NMHU textbook donations — Highlands University books welcome

Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred

Highlands University and the Las Vegas NM corridor

New Mexico Highlands University sits in Las Vegas, New Mexico — about 125 miles northeast of Albuquerque on I-25. It’s a smaller school, roughly three thousand students, but it punches above its weight in a few areas that matter a lot to New Mexico. The School of Education produces a huge share of the state’s K-12 teachers. The social work program, including the MSW track, trains clinicians who end up serving communities across northern New Mexico. The business program feeds graduates into local and regional economies that need them badly.

What makes NMHU different from a place like UNM or New Mexico State is the student body. A significant percentage of Highlands students come from small towns in northeastern New Mexico — Mora, Wagon Mound, Springer, Roy, Clayton, Raton, and the dozens of communities in between. Many of them are first-generation college students. They drive to Las Vegas for classes, finish the semester, and drive home. The textbooks usually don’t make the return trip. They end up in the back of a closet, in a box under a bed in a campus apartment, or in the dumpster behind the residence halls.

That’s where I come in. The New Mexico Literacy Project is a one-person book operation run by Josh Eldred out of a warehouse at 5445 Edith Blvd NE in Albuquerque. I take donated books — textbooks, personal libraries, faculty collections, anything — and keep them in circulation: resellable titles are listed on Amazon and eBay, children’s and general-interest books I can’t resell I try to rehome through Little Free Libraries and APS Title I schools, and what’s left over is recycled. The resale margin funds the whole business. For NMHU students and faculty, the logistics work one of three ways: you drop the books at my 24/7 box when you’re driving through ABQ on I-25, you mail them from Las Vegas via USPS Media Mail, or if you’re already in the Albuquerque metro you text 702-496-4214 and I come pick them up.

I won’t pretend that driving 125 miles to donate textbooks makes sense as a standalone trip. It doesn’t. But most NMHU students and faculty are on I-25 regularly — doctor’s appointments, the airport, Costco, visiting family in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. The drop box is right off the highway. Two minutes, no appointment, no one has to be there. That’s the setup that makes this work for a campus that’s not in my backyard.

NMHU School of Education textbooks

The School of Education is the heart of Highlands University. It has been for decades. NMHU produces a disproportionate share of New Mexico’s K-12 teachers, especially for rural districts and Title I schools. If you teach in a small town in northern New Mexico, there’s a good chance you got your degree or your endorsement at Highlands.

Education textbooks are a particular kind of expensive. Methods courses, foundations courses, literacy instruction, special education, bilingual education, educational psychology, assessment and measurement, classroom management — each course has its own required text, and those texts cycle to new editions every three to four years. The publishers know education programs are captive markets. A single semester of education coursework can easily produce six to eight textbooks that cost the student a substantial amount at the campus bookstore.

Here’s what I see with education textbooks from NMHU. The current-edition required texts have meaningful used-market value. An education methods textbook that’s still being assigned somewhere in the country sells steadily on the secondary market. The prior edition — one cycle back — still sells, but at a lower tier. Two or more editions back, the resale value drops significantly, but those books aren’t worthless. A lot of working teachers in rural districts use older methods textbooks as professional references, and they’re willing to buy used copies at a low price point rather than pay full price for the current edition.

Bilingual education and ESL/TESOL textbooks are a subcategory worth mentioning. New Mexico has a high demand for bilingual teachers, and NMHU’s bilingual education program reflects that. The textbooks for those courses — second-language acquisition theory, bilingual methods, dual-language program design — have a national market. They sell well year-round because bilingual education programs across the country assign the same core texts.

Special education textbooks follow a similar pattern. The core texts on IEP development, learning disabilities, autism spectrum interventions, behavioral supports — those have a long shelf life on the used market because the content changes slowly relative to the edition cycle. A special education text from two editions ago is still useful to a working special educator, even if it’s not the one currently being assigned in a college course.

If you’re an NMHU education major finishing your program, your textbooks have more life left in them than you probably think. Don’t put them in the dumpster. Text 702-496-4214 with photos and I’ll tell you what’s in the stack. Everything gets donated on a no-cost basis, and the books go back into circulation where teachers and students can use them.

Business program textbooks

NMHU’s School of Business offers programs in accounting, management, and general business administration. The textbooks follow the same pattern as most college business programs: principles of accounting, managerial accounting, business statistics, organizational behavior, marketing, finance, and economics. These books are expensive at the point of purchase and lose value faster than STEM textbooks on the secondary market because publishers cycle editions frequently and the content changes enough to matter.

