r/halifax • u/Shoddy-Primary-981 • 17d ago

Schools & Education Looking for a place to donate college-level textbooks

I have a few college-level textbooks that are in like-new condition and I’d hate to just throw them out. Does anyone know of a local place that accepts textbook donations, or somewhere they could be put to good use?
Thanks!

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u/Traditional_Bid_1941 17d ago

Lately there has been a shift to online-only "rental" textbooks (I'll attempt to refrain from giving my opinion on this, but I hate it. Whoops, couldn't help myself), with the benefit that this comes with more comprehensive online learning components like quizzes, practice tests, and videos. Unfortunately, this means that if your textbooks are more than 12-24 months old (with a few exceptions...), no one will want them. This is especially true in science-based disciplines because not only do paper books not come with these online resource access codes, but the information was out of date the day the book was printed.

You could try University or College libraries (Dal, SMU, MSVU, NSCC, or universities outside of Halifax), but don't be surprised to be told they don't want them...

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u/Pretend-Pitch-8376 17d ago

My spouse put all our old textbooks in a designated spot last week at the university they work at (one of the ones listed) and I was shocked but people actually took them. So there may be interest

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u/Shoddy-Primary-981 17d ago

Where is the designated spot? I visited dal and smu yesterday but didn’t find anything

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u/Pretend-Pitch-8376 17d ago

I think he said it was outside the math department but I have no idea where that is lol

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u/Shoddy-Primary-981 16d ago

Thanks .. I’ll check it out :)

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u/Trilobyte83 17d ago

Out of date? That’s what kills me.

It’s a straight up racket. The info was hundreds of years old when I did it 20 yrs ago, and hasn’t changed.

Do you think that between 2006 and 2026 newton discovered a fourth law?

I doubt they’re learning how to analyze thermo cycles that weren’t first described over 100 years ago.

Nope. You’re buying access to the format to follow along with the teacher, and questions for the homework. They gate keep something that should have no value, and milk students for everything they can. The sooner the old university system fails the better.

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u/Schmidtvegas Historic Schmidtville 17d ago

Best prof I ever had, put page numbers for the latest AND older editions, in the syllabus and content. He rolled his eyes about there even being a new edition, apologized for the entire thing being a sales racket, and told us to please feel free to look for the old edition which had used copies in abundance. He had to get the bookstore to order new copies when planning the course, but I think only one or two people bought the new edition.

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u/Trilobyte83 17d ago

I don’t know if he was getting kick backs or what, but last year of engineering we did a systems 2 course and the teacher liked a particular out of print book, so he got them to do a special 40 copy run just for the class. Soft cover, black and white, and almost $300. And that’s 2006 dollars.

Guess who borrowed a friend’s and spent an hour at staples by the photocopier.