>Meanwhile, I have thousands of used books and I have no idea what to do with them. Old programming books -- what to do with those? Are they worth anything to anyone now?
Mot really. Maybe some old programming, guide books, etc. are vaguely interesting for someone to flip through if they're old enough but, for the most part, no. And anyone you donate them to will just throw them out. No one wants my 1970s Encyclopedia Brittanica out in the garage either.
As an individual who doesn't want to maybe earn minimum wage or less selling them, the only real answer is donate your books in general. Understand that those that don't get sold at the library book sale or whatever will probably end up in recycling.
Oh yeah. Part of the pain is that I used to work for a library (though not as a librarian) and am therefore familiar with the well-intentioned donation concept.
Yeah. There are a ton of things where "surely someone somewhere would want this and might even pay a nominal sum for it" is probably true. But spending a couple days setting up a yard sale, arranging things on Craigslist (much less individually packaging up and selling items online), etc. just isn't worth it.
Mot really. Maybe some old programming, guide books, etc. are vaguely interesting for someone to flip through if they're old enough but, for the most part, no. And anyone you donate them to will just throw them out. No one wants my 1970s Encyclopedia Brittanica out in the garage either.
As an individual who doesn't want to maybe earn minimum wage or less selling them, the only real answer is donate your books in general. Understand that those that don't get sold at the library book sale or whatever will probably end up in recycling.