--- title: "Donate or Throw Away Old Books? A Los Angeles Guide" description: "Should you donate old books in Los Angeles? Only mold, water damage, and missing pages truly end a book. Give My Books Network collects the rest free." 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. We collect books, textbooks, CDs, DVDs, and more – giving your items a second life while supporting literacy programs.", "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", "https://littlefreelibrary.org/book-resource/give-my-books-network-give-me-books-program/" ], "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" } } ] --- Feedback ![Give My Books Network Logo](/assets/gmbn-logo-BsMIhLrP.png) - Learn More Schedule Pick-UpGive ME BooksBecome a Pick-Up Partner Sign In Home› Los Angeles, CA› Learn More # Donate or send to a landfill? A Los Angeles guide to old books Should you donate old books in Los Angeles? Only mold, water damage, and missing pages truly end a book. Give My Books Network collects the rest free. Schedule Free Pickup ![A stylized city skyline at golden hour with books in the foreground](/assets/city-scene-fallback-yglTcFEu.jpg) Los Angeles, CA # Donate or Throw Away Old Books? A Los Angeles Guide **Quick answer:** Donate, in almost every case. Give My Books Network collects books free from Los Angeles doorsteps, including the titles libraries and shops decline, so the only books that truly belong in a landfill are the mold-damaged, water-swollen, and missing-pages ones. Pack the rest, set them out by 8 AM, and a Local Pick-Up Partner collects between 8 AM and 8 PM. ## Should You Donate or Throw Away Old Books in Los Angeles? Donate in nearly every case — a book only belongs in a landfill when it is mold-damaged, water-swollen, or missing pages, and Give My Books Network collects almost everything else free from Los Angeles doorsteps. The question feels harder than it is because people misjudge both ends. They assume the damaged pile is smaller than it really is, and they assume the worthless pile is bigger than it really is. Usually the reverse is true. ## Which Books Are Genuinely Beyond Saving? Only three kinds of book are genuinely beyond saving: mold-damaged, water-swollen, and missing pages. Everything else — dusty, faded, dog-eared, twenty years old, out of date — still has a reader somewhere. - **Mold** — black or green speckling, a sour smell. Mold spreads to the books around it, so this one is not a maybe. - **Water damage** — swollen, wavy pages that will not close flat. - **Structural failure** — missing pages, a spine that has let go, a cover parted from the block. A garage in Echo Park that took water during one hard January storm will have a ruined bottom layer and a perfectly good collection sitting above it. Check the bottom row before you decide anything about the rest. ## Which Books Do Los Angeles Donors Wrongly Assume Are Worthless? Textbooks, encyclopedia sets, and book club editions get written off constantly, and all three are mistakes. Give My Books Network collects each of them free, and each of them regularly finds a reader. Textbooks in particular. A teacher, a tutoring program, or an ESL classroom will take a stack of them, and a used copy at four dollars is often the difference between a student having the book and not having it. Encyclopedias land in classrooms and senior centers. Book club editions read exactly the same as the ones that cost more, which was always the point of them. ## Why Dry Los Angeles Air Is Kind to Paper Los Angeles is dry, and dry air preserves paper. A collection that has sat untouched in a garage here for ten years is usually still sound, which would not be true in a humid city. The damage this city does is sunlight, not moisture. A spine that faced a west window for a decade goes pale, and the title fades right off it. That book still reads perfectly. A sun-bleached spine is a cosmetic problem, and a Local Pick-Up Partner — the locally owned family business that collects and sorts — will take it without comment. ## What If Only Part of the Collection Survived? Pass forward the part that survived and let the rest go. There is no minimum with Give My Books Network, so eleven good boxes out of fourteen is a completely ordinary pickup. Do not sort by type, either. Hardcovers, paperbacks, DVDs, CDs, and vinyl can all ride in the same box. The only separation that matters is the damaged pile from the sound pile, and that takes about ten minutes with a nose and a flashlight. ## How Free Pickup Settles the Question in Los Angeles Free doorstep pickup removes the reason most people hesitate, which is the drive. Pack the boxes, set them out by 8 AM on your service day, and a Local Pick-Up Partner collects them between 8 AM and 8 PM at no cost. You do not need to be home. Partners sort offsite. Many items are redistributed through the Give ME Books program to schools, libraries, literacy programs, and senior centers. Some are resold, which is what funds the free pickup. Items with nothing left to give may eventually be recycled as a last resort. The [American Library Association's Book Donation Programs guide](https://libguides.ala.org/book-donations) is worth reading before you decide anything is beyond use. There is no tax receipt, though, since these are family businesses rather than 501(c)(3) nonprofits. ### Ready to schedule your free Los Angeles book pickup? We'll come to your door — no cost, no hassle. Book pickup, DVD pickup, large-quantity, estate, and more in Los Angeles, CA. Schedule Free Pickup Or browse all Los Angeles donation services including Doorstep Book Pickup , Community Book-Sharing Program , Book Donation Pickup . Donating from outside Los Angeles, CA, or just want the full picture first? Read our guide to [where to donate books](/where-to-donate-books) for a straight comparison of every option nationwide. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Are old books from a Los Angeles garage still donatable? ### Do sun-bleached spines make a book unusable? ### Should I donate textbooks or send them to a landfill? ### What do I do with mold-damaged books? ### Is it worth donating just a few old books? ### Can I get a tax deduction for donating old books? ## More from Los Angeles Learn More The best places to donate books in Los Angeles in 2026 Learn More Large book collection pickup in Los Angeles Learn More How to prepare books for donation in Los Angeles Service Doorstep Book Pickup in Los Angeles Service Community Book-Sharing Program in Los Angeles Service Book Donation Pickup in Los Angeles Back to Los Angeles Donation Services ## Find us in Los Angeles Our local Pick-Up Partners serve the Los Angeles area. If your exact address is inside our service area, you can book a doorstep pickup today. Loading map of Los Angeles, CA… ## Ready to clear your shelves? Join thousands of Los Angeles 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. 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