What to Do With Leftover Books After a Library Book Sale

Library book sales are wonderful community fundraisers—they get books into readers' hands, support the library, and give volunteers a sense of purpose. But the moment the sale ends and unsold inventory remains is when the real decision begins. What do you do with thousands of books that didn't sell?

The traditional answer—hauling them to the dump—wastes good books that could still find readers. The better answer is to donate them. In Albuquerque, the New Mexico Literacy Project makes this incredibly easy, especially for volunteers handling large quantities of unsold inventory.

Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred

The Best Solution: Donate to a Literacy Organization

When you have hundreds of leftover books from a library sale, donating to a literacy organization is the fastest, easiest, and most impactful solution. Literacy centers, free little libraries, and book-focused nonprofits are designed to handle bulk donations and will put those books back into circulation immediately.

Donating bulk library sale inventory to the New Mexico Literacy Project means your volunteer work extends beyond the sale. Those books stay in circulation — resold to readers or given free to kids across Albuquerque.

Option 2: Return Books to Library Shelves

Many libraries actually want leftover books back, especially if they're in good condition. Books that were sold from library shelves during the sale might still be part of the collection and can be returned to circulation.

Before jumping to donate elsewhere, talk to your library coordinator. They may want books back for shelving, or they may direct you to other local organizations they partner with. This keeps books moving through the library's own system, which can be efficient.

The limitation: This only works if your library has space to shelve the books and if they're in condition suitable for library circulation. Heavily worn or marked books probably won't go back to shelves. In that case, donation to a literacy center is your better option.

Option 3: Host an Extended Free Give-Away Event

Some libraries and library sale teams continue the spirit of community sharing by hosting free book give-away events for unsold inventory. Set up tables in a parking lot or public space and let community members take books for free.

This works especially well for children's books, which often have longer shelf lives and appeal to many families. You become a mini-lending library, and books get into homes rather than storage.

The challenge: This requires additional volunteer time, coordination, and logistics. You need a location, volunteers to staff it, and weather-dependent timing. For large quantities, this can be exhausting. Combining this with a bulk donation to a literacy center often makes more practical sense.

Option 4: Stock Local Little Free Libraries

Little Free Libraries are community book exchange boxes scattered throughout Albuquerque. You can stock them with unsold sale books to keep them circulating locally. This is a grassroots way to distribute books across neighborhoods.

However, Little Free Libraries have limited capacity—each holds maybe 20-50 books. If you have hundreds of unsold books, you'd need to visit dozens of boxes over many weeks. This is practical for smaller leftover quantities but not for bulk inventory.

Consider Little Free Libraries as a secondary option to combine with another approach. Use them for the books most likely to appeal to families in specific neighborhoods, while donating the rest in bulk.

Option 5: Donate to Schools, Classrooms, and Community Programs

Teachers, school librarians, and community organizations always need books. Reach out to local elementary schools, preschools, after-school programs, and literacy nonprofits. Many will jump at the chance to receive bulk donations, especially if books are organized by grade level or genre.

What to ask: Contact the school or program directly and ask what subjects or grade levels they need. Some might want nothing but fiction; others want educational non-fiction. Matching books to what programs actually need makes the donation more valuable.

This approach is rewarding because you can see exactly where books end up—in classrooms where kids read them. The trade-off is that coordinating multiple donations to different locations takes more time than a single bulk drop-off.

Option 6: Recycling — Only if Nothing Else Works

If books are water-damaged, moldy, or in genuinely unusable condition, recycling becomes necessary. Some curbside recycling programs accept books; check with your local waste management. However, recycling destroys books—paper is processed into pulp, and the book's content and potential value are lost forever.

This should truly be your last resort. Even badly worn books can be useful to someone. The New Mexico Literacy Project accepts books in any condition, so recycle only after all donation options have been exhausted.

Quick Comparison: How to Handle Library Sale Leftovers

Why Bulk Donation to a Literacy Center Matters

When you donate library sale leftovers in bulk to an organization like the New Mexico Literacy Project, here's what happens: those books immediately re-enter the community. They're resold affordably to book lovers, donated to programs that need them, or given away free to children's families. Instead of being discarded, they're valued and useful again.

For volunteers, this approach is a gift. You show up with boxes of books, drop them off, and you're done. No coordinating multiple locations, no hosting additional events, no wasted time. You've completed your volunteer mission and moved those books from unsold inventory into a system designed to distribute them effectively.

The organizations receiving these donations can handle bulk quantities efficiently. A literacy center knows how to sort, evaluate, and process large batches of books. Individual teachers or programs might take 20 or 30 books, but a literacy organization can take hundreds or thousands.