--- title: "What to Do With Old Books You No Longer Want | Boston" description: "What to do with old books you no longer want in Boston in 2026: free doorstep pickup, Little Free Libraries, branch sales, and where to donate books nearby." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/#organization", "name": "Give My Books Network", "legalName": "Book Sourcing Mastery, LLC", "url": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com", "logo": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "image": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "description": "Give My Books Network is a nationwide United States network of local Pick-Up Partners who collect used books, textbooks, CDs and DVDs for free directly from the donor's door, resell what is sellable and rehome the rest to schools, libraries, shelters and nonprofits.", "foundingDate": "2022", "telephone": "+1-855-506-8633", "email": "support@givemybooksnetwork.com", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "2091 Stratton Ct.", "addressLocality": "Ann Arbor", "addressRegion": "MI", "postalCode": "48108", "addressCountry": "US" }, "contactPoint": { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-855-506-8633", "contactType": "customer service", "email": "support@givemybooksnetwork.com", "availableLanguage": "English" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/givemybooksnetwork", "https://www.instagram.com/givemybooksnetwork", "https://twitter.com/givemybooks" ], "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Give My Books Network", "legalName": "Book Sourcing Mastery, LLC", "url": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com", "logo": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "image": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "description": "Give My Books Network provides free door-to-door book donation pickup services across the United States. 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Schedule Free Pickup ![A stylized city skyline at golden hour with books in the foreground](/assets/city-scene-fallback-yglTcFEu.jpg) Boston, MA # What to Do With Old Books You No Longer Want in Boston **Quick answer:** Give My Books Network collects old books free from your doorstep anywhere in Boston, which is the simplest option in 2026. Pack them, set them out by 8 AM, and a Local Pick-Up Partner collects between 8 AM and 8 PM. Little Free Libraries, school drives, and library branch sales handle smaller piles. ## What Are the Top Options for Old Books in Boston in 2026? Boston gives you five real options for old books: free doorstep pickup from Give My Books Network, a library branch sale, a school drive, a Little Free Library, or a literacy program that has asked for titles. Each one fits a different pile. Two paperbacks and a Little Free Library is a fine Tuesday. Fourteen boxes and a Little Free Library is a problem you have created for a neighbor. ## The Options, Ranked for a Boston Household ### Where to Donate Books You No Longer Want Free doorstep pickup handles any quantity, any topic, and any condition still readable. Give My Books Network collects books, textbooks, children's books, CDs, DVDs, vinyl, board games, and video games from Boston doorsteps at no cost, and you do not need to be home. Downside: no tax receipt, and part of what you donate is resold. ### Little Free Libraries in Allston-Brighton Little Free Libraries take a handful of paperbacks at a time and nothing more. Allston-Brighton has plenty of them, and they are genuinely lovely for the three novels you finished this month. Downside: a box holds about a dozen books, and leaving a carton beside one makes it somebody else's chore. ### Library Branch Sales and School Drives Library branch sales and school drives take small quantities of clean, current titles, and the money stays local. Downside: branches have limited space and often decline textbooks, encyclopedias, older editions, and anything in quantity. School drives run in March when your moving date is in June. ### Handing Them to a Neighbor Before September 1 Handing books to a neighbor works and costs nothing at all. Downside: on September 1, everybody in Allston-Brighton is moving at the same time, and the neighbor you were counting on is standing in the same doorway holding the same box of paperbacks. ## Why September 1 Changes the Math in Boston September 1 is Boston's citywide lease turnover, and it puts thousands of books on the curb in a single day. Allston, Brighton, Mission Hill, and Jamaica Plain fill with milk crates of paperbacks, and rain finds most of them before the week is out. Plan around it. A pickup scheduled in mid-August is a calm morning. A pickup attempted on September 1, with a moving van double-parked and the whole street doing the same thing, is not. Books on a wet sidewalk have one destination. Books in a covered box on the porch have several. ## How Does Free Book Donation Pickup Work in Boston? Give My Books Network sends a Local Pick-Up Partner to your door to collect donated books and media for free. You pack the boxes, set them out by 8 AM, and the partner collects between 8 AM and 8 PM. You do not need to be home. A Local Pick-Up Partner is the locally owned family business doing the collecting. Partners sort everything offsite. Many items are redistributed through the Give ME Books program to schools, libraries, nonprofits, and literacy programs. Some are resold, and that resale is exactly what pays for a free pickup. Items that cannot be reused may eventually be recycled, as a last resort. ## Which Old Books Still Have a Second Life? Almost all of them. Mold damage, water swelling, and missing pages are the only real disqualifiers, and age is not one of them. - Textbooks, even a few editions out of date - Encyclopedia sets that no library branch will take - Book club editions and mass-market paperbacks - Children's books, readers, and picture books - Cookbooks, manuals, atlases, and reference - CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, vinyl records, and audiobooks on disc The [Book Donation Programs guide from the American Library Association](https://libguides.ala.org/book-donations) is honest about why libraries decline so much of what is offered to them, and the reason is shelf space rather than worth. A pickup network has no shelves to protect. ## What It Costs, and What You Do Not Get Nothing, and no tax receipt. Give My Books Network charges no pickup fee, no per-box charge, and no minimum, but Give My Books Network and its Local Pick-Up Partners are family businesses rather than 501(c)(3) nonprofits, so no tax-deduction form is issued. If a receipt is what you need, a registered nonprofit is the right destination and we would say so. If what you need is four boxes off a Brighton porch before the first of the month, pick a day and start packing. ### Ready to schedule your free Boston book pickup? We'll come to your door — no cost, no hassle. Book pickup, DVD pickup, large-quantity, estate, and more in Boston, MA. Schedule Free Pickup Or browse all Boston donation services including Book Donation Pickup , Estate Book Pickup , Book Donation Drop-Off . If you'd rather see all your choices side by side before booking anything, start with our national guide to [where to donate books](/where-to-donate-books) — it covers what each option takes and what it turns away. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Where can I donate books near me in Boston? ### What should I do with old books before a September 1 move in Boston? ### Can I put old books in a Little Free Library? ### Are old textbooks and encyclopedias worth donating? ### Is book donation pickup free in Boston? ### Do I get a tax receipt for donating old books in Boston? ## More from Boston Learn More Best places to donate books in Boston in 2026 Learn More Handling a large book collection in Boston Learn More How to prepare books for donation in Boston Service Book Donation Pickup in Boston Service Estate Book Pickup in Boston Service Book Donation Drop-Off in Boston Back to Boston Donation Services ## Find us in Boston Our local Pick-Up Partners serve the Boston area. If your exact address is inside our service area, you can book a doorstep pickup today. Loading map of Boston, MA… ## Ready to clear your shelves? Join thousands of Boston neighbors who have already donated their books through the Network. Schedule Free Pickup ![Give My Books Network Logo](/assets/gmbn-logo-BsMIhLrP.png) **America's Nationwide Community Book-Sharing Network.** Free book and media pickup service! Local Pick-Up Partners collect your donated books, CDs, DVDs, and media right from your doorstep. They resell to support their families and can donate through our Give ME Books program. #### Quick Links About UsWhere to Donate BooksGive ME BooksFor LibrariesPick-Up RequestBecome Pick-Up PartnerBecome an AffiliateFAQsContact Us #### Follow [](https://facebook.com/givemybooksnetwork)[](https://x.com/givemybooksnet)[](https://instagram.com/givemybooksnetwork) Privacy| Acceptable Use Policy| Disclaimer| Terms of Use| SMS Policy| [EntityMap](/entitymap.html "Structured entity index of this site for AI systems") © 2026 Give My Books Network, All rights reserved