Disposition Of Your Extra Philatelic Books And Catalogs

Over time I accumulate various general philatelic books. As opposed to more specialized books, some of these are targeted at a beginner's level. I previously would leave them in the waiting rooms at various medical offices I go to but I recently found another outlet and thought I would share it with the community here. In my town, they have a program which is turning retired newspaper racks into 'Little Free Libraries' (https://littlefreelibrary.org/ ). See article below.
I think this is a great way to share our hobby and encourage folks to contribute to their local program if one exists.
Don

Nice idea. Here, I give my surplus stuff to the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library (great organization; hope people don't get tired of me pushing it so much).

Why didn't you mention that before, Steve?

These ad hoc community libraries are a common sight in small towns in France.

What an absolutely charming idea !
A great post....Thanks Don.

We have these throughout my community here in Colorado. I never thought of adding philatelic books, what a great idea. I may have to buy a handful of copies of beginner stamp collecting books and share them. Thanks, Don!

Like Walkman I never considered philatelic material although I have used our local ones for regular books


Peter

I had seen this done a couple of years ago with books like novels and such but think it's a super idea to do it with stamp collecting books as well.

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I first saw one of these in Jerusalem >10 years ago, where they installed shelves in a repurposed bus shelter, so it was, like, larger.

Meanwhile, here in NYC, books appear & disappear from a corner of the building's laundry room, and I see the occasional 'community' bookshelf in many neighborhood laundromats.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Could be an uphill struggle. During riots in south-west London a few years ago, every shop in Clapham Junction was ransacked except for Waterstone's bookshop.

I sometimes drop off magazines and books to our country town's caravan park, in the laundry room as well.

We have a voluntary service, and building called "care and share" where members of the district drop off unwanted goods, and they are resold over the counter at heavily discounted rates, we have an enormous library, which often overflows, esp with recipe books.

For books, you can send to some collecting group (like ISWSC) to include in their regular auctions and have the proceeds go to the group. There is a better chance of being used than in a generic "free" book area.

In order to prevent philatelic material get lost in majority of novels, old almanacs and out of date school textbooks, it might be helpful to convert one of these newspaper posts to a dedicated free library, like "hobbies". The majority might be cookbooks, photography, and sports (one might argue that old playboy magazines are also someone's hobby), it will allow a few old stamp catalogs placed together to stand out and become a good start point to look at for them.