South Orange Public Library Book Donation Bin

There's a green bin in the Library parking lot where people may put books they wish to donate. The company that runs it gives a percentage of any sales of books to the Friends of the SOPL.

I live nearby and walk through the parking lot on my way downtown. I have noticed two behaviors that show pretty much a lack of respect for the books being donated, and it bothers me.

1) People leave boxes and bags of books or even just piles of books piled up around the bin when the bin is full. Even when it's obviously going to rain or snow. And if it doesn't rain, the dew at night can damage the books. The bin is emptied pretty regularly; maybe you could keep the books in the trunk of the car until there's room. Or--put the books in heavy plastic bags

2) People leave books piled up around the bin when the bin is NOT FULL. Where is common sense? I just spent 15 minutes putting about 100 books into the bin that had been left in front of it, and there's still room.

If books get damaged, they can't be sold, and the library loses out. This defeats the purpose of the whole thing, it seems to me.



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