What does one do with old college textbooks? Give them permanent residence on a bottom shelf? Throw them away? (Toss out a BOOK??) Mine are so old that charitable collections don't want 'em--although how out of date can calculus be? There are a few I want to keep as references, but am not sure what to do with the rest. Looking for ideas--what have YOU done with your old textbooks?

(I know, I know--I should have sold them back to the bookstore immediately after completing each course!)

First see if someone can use the content--do you know any precocious 13-year-old's or homeschooling folks who might enjoy them? Freecycle?

If not, see if someone can use the bones--do you know any artists or interior designers who could evaluate them for creating something new? Depending on the decorative and structural qualities of the books, they might be useful for doing "altered book" projects, creating "fake books" for storing bits and pieces, or creating the side tables (stacks of books with glass on top) that are somewhat trendy right now.

I've seen some restaurants have old books on the walls or ceilings as decor.

You might be able to donate some of them to schools overseas...

I find extra textbooks to be a huge burden. I teach, and the number of free desk copies cluttering up my shared office is disturbing.

Yeah, I'd hoped to send my old college texts in a collection to Africa, but apparently they were too old to warrant the freight cost... (Biology texts, I can see but calculus??) Too bad--when I worked for a quasi-governmental agency, we used to receive the most charmingly formal letters from African students requesting our large-lake (coldwater!) publications. Apparently the pubs we sent were appreciated, because requests increased in number.

Message edited by its author, Oct 26, 2007, 6:37am.

>5 Have you checked Books for Africa? I don't know what their guidelines say about the types of books they want.