Reporter's notebook: Even free books find their way back

Even free books find a way back

It's almost the opposite issue from Fahrenheit 451: nobody wants to throw away a book.

Nor does anyone seem much inclined to trash old VHS tapes, lectures on cassette, magazines or any of the other number of items that regularly appear on the "free table" in the Clovis-Carver Public Library.

In the past four or five years, the humble folding table just inside the main entrance there has been the last stop, so to speak, for items deemed unqualified for library circulation or either of its fundraising book-sale rooms, said Library Director Margaret Hinchee.

It's not always a last stop, because sometimes items liberated from the table make their way back into the cycle again after being freshly re-donated, often against the wishes of library staff.

Approximately 3,000 items are donated each month to the library, Hinchee estimated, and staff have their hands full sifting through articles ranging from hardback books that can sell for $1 each to the various pieces of pulp fiction, newsletters and large-print bibles that trickle down to the free table.

That doesn't mean the table is without its treasures, and we will do well to recall the adage about one man's trash.

Occasionally the table has even stranger appearances: shoes, toys and potted plants have been sighted there, Hinchee said, but no item there typically lasts longer than a day.

Staff ask that any donations to the library go through them first, rather than being dropped on the free table or into the library book return. It can be challenging with some items, as many second-hand stores or non-profits simply refuse to accept outdated encyclopedias, for example.

Those doing spring cleaning and struggling to unburden themselves of items uncommonly accepted at other places might consider donating to local churches or schools, Hinchee said, but you can always still check with library staff.

— Compiled by Staff Writer David Grieder