Donating Books that Make a Difference

Book Donation Guidelines

The Public Library of Johnston County & Smithfield appreciates the many people who wish to support their community library by donating books.

Please note the following guidelines for donating materials:

Donations are added to the library’s collection if they meet the same standards as those required of purchased materials. Most donations are not added to the collection, but are sold by the Friends of the Public Library of Johnston County & Smithfield group to raise funds for special library projects and services. Donated materials judged not suitable for the collection OR for the Friends books sales are discarded.

Donations must be delivered to the library when we are open and may not be left outside the door or placed in our book drops. If you have more than two boxes of books, please call ahead to make sure we can accommodate the donation. Due to space constraints, we may need to decline the donations from time to time.

The library will, upon request of the donor, provide a receipt for donated items, but cannot assign a value to donated materials. Once accepted, donations are property of the library and cannot be returned to the donor.

Book Donation Tips

We CAN accept:

Hardcover AND paperback books for adults, teens, and children.
Classic AND contemporary fiction.
Popular nonfictions such as:
- Cookbooks
- Biographies
- History

We CANNOT accept:

Books in poor condition:
- stained
- yellowed
- moldy
- torn cover / pages
Books that have been discarded from other libraries.
Advanced reader copies.
Medical books.
Readers Digest condensed books.
National Geographic magazines.
Outdated reference materials.
Audio cassettes.
VHS tapes.
Audiobooks on CD.
DVD movies.
Music CDs.
Software.

These guidelines are based on the library's collection development plan and help us build and maintain a useful, balanced collection for our community. Our Collection Development Policy can be viewed by clicking the button below.

Collection Development Policy