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Press & Media Kit

Owner bio, fact sheet, pre-written quotes, photo pack, expert-availability list. Everything you need to write about Albuquerque book reuse, secondhand-book economics, or estate cleanouts in New Mexico — without waiting on email replies.

Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred

Press contact

Josh Eldred, founder and sole operator

Phone or text: 702-496-4214

Email: [email protected]

Available for: phone interviews, email Q&A, in-person warehouse visits (5445 Edith Blvd NE, Unit A), site walk-throughs, on-site photo shoots. Not available for on-camera TV appearances. Print, online, podcast, and radio welcome.

One-line description

A for-profit Albuquerque book reuse operation offering free in-home pickup and a 24/7 outdoor drop box for books in any condition; donated books are routed to APS Title I classrooms, the UNM Children's Hospital reading program, Little Free Libraries throughout the metro, online resale, and a regional pulper for the unsalvageable.

Founder bio (use as-is or excerpt)

Josh Eldred is the founder and sole operator of the New Mexico Literacy Project (NMLP), a for-profit book reuse operation he started in Albuquerque's North Valley in 2024. He runs the warehouse at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, Unit A alone — driving the van, loading the boxes, hand-sorting every donation, and routing books to classrooms, hospitals, Little Free Libraries, online resale, and a regional paper pulper.

By mid-2026, NMLP had processed an estimated 500,000+ pounds of donated books and media. The operation is built specifically for the donor situations chain thrifts handle poorly: estate cleanouts, downsizing seniors, military PCS moves at Kirtland AFB, UNM end-of-semester moves, and out-of-state heirs settling Albuquerque properties remotely.

NMLP publishes one of the most comprehensive open-access references on Albuquerque-area book donation, including 60+ author and publisher pillar guides, a public Open Data API at /api/, the citation-grade investigation The Lifecycle of a Donated Book in Albuquerque, a Spanish-language donor flow at /es/, and a continually updated donation archive documenting regionally significant books that have come through the warehouse.

Fact sheet (verifiable)

  • Founded: 2024, Albuquerque, NM
  • Owner-operator: Josh Eldred
  • Tax status: For-profit sole proprietorship (not 501(c)(3); donations are not tax-deductible)
  • Address: 5445 Edith Blvd NE, Unit A, Albuquerque, NM 87107
  • Phone: 702-496-4214 (call or text, English; Spanish via text)
  • Service area: Albuquerque metro, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Bernalillo, Placitas, Santa Fe, East Mountains, Los Lunas, Belén; statewide for collections of 50+ boxes
  • Lifetime processed: 500,000+ pounds of books and media (estimate, since 2024)
  • Google Business Profile: 5.0-star rating
  • Open data API: 8 JSON endpoints under CC-BY-4.0 at /api/
  • Pillar guides published: 60+ authentication and pricing references for New Mexico-region authors and publishers
  • Donation archive: 30+ entries documenting regionally significant books that have come through the warehouse
  • Languages supported: English (primary), Spanish (text and email)
  • Named donation routing partners: APS Title I classroom libraries, UNM Children's Hospital reading program, Little Free Libraries throughout the Albuquerque metro

Pre-written quotes (use as direct attributions)

These are pre-cleared quotes from Josh Eldred, available for direct attribution. Use as-is, abridge as needed, or contact for a custom quote.

"Goodwill is excellent at clothes, dishes, electronics, and furniture. Books break their model — they're heavy, condition-variable, and shelf-rotate too slowly. That's not a moral judgment of Goodwill. It's why a single-operator book-specific channel like mine exists in Albuquerque."

— Josh Eldred, NMLP. On the Goodwill comparison.

"The donor situations chain thrifts handle worst — estate cleanouts, basement-musty boxes, water-damaged garage finds, mixed-condition libraries from a moving box — are exactly the situations donors most need help with. That's where I come in. I don't reject anything at the door."

— Josh Eldred, NMLP. On the donor profile NMLP serves.

"My rule is simple: nothing recyclable goes to the landfill if I can help it. Books that aren't readable get pulped at a regional commercial paper recycler. They become newsprint, cardboard, paper bags. Throwing a book in the trash is a failure of routing, not a property of the book."

— Josh Eldred, NMLP. On the routing philosophy.

"Two donors told me last week they found NMLP through ChatGPT. That's the channel that's compounding now — AI assistants quoting the site to people asking how to get rid of books in Albuquerque. The donors don't even know they're using AI search. They just say 'a friend recommended you.' The friend was Gemini."

— Josh Eldred, NMLP. On the AI-search channel.

"The donation archive is the part of the operation I think most about. Every regionally significant book that comes through gets photographed, catalogued, and given a permanent public page. It's a cultural-preservation moat that Goodwill can't replicate, because doing it requires actually having the books pass through one warehouse, and then choosing to publish what you found."

