Donate Books
We take walk-in donations during any volunteer session.
Please make sure your books fit our guidelines.
If you live outside of the Boston area, you can mail your books to us via media mail at 1306 Hancock Street, Suite 100, Quincy, MA 02169.
Sometimes we don’t have the right books to meet a request. Books we need now for a particular person are on our Amazon wishlist. Buy one now and it will ship right to us.
You can also buy seldom donated, frequently-requested titles from one of these wishlists from local independent bookstores or from Better World Books, a used book seller.
We also have wishlists for specific genres or areas where we always need more books.
Frequently Asked Questions: Donate Books
Yes! Please read this page carefully for complete information on books we can and cannot use. We have limited storage space and strongly encourage donors to donate books that are not a good fit to other groups such as your local public library’s Friends group, your local thrift store (Goodwill, etc.), or More Than Words.
No. Most prisons require the incarcerated person to be the named subscriber on the magazine, and others will only accept the current edition of a magazine.
Storage space and level of popularity among our readers dictate what we keep and what we pass on to other organizations.
Books we cannot use are passed onto other used book dealers, thrift stores, or charities, where can often be traded for books we can use.
No. We do not supply prison libraries, only individual readers. We do, however, welcome donations from authors if your book is in a frequently requested category (see Top Requests above)
Yes! Because many prisons require new books and because most donated books tend to be at least a few years old, non-fiction review copies and ARCs are very useful to us.
No. We have a very small staff and currently do not have the capacity to pick up donations. You can send books through the mail, but we strongly encourage you to review the donation guidelines above before doing so.
Yes, you are welcome to ship books to us at your expense. Use Media Mail to save money, and please do not send a shipment that requires a signature.
Prison Book Program
1306 Hancock Street, Suite 100
Quincy, MA 02169
Please also browse our list of other books to prisons programs nationwide. There may be another group close to you!