That said, current-edition business textbooks still sell. An accounting principles textbook that’s currently being assigned at any university in the country has steady demand. The prior edition usually sells at a lower tier. Two editions back, the market thins out considerably. What I find with NMHU business textbooks is that most students hold onto them for one or two semesters after the course ends, then decide to clear them out. By that point, a new edition may have come out and the campus buyback isn’t interested.

Economics textbooks are a slightly different story. Mankiw, Krugman, Samuelson — the major introductory economics texts have such wide adoption that even prior editions sell consistently. Intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics texts hold value a bit longer because fewer programs adopt them, so the supply of used copies is lower relative to demand.

Business law textbooks, management information systems texts, and operations management books round out the typical NMHU business collection. I take all of them. If the campus buyback offers you something reasonable for the current-edition titles, take it. For everything else, donate through NMLP and the books continue circulating instead of taking up space in your closet for another three years.

NMHU Bookstore buyback vs. donating through NMLP

I’m going to be honest about this because there’s no point pretending I’m always the best option. The NMHU Bookstore buyback and the New Mexico Literacy Project serve different purposes, and depending on what books you have, one might make more sense than the other.

NMHU faculty libraries

Highlands has professors who’ve been there for decades. That’s not an exaggeration — NMHU is the kind of place where a faculty member starts teaching in their thirties and retires at sixty-five from the same office. Over thirty years, those office shelves accumulate a significant personal library. Academic press hardcovers, journal runs, instructor editions of textbooks, conference proceedings, and — often — personal-collection signed and inscribed copies from colleagues, former students who became authors, and visiting lecturers.

When a Highlands professor retires or a department reshuffles office space, that library has to go somewhere. The university usually doesn’t want it — the Thomas C. Donnelly Library has its own collection management priorities and can’t absorb every retiring professor’s personal shelves. The books end up in boxes in a closet, or worse, in a recycling bin behind the building.

I work with faculty libraries regularly. The process is straightforward: I take the whole library. No cherry-picking, no sorting on your end. The signed and inscribed copies are usually the most interesting items in the collection — I evaluate signed and inscribed copies individually. The academic press hardcovers, if they’re in fields with active scholarly markets (education, social work, psychology, history, literature), have reliable secondary-market demand. The instructor editions and examination copies are a mixed bag — some sell, some don’t — but I take them all and sort the value on my end.

For NMHU faculty specifically, the education library is often the most valuable. A professor who taught literacy methods for twenty-five years has a shelf of texts that spans the entire evolution of reading instruction in the United States. Some of those older texts have become reference standards in their own right. A first edition of a foundational literacy instruction text isn’t just a used book — it’s a collectible in education circles.

Social work faculty libraries at NMHU follow a similar pattern. Clinical practice texts, policy analysis books, and community organizing literature accumulate over a career. The DSM editions alone — from DSM-III through DSM-5-TR — tell the story of diagnostic evolution in mental health, and collectors and researchers do buy older editions.

If you’re a Highlands faculty member thinking about retirement, or a department administrator dealing with an office cleanout, call or text 702-496-4214. I’ll talk you through the logistics. For large libraries that are worth the trip to Las Vegas, I’ll make the drive. For smaller collections, the mail-in and drop-off options work just as well.

The 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE

The drop box is at my warehouse: 5445 Edith Blvd NE, Unit A, Albuquerque, NM 87107. It’s in the North Valley, right off I-25. If you’re coming from Las Vegas on I-25 south, you hit Albuquerque’s north side first, and Edith Blvd is accessible without crossing downtown or dealing with the Big-I interchange.

The box is accessible twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No appointment needed. No one has to be on-site. Drive up, place the boxes or bags of books at the designated drop point, and leave. I check the box daily and process everything that comes in. If you want confirmation that the books arrived, text 702-496-4214 after you drop and I’ll confirm.

For NMHU people, this is the most natural option if you’re already driving through Albuquerque. Coming south from Las Vegas for a medical appointment at Presbyterian or UNM Hospital? Drop the books on your way. Heading to the Sunport for a flight? Edith Blvd is on the way. Making a Costco run? Same thing. The point is that you don’t have to make a special trip. You just add a two-minute stop to a trip you were already making.

If you have a large volume — more than three or four boxes — text me ahead of time at 702-496-4214 so I know it’s coming. For a single box or a bag of books, just drop and go. Either way, the books are in circulation within a few days of arriving.

How to get started

Not sure which option makes sense for you? Text 702-496-4214 with photos of the books and I’ll help you figure out the best route. No cost, no obligation, no sales pitch. Just a quick evaluation and a recommendation.