapes were put into the collection.

My library accepts them depending on the book. It also puts your name in the front of book for posterity.

Depends on the individual library; there is no one answer. At many of the libraries I have worked at, we will look at donated books and add them to the collection if we have a need for them and they are in good condition. However, most donated books do end up in a book sale or “Books for a Better World” pile. People cannot assume that a book they donate to the library will end up on the shelf nor will most libraries put a value on donated books for tax purposes.

Not sure about my local public library, but all donations to my university’s library are checked by a librarian first to see whether or not it should be put in circulation.

I believe almost no library will put donated books in a collection without evaluating them first.

Our library usually puts them on sale.