Donate Books and Materials

Upcoming Book Drive Info (New location!):

Date and Time: 4/25/2026 from 10am – 2pm

Location: Flo Fabrizio Ice Rink at the Erie Zoo

Details:

You will go into the Erie Zoo entrance on West 38th Street, then turn right
to go into line in the parking lot that leads to the Ice Rink front door.
Volunteers will be there to point out the way. You will exit using the Cherry
Street exit. This will give us a smooth traffic flow. Please do not park your
car in the parking lot. This lot is also used by the Glenwwod YMCA for
overflow parking that day.

If possible, pre-packing your donations in bags or boxes that you can leave behind will be very helpful.

We also ask that you remain in your car and not bring any animals with
you. We cannot take your donation if you have dogs or cats in your car.
This is for your safety as well as ours. Also keep your personal items not in
the same place as your donations, so that we don’t take them accidentally.
This has happened in the past.
A paper receipt from the Friends of the Library will be available for you to
send in with your tax return if you want it. We cannot give you a price on
the value of your donations. You can do that based on thrift store current
prices for the same items, such as DVDs, music CDs, LP albums, puzzles,
audio books, and used books.
As usual, we cannot accept encyclopedias, magazines, text books,
Readers Digest condensed books, cassette tapes, water damaged items,
and moldy or nicotine stained items.
We thank you for your wonderful ongoing support of The Friends of the
Erie County Library. We are 100% volunteers selling your donations to
make money for the Erie County Public Library’s branches and
Bookmobile for ongoing and new programming for members of the library
of all ages. We also support and pay for staff training days and the Idea lab
at Blasco main Library.

---

The Friends of the Erie County Library accepts donations of gently used books, books on CD, music CDs, and DVDs and jigsaw puzzles. We hold several specialty sales every year, as well as the Great American Book Sale, to raise funds to support the Erie County Public Library.

• One bag or box may be brought to the Bayfront Bookshelf, the book store in the lobby of the Blasco Library. If the store is closed, donations can be taken to the Blasco Library circulation desk.
• Erie County Library branches can accept donations of up to 5 books.  It is suggested that you call the branch before bringing in a donation.
• At a book drive:  The next book drive is planned for Fall 2026  You may drop off any amount of books.  The drives are advertised on posters at the library, on this website, on ErieLibrary.org, and on Facebook.

What to Donate:

Best selling items are:

• New fiction, especially suspense and mystery
• Children’s Books
• Local History
• Books on CD
• DVDs
• Jigsaw Puzzles

Items we do not accept

• Encyclopedias
• Reader’s Digest condensed books
• Textbooks
• Magazines, pamphlets
• Outdated technical books (5 years or older) such as law, medicine, computers, health
• Multiple copies of the same title
• Yellowed paperbacks
• Books that are damaged – ripped, mildewed, underlined, with an odor
• VHS or cassette tapes

Jigsaw puzzle donations need to be taped closed.  Attach a sticker indicating if the puzzle is complete or if pieces are missing.  We cannot accept puzzles with more than three missing pieces.