The Library receives thousands of book donations every year. Many of them can be incorporated into our collection, but others are duplicates of what we already own, are not in suitable condition or fall outside the Library's collection guidelines. In these cases, we add books to the Library's monthly used book sale to raise funds for collections, services and programs, or forward them to other institutions that can use them. Our partners include the Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the Liceo Italiano Dante Alighieri, as well as other English-language libraries in France.

The Library also works with Better World Books, a company which resells books from libraries and elsewhere, mainly on Internet websites, and portions of whose revenues support literacy programs around the world. We ship to Better World many of our discarded, unshelved, or unsold books. Proceeds from their eventual sale will also bring a small stream of revenue back to the Library.

Acceptable Items

Due to the volume of materials we receive, we only accept items that are in good condition and that fall into one of the following categories:

• Recent best sellers (both hardbound and paperback)
• Clean copies of classic titles
• Books on CD
• Music CD's
• DVD's
• Children’s books

Unacceptable Items

Items Not Needed (and also very difficult to sell):

• Books in poor condition (broken bindings, torn pages or covers, yellowing pages, musty)
• Textbooks
• VHS video tapes
• Reader's Digest condensed books
• Magazines, including National Geographic
• Encyclopedias and any other dated materials

How to Donate

Please place all donations in sturdy boxes or bags, and schedule large donations in advance. Small donations may be dropped off when the Library's lights are on. Our preference is between 10h30 - 18h00, Tuesday through Saturday. Please contact Simon Gallo to discuss a large donation or for more information.

See our Location and Hours page for details of holiday closures and Library contact information.