Donations
Where Can I Donate Books?
The Friends of the Library accepts donations at the loading dock at the Central Library ONLY, Monday-Saturday 9 am to 12 pm. Branches and bookstores do not accept donations.
Please follow the guidelines below and limit your donations to no more than 5 boxes per day.
What Can I Donate?
The Friends of the Library accepts donations of books, DVDs, and audiobooks on CD that are in new, good, and lightly used condition.
We accept fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books. Cookbooks, biographies, history, classic literature and more are welcomed.
Donations must be in SALEABLE condition — your donations are used to stock our stores, community outreach programs, online sales initiatives, and book sales. Please recycle or trash books that are not suitable for resale.
Please consider: Would you buy the book you’re donating?
Materials are sorted by Friends of the Library volunteers for sale at the Whitney Book Corner, A Second Look bookstore, through online sales programs, and at book sales. Profits help support library collection development, programming, and staff development.
What Don’t You Accept?
We do not accept:
- Books that have water damage, smell musty, are dirty, moldy/mildewed, etc
- Books that are excessively worn (torn pages, torn covers, etc) or excessively highlighted/marked up
- Records
- Magazines
- Reader’s Digest Condensed Books
- Textbooks older than five years
- Encyclopedias
- Computer books older than three years
- Computer software or software manuals older than three years
- VHS or audio cassette tapes
- Audio CDs
Please consider: Would you buy the book you’re donating?
Do You Buy Books?
No. The Friends accepts books for donation only; we do not buy or consign books.
How do I Donate Money or make a Memorial Gift?
To make a monetary donation in memory of, or in honor of, an individual, or a general donation toward library programming, please mail a check payable to Friends of SCPL:
Treasurer, Friends of the Library
99 Clinton St
Schenectady, NY 12305
Please include:
- Name and address of donor
- Designation of donation, e.g., in memory of (name), in honor of (name), general programming
- If you would like an acknowledgement sent to the family, please provide contact information
Friends of SCPL 