Book Donations

The Friends of the Salem Public Library is a 501c(3) organization. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

How to Donate:

We appreciate your delivering donations in boxes, bags, or other containers. Small moving boxes (16 x 12 x 12) or bankers' boxes are best for us. If you do not have a container then please talk to the library staff.

Where to Donate:

The Library is located at 28 East Main Street, Salem, VA.

Large and smaller donations should be brought to the Salem Public Library. If unable to deliver donations, arrangements can be made for pick-up. Call 540-389-7037 or email salemlibraryfriends@gmail.com.

When NOT to Donate:

In order to prepare and operate our sales efficiently, we respectfully ask that the public refrain from making donations two weeks prior to the sale, for the duration of the sale, and until October 1st..

What we would like to receive:

books on all subjects, of all ages, for all ages, in a condition that will sell
DVDs, records, compact discs, sheet music
specialist magazines in fine woodworking, military and naval history

What we DO NOT want donated:

Books that are in a poor or bad condition, i.e. having one or more of the following:

broken spine; missing pages or covers
water, food or other stains; mildew; rot; excessively yellowed pages
crudely, heavily or excessively annotated, highlighted, underlined or otherwise marked

Books for which there is no ready market:

Reader’s Digest Condensed Books; 1950s Book Club Editions of hard back general fiction.

Other items we cannot sell:

books bearing the “Daedalus Books Complimentary Copy” stamp
home recorded audio or video tapes
general magazines – simply because we no longer sell them
audio cassette tapes
encyclopedias

Please note that donations that we cannot use are disposed of in one of the following ways:

given to another worthy cause: e.g. schools, institutions, self-help groups, etc;
made available to the public through the library free paper-back book boxes
ecologically recycled