You probably know that you can donate books to Chesterfield County Public Library (CCPL). Do you know what happens to the items after you donate them? Or how your donations benefit CCPL?
Community members can donate books at any CCPL location on the first, second or third Wednesday of each month. Volunteers with the Friends conduct an initial review of donated items. After this first review, all books are delivered weekly to the library’s Collection Management department.
In Collection Management, library staff review the donated items for possible inclusion in the collection. All remaining donated books are scanned by Friends volunteers to see if they can be sold on Amazon. When someone purchases one of these books through Amazon, the proceeds go directly to the Friends.
Books not purchased through Amazon are sold in Friends' book sales. Most libraries have a display unit that houses the Friends sale items. The sales take place during library hours. Friends groups occasionally hold special or large book sales. There have been three “Very Big Book Sales” at the county fairgrounds, which have been very successful.
Some books are considered “sustainable.” These titles are of low interest to customers. Baker & Taylor, a library book vendor, accepts sustainable books and provides a purchase credit to the library. The credits are used to buy new books for the library system.
Proceeds from all of these points-of-sale result in significant financial support from the Friends. CCPL uses these funds to supplement library programming, collection support, staff development and more.
The Friends thank you for all past and future book donations. More information about book donations can be found here.
by Randy French and Mary Beth Cox
Board Members, Friends of Chesterfield County Public Library