So, okay, you've tried one or all of these organizations, your thrift store locks the doors when it sees you coming, your local librarian runs screaming when she sees you with that box of useless books, and you still have books that need to go bye bye. Here are a couple of last resorts. They say on their website, Earth's 911: "If donation options are not available or your books are not usable, please consider recycling used books. Earth's 911 may help identify a local recycler for used books in your area. For recycling, pollution prevention, and other environmental information in the United States, Earth's 911 provides a comprehensive database of local recycling programs by ZIP code. For more information, visit the Earth's 911 website or call 1-800-CLEANUP."

And the last interesting organization that I found, though there are many more out there, is www.bookrecycler.org. You need to belong to or be a part of a nonprofit organization to use this and no, just because your bookstore is not profitable that does not make you a nonprofit organization! This is a way for non-profit organizations to sell books. The bookrecycler.org system finds books in your inventory for which they already have a buyer waiting. They say that; "When a desired book is located in your inventory, you are given a price quote representing a resale value of that book. The price quote is the amount a buyer has already committed to pay for that particular book. In many cases, the price quote is much more than the amount the book would be priced for sale in a public sale. You have the option to send the book to bookrecycler.org for immediate sale, or to leave it in your inventory for sale at the nonprofit bookstore or in a public sale. Again, the advantage of using bookrecycler.org is immediate sale, 24/7, at a higher resale price."

I guess my point is that though we are all drowning in old books we cannot sell in our stores or online, there are lots of ways to see those books into the hands of people who want, need them, and would love them; they deserve the chance to give them a home.