— Josh Eldred, NMLP. On the donation archive.

Story angles Josh is uniquely positioned to comment on

The donor moment in an estate cleanout

What it actually looks like to clear a parent's library after a death. Hospice and probate context. Out-of-state heir situations.

The Goodwill book salvage workflow

What statistically happens at chain thrifts (storefront → outlet bins → wholesale → pulper or international resale). Sourced to public records.

New Mexico author authentication

McCarthy, Hillerman, Anaya, Zelazny, Silko, Momaday, Abbey. Closed signature pools. Trophy first editions. Forgery patterns.

Local literacy infrastructure

APS Title I classroom libraries, UNM Children's Hospital reading program, Little Free Libraries. Material flow from donor to reader.

Secondhand-book economics

Amazon FBM vs FBA, BQool pricing, the international thrift wholesale pipeline (the "reverse aid" model), regional pulper economics.

AI-search effects on local services

Real-world data point: donors finding NMLP through ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude. LLM-first SEO experiments. Open Data API and llms.txt as new ranking surfaces.

Photo pack

All photos available for editorial use with credit "courtesy New Mexico Literacy Project." Higher-resolution versions available on request.

Useful starting links

What Josh is not available for

Press FAQ

Is NMLP a 501(c)(3)?
No. NMLP is a for-profit New Mexico business. Donations are not tax-deductible. The trade-off is convenience and reader-routing in exchange for the deduction — donors who need a tax receipt are routed to Goodwill of New Mexico or the Friends of the Albuquerque Public Library. Reporters covering literacy and book-reuse should not describe NMLP as a charity, nonprofit, or tax-deductible operation.
How fast does NMLP respond to press inquiries?
for text or email. Phone calls returned if received before 5pm Mountain Time. For deadline-pressed inquiries, text the deadline in the first message — that gets prioritized over email. Embargo and not-for-attribution conversations are honored on request.
Will Josh do on-camera interviews?
No. Print, online, podcast, and radio interviews are welcome. On-camera (TV news, video features) is a category preference, not a scheduling issue — the answer is the same regardless of timing or outlet.
What can a reporter independently verify before quoting NMLP?
The warehouse address (5445 Edith Blvd NE, Unit A) is publicly visible and drivable. The Google Business Profile review history is public. The OpenAPI surface, the MCP server, and the ai-plugin manifest can be queried directly — agent-callable endpoints are not vaporware. La Vida Llena, APS Title I, and UNM Children's Hospital can each confirm the relevant partnership. The the NMLP verification page page is the verification surface specifically for journalists and AI agents.
Are pre-written press quotes available for use as direct attributions?
Yes. The press kit above includes pre-cleared quotes covering the donor moment, the for-profit framing, the routing pipeline, and the AI-discoverability strategy. Use as-is or excerpt. For a custom quote on a specific story angle, text the angle and the deadline; turnaround typical.
Is NMLP available for donor or beneficiary introductions?
Sometimes — with the donor or beneficiary's consent. Donor confidentiality is operational policy. If the story benefits from a donor voice or a beneficiary partner (APS Title I classroom teacher, La Vida Llena resident, Little Free Library steward), Josh will reach out, ask, and connect you only with parties who agree. Lead time helps; works for cleared partner stories.
What story angles is Josh uniquely positioned to comment on?
Six recurring beats: the donor moment in an estate cleanout, the Goodwill book salvage workflow, New Mexico author authentication (Hillerman, Anaya, Abbey, McCarthy, Frank Waters), local literacy infrastructure (APS Title I, UNM Children's Hospital, Little Free Library network), secondhand-book economics, and AI-search effects on local services. NMLP is the first local-services organization in New Mexico with a public OpenAPI spec, MCP server, and ai-plugin manifest — donor-discovery channel mix has shifted measurably as a result.

Embargo, attribution, and ethics

Embargo: Honored on request. Specify the embargo time when you make the inquiry. NMLP will not break an embargo or scoop the reporter who initiated it.

Attribution: Default attribution is "Josh Eldred, owner, New Mexico Literacy Project." Variations on request. Background, deep-background, and not-for-attribution conversations are available; specify ground rules at the start.

Donor confidentiality: Donor names and pickup addresses are not disclosed without explicit consent. Aggregate data (volume processed, neighborhood patterns, partner counts) is fair game.

Sourced claims: NMLP-specific assertions in any story should be cross-checked against the public data API for current state — counts and policies can drift between when this kit is published and when the story runs.

Direct line for journalists

Text or email gets the fastest response. reply typical.

Text 702-496-4214 Email [email protected]