Getting rid of books
Has anyone ever made a massive purge of their library, assuming you've even had a library of books in the first place? I used to go to auctions and buy 5 or 10 boxes of books for a dollar. I'd sort through the ones I wanted to keep and send the rest to Half Price Books. They'd give me a pittance for the ones they could resell and recycle the rest. So I've had about 9 bookcases of books in my basement.
My goals and my reading habits have changed over the years. I used to dream of having a huge library like the monster has in Beauty and the Beast, but I don't think I'll ever move into a house that has such a space. I've kept a lot of religious books with the thought that I might still be a pastor someday and would need books for my office at the church. With so much study material on the internet, I don't know that I would need so many books. Do pastors even have large personal libraries anymore these days? I've collected some books over the years for reference in case my kids needed them for school assignments, but my kids are all grown. My personal reading is usually done by listening to CD's on my hour drive to and from work.
So I've decided to transform my library into a game room. I've already removed enough books from the shelves to hold my collection of 150 Charles Wysocki jigsaw puzzles. Now I'm in the process of removing more books in order to hold my 350 board games.
I just have to figure out the best way to get rid of hundreds of books. My local library has a book sale each year, so I may send some there. My church is planning a craft sale type event where people can have tables in the parking lot to sell things, so I was thinking of having a table of free books set up.
I'm sure it will take ages to get this plan finished, since I have a hard time getting rid of things that I've saved for many years. I uncovered the box yesterday that holds my diplomas and senior awards and the trophies I earned at Awana. Since I've expended the energy all these years saving those awards and trophies, how can I get rid of them now? It would mean that energy has all been wasted and I'd never again have the joy of opening that box and saying "Hey, there are my old awards."
So has anyone else gotten rid of books or long-saved items. Have you transformed a room into an entirely different purpose?
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I've been trying to keep my kids in mind as I go through my stuff. Will they want to keep my diplomas? A remote maybe. My Awana awards? Absolutely not. How about the craft items I made as a kid at Vacation Bible School? Aww, but they are so cute, especially the pie plate of plaster with my handprint in it. Surely they'll want to keep that.
A few years ago I put a bookshelf in the church auditorium, and I put books there when I finish them, so that others can enjoy them and benefit from them. No point in them just gathering dust on my limited shelves.
This doesn't get rid of that many books in our little congregation. Someday I may need to find another option.
Come to think of it, I seem to recall sending some books to Central Africa for a Bible college & seminary library. Someone else may have a contact for that.
Come to think of it, I seem to recall sending some books to Central Africa for a Bible college & seminary library. Someone else may have a contact for that.
I recently spoke to a pastor friend of mine who is clearing out their church library. It has sat collecting dust for years and hardly gets used. They support a missionary in Africa and they sent many of their more valuable resources to him. With all that is available online for free now, even church libraries are often ignored.
Still, I am hesitant to just get rid of all my books. I have a neighbor who is now taking online seminary classes and he recently asked me for book recommendations on a specific topic. I was able to just go to my shelf and take a picture of that section and share it with him. He is welcome to borrow the books, but he mainly just wanted to know what was even out there for him to look for.
It wasn’t a cheap transition, but 5 years ago when I moved to my new home, I went through my books, and basically bought electronic versions for every one I wanted to keep in my library and gave all the hard copies away. I did keep a few books, some antiques, a couple with autographs (I have a couple autographed astronaut biographies), and a few that couldn’t be replaced by electronic copies. However, by and large, about 80% or so of those I wanted to keep were easily purchased electronically. I just had to budget for it so I wouldn’t have to move a few bookshelves full of books (and find space in the new house).
Dave Barnhart
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