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Be Thoughtful-Tips on Donating Used Books

If you are interested in donating books to countries overseas, there are several organizations that distribute books to other countries. Many of these organizations distribute books overseas at no cost to the donating person or library other than shipping costs to the U.S. facility.

Be aware however, that most organizations only accept new books or books in good condition-these are not places to "book dump" unwanted literature. Books that are outdated, damaged, and worthless are going to be just as useless abroad. Make sure that the information is going to be useful to the schools or people receiving them and that the information is in a language that they can read and understand. Finally, the materials must be culturally appropriate for the audience that is going to receive them.

Donation Organizations

What follows is a list of organizations that distribute books to other countries. It is important to contact these groups beforehand, to find out what kind of books they need and are hoping to receive for distribution. General book donation organizations are listed first, followed by regional book donation organizations.

For information on how to donate books within the United States, please visit the site.

General Book Donation Organizations

Book Aid International

39-41 Coldharbour Lane

Camberwell, London

SE5 9NR

Phone: +44 20 7733 3577

Fax: +44 20 7978 8006

E-mail: info@bookaid.org

Web site:

Books for All

502, EH4, Eldeco Utopia,

Sector 93A, Expressway,

Noida, India 201304

Phone: : + 1204546127

Email: contact@booksforall.in

Web Site:

Brother's Brother Foundation

1200 Galveston Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15233-1604

Phone: 1-888-232-1916 or 412-321-3160

Fax: 412-321-3325

E-mail: mail@brothersbrother.org

Web Site:

Biblio Sans Frontieres.org

Zac de la Couronne des Prés

66, Avenue de Pátis

78680 EPONE

France

Email: info@bibliosansfrontieres.com

Phone: +33-145257561

Web site:

Darien Book Aid Plan, Inc.

1926 Post Rd.

Darien, CT 06820

Phone: 203-655-2777

E-Mail: BookAid@aol.com

Web site:

International Book Bank

P.O. Box 1662

Baltimore, MD 21203

Phone: 410-685-2665

Fax: 410-362-0336

E-Mail: info@internationalbookbank.org

Web Site:

Regional Book Donation Organizations

AFRICA

Books For Africa

253 East 4th Street

St. Paul, MN 55101

Phone: 651-602-9844

Fax: 651-602-9848

E-Mail: bfa@booksforafrica.org

Web Site:

Bookfriends International, NFP (AFRICA)

1000 Rand Road #206

Wauconda, IL 60084

USA Toll Free (877) 726-8777

Office (847) 726-8776

Fax (847) 726-8775

Web site:

ASIA

The Asia Foundation

Books for Asia Program

80 Elmira Street

San Francisco, CA 94124

Phone: 415-656-8990

E-mail: Gavin Tritt at gtritt@asiafound.org

Web site:

Bridge to Asia

665 Grant Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94108-2430

Phone: 415-678-2990

Fax: 415-678-2996

E-Mail: asianet@bridge.org

Web Site:

AMERICAS

The African Library Project

Website:

P.O. Box 2162

Berkeley, CA 94702

REFORMA Children in Crisis Project

Web site:

HJH Libraries for All Program

1716 Del Norte Blvd.

Loveland, CO 80538

Email: janem101@aol.com

Web site:

Child Aid

917 SW Oak St. Suite 208

Portland, OR 97205

Tel: (503) 223-3008

Email: hjhprogram@aol.com

Web site:

For a list of additional organizations, see:

• Donation Programs For Books, Journals and Media, a list compiled by the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Health Sciences Library, at:

• List compiled by the African Studies Association (ASA)

Donation Alternatives:

An alternative use for your old books would be to sell them and donate the money to a program that purchases new books for schools and libraries in developing countries.

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