Book Donations to the Friends of MHL — Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Memorial Hall Library appreciates donations of books and media, but due to current space constraints, the Library can only accept newer materials in excellent condition. Please dispose of older materials and materials in poor condition in your home trash or recycling.
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• Current and former bestsellers in good or excellent condition, both fiction and nonfiction
• Hardback classics in good condition
• Fiction paperbacks in like-new condition
• Children’s titles in good condition
• Historical material related to Andover and the Merrimack Valley
• Unabridged audiobooks, both fiction and nonfiction
• Feature film DVDs — purchased, not copied, with covers in good condition
• CDs – popular works with the original case intact — no copies or replacement cases.
• Vinyl records – in good condition with original packaging
• Puzzles – in good condition and not missing any pieces

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• Items in poor condition — yellow pages, highlighted text, writing inside, mildew odor, moldy, torn, chewed, curled pages, out-of-date
• Encyclopedias of any age
• Textbooks
• Back issues or runs of magazines
• Condensed books
• Videocassette (VHS) movies
• Audio cassettes

We can’t add these items to our collection, and from experience we know people won’t buy them at the book sales. The Library currently partners with More Than Words, a nonprofit that works to empower at risk youth in the Boston area. They pick up our discarded materials, but they can’t use these kinds of items either.

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If you come in the back (Parking Lot) entrance, go down the hall toward the elevator, and leave items on the table. If you come in the front (Main Street) entrance, give the items to the staff at the Circulation Desk. Library staff and custodians cannot help unload or carry books into the Library. Please bring the items in boxes or bags you are able to carry yourself.

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The library does not pick up donations. One organization that might pick them up is More Than Words.

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If you have books and media to donate, there are some other options to explore. Contact More Than Words and locate one of their dropbox locations. The Used Book Superstore has locations in Burlington and Middleton. Savers has locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Goodwill has donation centers throughout Massachusetts. The Salvation Army has options for accepting donations.  Discover Books has donation bins at Whole Foods in Andover, Stop & Shop in North Andover and The Franklin School in North Andover.

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When you donate books, you are actually donating books to the Friends of Memorial Hall Library. Our Friends run our book sales. The money they earn at the book sales is used to help the Library. The Library selects items that fill gaps in our collection, and we add those items to our collection. So when you donate books, you are helping the Library, whether we add the books to the collection or the Friends sell the books.

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Any books that we choose to add to the collection must meet our regular selection criteria as outlined in our Collection Development Manual. Sometimes the donated item doesn’t meet these criteria — it may contain dated information, it may be in poor condition, or it may not meet the information needs of our community. Sometimes we have enough copies of the donated title, or enough information on the subject. If we can’t use the item, we turn it over to the Friends to sell in the book sale, or donate it to More Than Words.

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Blank donation receipts are available on the table where donations are dropped off. We don’t assign a value to donations and the receipt does not have to be signed by a staff member.

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More Than Words hauls away the unsold books after each book sale.

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