Don’t know what to do with your books? Guide to donating or selling your used volumes

While there are those who dream of building large libraries in their homes, full of endless shelves and full of titles like those that Borges said he enjoyed as a child, others see the accumulation of books as nothing more than ‘a waste of money and an insignificant and worthwhile project. of Diogenes. Very often, the two personalities live together under the same roof.

There is no shortage of those who persist and insist on the project of increasing their personal library, buying books whose price disappears as soon as they leave the bookstore, like a fugitive seeking to go unnoticed. Nor the one who succumbs to pressure from his partner and ends up, with moist eyes, getting rid of a good part of his collection.

Why not start with old school textbooks, which no longer serve anyone at home but accumulate dust in cupboards? Maybe lightening the load and getting rid of titles that no longer represent greater personal interest isn’t such a bad idea.

When this plan is followed, it is common to fill boxes or bags and leave them to fend for themselves on the street. But it’s hard to know where all these books end up: in the hands of a new reader or in a landfill?

It would be better to ensure that these books have a second life and other readings. To do this, you can go to places that accept donations and then circulate them again in social projects. Or sell them to used bookstores to earn extra income. It’s not that there are many interested parties, but they exist.

But before you donate or sell your old books, there are some details you need to consider. The most essential is the state in which they are found: if a text is missing pages, it will be of little use to another person.

Claudia Olavarría is general coordinator of the Future School Library of the Catholic University, a program that has supported the academic learning of girls and boys for 10 years. The program, which also operated with new copies, often received donations of used texts. But this practice stopped five years ago. Because?

“We stopped receiving donations because many people donate trash, books in poor condition, scratched, without covers or obsolete. For example, encyclopedias like Ercilla or El Tesoro de la Juventud, which date from the 1940s, and in which much of the information is already obsolete. And we would always like to have interesting, diverse and up-to-date material for our users, who are mostly girls and boys in public education,” explains Olavarría.

This type of situation, he says, is common in the field of donations and is usually due to people’s ignorance. It is therefore recommended to take certain aspects into account:

• We need to think about who we are donating to: will it help them or not?
• Donate books that we would read or keep as well.
• How up to date is the information? There are books, like encyclopedias, that become obsolete over the years because their content becomes obsolete.
• The most important thing: the book must be in good condition. “It is not appropriate to donate material that is scratched, has missing pages, or does not have a cover. In these cases, it is better to recycle it.

A few steps from the Santa Isabel metro, at number 0151 of the street of the same name, in Providencia, is located Sofa plan a space where cultural activities, craft workshops, cafeteria and bookstore coexist. Literary commune . “Buy and sell books,” reads one of the signs hanging behind the window.

Álvaro Arellano and Constanza Chacana opened the bookstore in 2010. Its catalog is made up of new but also used books, covering themes such as philosophy, theology, art, poetry, literature and the history of Chile. “I have no school books, no dictionaries, no encyclopedias, no popular authors,” he explains.

Arellano says he receives about 30 messages every day from people looking to sell their books. However, “90 percent come from sagas or best sellers “It does not interest me.” The number of bidders attracts attention in bookstores. “I’ve never seen so many people offering books; I would say that there is an increase of 200 to 250% compared to last year,” specifies the bookseller.

It’s hard to say for sure what the reasons for this increase are, but it’s easy to suspect them: “People must be running out of money for all expenses at the beginning of the year,” Arellano says.

Those who wish to offer their books to Comuna Literaria can do so by contacting by email, landline or Whatsapp (data available in the website ). In addition to the editorial line, they must take into consideration the following elements:

• They don’t usually buy a few units at a time: they buy from 20 pounds.
• Books cannot have library stamps (but they accept personal stamps). ex-libris).
• Books must be complete: this includes the first blank page, even if it contains writings, such as a dedication. “A lot of people see it as an added value, a story that the book has lived,” Arellano says.
• Classics from old editions are very popular, even when they contain “details”.

“If they want to sell their entire library, I go to the house, we look at book by book and we discuss the price until we reach an agreement,” Arellano adds.

In the recovered and central Teatro Novedades – a heritage jewel maintained since the beginning of the last century -, between theatrical and cinematographic performances, concerts, workshops and rehearsals, is the Juana Lucero Popular Library . This project belongs to the Yungay Neighborhood Popular Education Collective, an autonomous and self-managed group which, since October 2019, has been organized to generate instances of self-education, reflection and community transformation.

Clara Vega is responsible for the library: according to her, she is the key to the link between the heritage building and the community, promoting reading in the neighborhood. “It is always available to any neighbor, from the time the theater opens until it closes. “Books circulate every day: they are lent, returned and given. »

Donations are essential to the growth of the library, which has been built almost entirely from used books. “The catalog is constantly evolving,” says Vega.

All types of books on art, culture, literature, poetry, drama, essays and politics are accepted in this place. And while children’s titles are well received, Vega clarifies that those associated with school projects “are not part of our interest.”

The main requirement is that the books are in good condition. “They can be old provided that the book preserves its pages and the quality of the cover, so as to resist handling,” explains the manager.

To make a donation to the Juana Lucero Popular Library, you must write to [email protected] to inform of your interest.

Present in several municipalities of Santiago and also in Valparaíso, Viña del Mar and Concón, Green books Since 2009, it has managed to position itself as a solidarity bookstore that offers solutions to the high cost of books on the local market. “We want to bring books to more sectors that don’t have access to them,” says Rebeca Domínguez, head of alliances at the B-rated company for its social and environmental work.

In its stores you will find new and used books ranging from literature to textbooks, art, architecture and design, social sciences and leisure, always at affordable prices.

“Textbooks can be found at half price,” explains Domínguez. And 10% of each sale of each book is donated to institutions with a social mission, such as Hogar de Cristo, Fundación Las Rosas or Techo, among others.

Green Libros has an extensive network of alliances with institutions, schools, municipalities, clinics, libraries and literary cafes, which serve as donation reception points . Those who wish to donate their books simply go to the containers and drop them off. “When there are more than a hundred books, we go to homes to receive them,” explains Domínguez.

The head of the Green Libros alliance explains that the only condition for making a donation is that the books are in good condition, that is to say “that people can use them”. If books are scratched, have missing pages, or are torn, they are useless and are best sent for recycling.

Another alternative for selling used books is the one proposed Free search , the online bookstore with an international presence. On its platform you can find a long list of titles with new or used copies, the latter at a price between 30 and 80% cheaper than their original value.

If you want to sell your books via the platform, you must download the Buscalibre application on your mobile device, create an account then, in the “Sell books” section, scan the ISBN (barcode) of each title. After that, the system will calculate the sale price, which you can accept or not.

“The algorithm is based both on the price of the new book and other variables that the company takes into consideration,” explains Daniela Breguel, book category manager at Buscalibre. The only condition for selling used books, he says, is that they are in good condition: “they must not have scratches, torn pages or covers, nor have folded pages, in addition to not have annotations between paragraphs. “.

If the sale price provided by the company is accepted, then the collection (if in Santiago) or shipping (if to regions, at the user’s expense) of the books that will remain in the warehouse and will appear for sale will be coordinated on the website in five working days.

“Every time one of your used books is sold, you will receive a notification in the app on your mobile phone,” explains Breguel. Payment for the sale is made within the first five days of each month to the “Wallet” of the account. “They can also request a transfer of funds to their bank account or use the money to purchase on the same platform,” adds the manager.