How to Prepare Books for Donation: A Chicago Guide
Quick answer: Preparing books for donation in Chicago takes about ten minutes. Pack them into sturdy boxes or bags you already own, keep each one light enough to carry, skip the sorting and the cleaning, and set everything out by 8 AM in a dry spot. Give My Books Network does the rest.
How Do I Prepare Books for Donation in Chicago?
Pack the books yourself into sturdy containers, keep each one light, skip the sorting, and set everything out by 8 AM on your service day in a dry spot.
- Choose the container first: a banker's box, a liquor store box, a copy paper box, a small moving box or a sturdy tote bag.
- Keep each box light enough that one person can carry it ten feet comfortably.
- Do not sort. Hardcovers, paperbacks, DVDs, CDs and video games can all ride together.
- Do not clean, dust or repair anything.
- Leave any book with active mold out of the box entirely.
- Set the boxes in a dry, covered spot a person can reach without a key.
- Put everything out starting at 8 AM. The window runs to 8 PM and you do not need to be home.
Ten minutes of packing is the difference between a pickup that goes smoothly and a soggy pile on a stoop off Ashland Avenue.
What Should I Pack the Books In?
Use a container you already own, because your Local Pick-Up Partner does not bring boxes. A banker's box with a lid is the best of them, followed by a liquor store box, a copy paper box or a small moving box.
Sturdy tote bags and reusable shopping bags work well too. What does not work is a thin plastic grocery bag holding fourteen hardcovers. It will tear on the second stair of a three-flat, and then you are picking books out of a gangway.
How Heavy Is Too Heavy?
If you cannot lift a box and walk ten feet with it comfortably, it is too heavy. Books are dense, and a large moving box packed full of hardcovers can push past sixty pounds.
Nobody should be carrying that down a set of icy back stairs in February. Twenty to thirty books per box is the sweet spot. Two half-full boxes beat one nobody can lift, every single time.
The Two Jobs You Should Skip
Skip the sorting and skip the cleaning. "Should the children's books go in their own box?" No. "Do the DVDs need to be separate from the paperbacks?" They do not. "Should I pull out the ones I think are valuable?" Please do not, because people are wrong in both directions.
No wiping, no dusting, no erasing names off flyleaves, and no taping torn jackets. A book with a coffee ring on the cover is still a book. Give My Books Network sorts everything offsite after collection, and it goes faster when the boxes arrive mixed. The one exception is a book with active mold, which should not go in the box at all, because it will spread to everything packed around it.
Where to Set the Boxes Out in a Chicago Home
Boxes need a spot that is dry, reachable and visible enough that a Local Pick-Up Partner can find it without a key. Chicago housing gives you a few standard answers.
- Bungalow or greystone: the covered front porch, or just inside an enclosed vestibule.
- Two-flat or three-flat: the back landing under the porch roof, or the ground-floor entry.
- Courtyard building: beside your unit's door, or wherever the building lets residents leave packages.
- Lakefront high-rise: check with the front desk about where residents may leave items for a scheduled pickup.
- Gangway or detached garage: fine, as long as your partner can reach it.
Leave a note on the box if the spot is not obvious from the street. "GMBN pickup" on a strip of tape does the job.
Weather-Proofing a Chicago Pickup Day
Cover the cardboard if there is any chance of precipitation, because a wet box cannot be carried anywhere. Wet snow, March slush, an August downpour off the lake: any of them will turn a box to mush inside an hour.
If snow is in the forecast for your service day, move the boxes under cover or slide a large plastic bag over the top of each one. If you own a lidded plastic bin, use it, but be clear that you want it back.
Scheduling It and Walking Away
Set everything out starting at 8 AM on your service day, then get on with your life. The Give My Books Network window runs 8 AM to 8 PM and you do not need to be home. Most people are at work when their boxes disappear.
If a partner serves your ZIP code, you can book a service day instantly. If not, your request enters the out-of-area pickup system, where nearby partners may claim it. After collection, everything is sorted offsite. Many items are redistributed to readers, schools, libraries, nonprofits and organizations that request books through the Give ME Books program. Some are resold by the partner to help sustain the free pickup service. Items that cannot be reused may eventually be recycled as a last resort. For a broader view of how donation programs evaluate what they receive, the Book Donation Programs guide from the American Library Association is worth twenty minutes.
Pack it, weigh it, set it out, done.
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If you'd rather see all your choices side by side before booking anything, start with our national guide to where to donate books — it covers what each option takes and what it turns away.